Another great week of live in the Bay Area. Here are some suggestion for this week..

Monday November 5th

Club Deluxe 1511 Haight St, San Francisco 6:00 PM-9:00 PM Showtime… The High Tide Trio is a sensational super instrumental band featuring Mitch Polzak on guitar and bass, Hank Maninger on guitar and bass, and Les James on drums. Les will not be playing guitar. Hank and Mitch will switch off on guitar and bass. Mitch and Hank will not be playing the drums. The band plays all sorts of interesting guitar instrumentals, including surf, country, jazz, bluegrass, and movie and TV show themes. Highly recommended!!!! N/C

Club Deluxe 1511 Haight St, San Francisco 9:30 PM-12:30 AM Showtime… Mike Olmos Presents The Sessions. Mike is a such a great trumpet player. He leads his all star Sessions for a great night of jazz.. N/C

Mr.Tipples 39 Fell St, San Francisco 7:00 PM-10:00 PM Showtime.. Le Hot Jazz.. The spirit of Django is alive and well in San Francisco. This is a great ensemble. Highly recommended!! N/C

Sweetwater Music Hall 19 Corte Madera Ave, Mill Valley 8:00 PM Showtime.. One of the great Cajun delta blues guitarist, musician, and singers Tab Benoit will be in performance this evening. Also on the bill is guitarist Eric Johanson performing with a with southern rockin’ soul singer Jeff McCarty. Opening up the show is the funk/pop Jimmy Leslie Band. This is a great night of music at the Sweetwater. Highly recommended!!!! $35 Cover Charge…

The UC Theatre 2036 University Ave, Berkeley 8:00 PM Showtime… The Americana indie folk duo The Milk Carton Kids consisting of singers and guitarists Kenneth Pattengale and Joey Ryan are really wonderful performers. Should be a good show.. Highly recommended!!!! $35.50 Cover Charge.

Tuesday November 6th
Bar Fluxus 18 Harlan Pl, San Francisco 9:00 PM-1:30 AM Showtime. Vibrason is another great band out of the Bay Area. Very reminiscent of some of the Cal Tjader bands. Highly recommended.. $10 Cover Charge.

Le Colonial 20 Cosmo Pl, San Francisco 7:00 PM-10:00 PM Showtime. Le Hot Jazz.. The spirit of Django is alive and well in San Francisco. This is a great ensemble. Highly recommended!! N/C

Local Edition 691 Market St, San Francisco 8:00 PM-Midnight Showtime… Cosmo Alleycats is one of my favorite Bay Are jazz ensembles. The Alleycats are so good and so much fun and one of the better jazz bands in the Bay Area. Highly recommended. N/C

Bottom of the Hill 1233 17th St, San Francisco 9:00 PM Showtime.. A really good night of music with a really fun post punk revival Canadian band Tokyo Police Club and a psychedelic rock grunge band from Montreal Fleece Music. Highly recommended!!! $20 Cover Charge…

Wednesday November 7th

Biscuits and Blues 401 Mason St, San Francisco 7:30Local Edition PM & 9:30 PM Showtimes.. Bay City Blues featuring Chris Cain is a weekly showcase of world class Blues music and superb instrumental talent. This event is a celebration of the Blues in all its forms and an adventure into the depth of a national genre. Hosted by the nationally recognized Chris Cain & his All-Star cast of Musicians, every week they invite a new special guest to accompany them on stage and present new, upcoming, & old talent from the blues world! Bay City Blues is our tribute and exploration into the Blues genre, it is a special event in which we all get to help, share, & “Preserve the Blues.” Highly recommended!! $20 Cover Charge.

Cats Corner 2174 Market St, San Francisco 9:30 PM-Midnight Showtime.. Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers are just a superb internationally recognized swing big band in the authentic style of the 1940’s and 1950’s as the band. Lavay the reigning “Queen Of Classic Jazz & Blues” pays tribute to the swingin’ Kansas City tradition, featuring the music of Count Basie, Jimmy Rushing, Joe Williams, Helen Humes, Lester Young, Jay McShann, Walter Brown, Jimmy Witherspoon, Myra Taylor & Big Joe Turner! Highly recommended!! $10 Cover Charge..

Le Colonial 20 Cosmo Pl, San Francisco 7:00 PM-10:00 PM Showtime. Cosmo Alleycats is one of my favorite Bay Are jazz ensembles. The Alleycats are so good and so much fun and one of the better jazz bands in the Bay Area. Highly recommended. N/C

Cafe Du Soleil. 200 Fillmore St, San Francisco 6:30 PM-9:30 PM Showtime.. The Americano Social Club plays music for “la dolce vita”: a mix of romantic and eclectic melodies from all over the world including pop, jazz, folk, classical, rock, opera, the music of Brazil and Europe’s cafés as well as some great original pieces. This is a great ensemble. Highly recommended!!!! N/C

Club Deluxe 1511 Haight St, San Francisco 9:30 PM-12:30 AM Showtime. The Patrick Wolff Bebop Quartet is deeply rooted in the bebop tradition established by Bird, Clifford Jordan and Dexter Gordon. Patrick is absolutely my favorite Bay Area tenor player and he leads an outstanding group of musicians..N/C.

Bottom of the Hill 1233 17th St, San Francisco 9:00 PM Showtime.. Another night of great music featuring a fine sub pop band from Seattle Kyle Craft . Rounding out the night is garage punk rockers Hooveriii and lead vocalist from the San Francisco psychedelic country jam pop band the Cool Ghouls Ryan Wong. I really like Kyle Craft. Definitely worth checking out.. $12 Cover Charge..

The Back Room 1984 Bonita Avenue, Berkeley 7:30 Showtime.. Joni Mitchell 75th Birthday Tribute Concert.. Joni Mitchell celebrates her 75th birthday on November 7, 2018. What better way to pay homage to this beloved songwriter and musical pioneer than with a musical tribute, offered in love and admiration to the woman who has inspired generations! East Bay vocalist Ann Moss leads a consortium of musicians active in the Bay Area’s jazz, classical, rock and experimental scenes, including Matt Berkeley (keyboards), Emil Miland (cello), Meredith Clark (harp); d’Pajo, a Gypsy Jazz duo; The Mean Old Daddies, a funk ensemble; and A Sweeter Affair, a vocal ensemble. Highly recommernded!!! $20 Cover Charge..

Thursday November 8th

Biscuits and Blues 401 Mason St, San Francisco 7:30 PM & 9:30 PM Showtimes. Ron Thompson is a legendary rhythm and blues guitarist and master keyboardist whose career began in the rough and tumble world of East San Francisco Bay nightclubs and bars in the early 1970’s. During many years of touring coast to coast with John Lee Hooker, Hooker was quoted as saying, “Ron Thompson, he’s my main man!” Not many living blues musicians can say they have performed with and recorded for legends like Big Mama Thornton, Tina Turner, Bruce Willis, Luther Tucker, Jimmy McCracklin, Pee Wee Crayton, Carla Thomas, Booker T. Jones, Percy Mayfield, Etta James, B.B. King, and Jimmy Reed. Ron Thompson can!! Highly recommended!!!! $20 Cover Charge..

Mr.Tipples 39 Fell St, San Francisco 8:00 PM-11:00 PM Showtime.. The David Jeffrey Fourtet is one of the Bay Area’s best contemporary jazz quartets performing straight-ahead jazz ranging from the Blue Note era to classic standards to modern sounds – from Monk to Miles, Coltrane to Shorter; from bebop to blues, ballads to Bossas. Highly recommended!!! NC

SF Jazz Joe Henderson Lab 201 Franklin St, San Francisco 7:00 PM & 8:30 PM Showtimes.. Mark Guiliana is one of the definitive rhythm makers of the 21st century and a drummer around whom a cult of admiration has formed. Influenced in equal measure by jazz giants Tony Williams and Elvin Jones as well as electronic music luminaries Squarepusher and Aphex Twin, Guiliana has developed a singular style possessed of both a jazz master’s dexterous fluidity and the jackhammer beats of drum and bass. He will be performing with his new group Space Heroes with Mark on drums, Jason Rigby on tenor saxophone, Mike Lewis on tenor saxophone and Chris Morrissey on bass. Highy recommended!!! $35 Cover Charge….

SF Jazz 201 Franklin St, San Francisco.. 7:30 PM Showtime.. Kenny Barron is not only one of the top jazz pianists in the world but one the most lyrical jazz pianists of our time. Kenny will be teaming up with the great innovators of modern jazz violin Regina Carter, one of the most influential jazz drummers of her time Terri Lyne Carrington and the great master trumpeter Eddie Henderson. This should be one of the great shows of the year at the SF Jazz. Highly recommended!!!! $50/$56/$70 Cover Charge..

The Warfield 982 Market St, San Francisco 8:00 PM Showtime.. For more than a decade and a half, Greensky Bluegrass have created their own version of bluegrass music, mixing the acoustic stomp of a stringband with the rule-breaking spirit of rock & roll. Opening up the night is the progressive bluegrass band The Lil Smokies. Highly recommend!!! $27.50-$40 Cover Charge..

Friday November 9th

title SF Jazz Joe Henderson Lab 201 Franklin St, San Francisco.. 7:00 PM & 9:30 PM Showtimes.. title Mark Guiliana is one of the definitive rhythm makers of the 21st century and a drummer around whom a cult of admiration has formed. Influenced in equal measure by jazz giants Tony Williams and Elvin Jones as well as electronic music luminaries Squarepusher and Aphex Twin, Guiliana has developed a singular style possessed of both a jazz master’s dexterous fluidity and the jackhammer beats of drum and bass. He will be performing with his new group Space Heroes with Mark on drums, Jason Rigby on tenor saxophone, Mike Lewis on tenor saxophone and Chris Morrissey on bass. Highy recommended!!! $35 Cover Charge….

SF Jazz Joe Henderson Lab 201 Franklin St, San Francisco.. 7:00 PM & 8:30 PM Showtimes.. Mark Guiliana is one of the definitive rhythm makers of the 21st century and a drummer around whom a cult of admiration has formed. Influenced in equal measure by jazz giants Tony Williams and Elvin Jones as well as electronic music luminaries Squarepusher and Aphex Twin, Guiliana has developed a singular style possessed of both a jazz master’s dexterous fluidity and the jackhammer beats of drum and bass. He will be performing with his new group Space Heroes with Mark on drums, Jason Rigby on tenor saxophone, Mike Lewis on tenor saxophone and Chris Morrissey on bass. Highly recommended!!! $35 Cover Charge….

SF Jazz 201 Franklin St, San Francisco.. 7:30 PM Showtime.. Kenny Barron is not only one of the top jazz pianists in the world but one the most lyrical jazz pianists of our time. Kenny will be teaming up with GRAMMY-nominated trumpeter Michael Rodriguez and Bay Area-raised saxophone great Dayna Stephens Kiyoshi Kitagawa on bass and Johnathan Blake on drums exploring new sonorities and textures in a program of originals and fresh takes on standards, celebrating the release of his new Impulse! album with this band,Concentric Circles. Highly recommended!!!! $35/$55/$75/$95 Cover Charges.

Red Poppy Art House 2698 Folsom St, San Francisco 7:30 PM-10:00 PM Showtime…. Mean To Me is a quintet that resurrects classic jazz of the 1920s through 1940s—sometimes interlaced with the more modern stylings of Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, and Ahmad Jamal—and an eclectic variety of soul and Latin jazz. Their lead vocalist Judy Butterfield is one of my favorite Bay Area jazz singers. Highly recommended!!!! $20 Cover Charge..

The Royal Cuckoo 3202 Mission St, San Franciscob 7:30 PM Showtime.. Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers are just a superb internationally recognized swing big band in the authentic style of the 1940’s and 1950’s as the band. Lavay the reigning “Queen Of Classic Jazz & Blues” pays tribute to the swingin’ Kansas City tradition, featuring the music of Count Basie, Jimmy Rushing, Joe Williams, Helen Humes, Lester Young, Jay McShann, Walter Brown, Jimmy Witherspoon, Myra Taylor & Big Joe Turner! Highly recommended!! $10 Cover Charge..

Club Deluxe 1511 Haight St, San Francisco 6:00 PM-9:00 PM Showtime… Mitch Polzak is a master guitarist and he and The Royal Deuces has been one of the premier Rockabilly bands since staring in 1999. I am a huge fan. Highly recommended!! N/C

Slim’s 333 11th St, San Francisco 9:00 PM Showtime… Donna the Buffalo is one of the great Americana touring bands incorporating elements of zydeco, folk & country rock bluegrass and reggae. They are a great live jam band and has performed and recorded with a variety of musicians, including such prominent folk/roots performers as Jim Lauderdale, father and son Zydeco masters Preston and Keith Frank, Bela Fleck, David Hidalgo Mamadou Diabate, Claire Lynch, and Amy Helm, to name a few. Highly recommended!!!! $22 Cover Charge..

Saturday November 10th

SF Jazz 201 Franklin St, San Francisco.. 7:30 PM Showtime.. Kenny Barron is not only one of the top jazz pianists in the world but one the most lyrical jazz pianists of our time. Kenny will be teaming up with superlative instrumentalists including rising saxophonist Hailey Niswanger, guitarist Camila Meza , vibraphonist Nikara Warren, Kiyoshi Kitagawa on bass and Johnathan Blake and on drums. I am a big fan of Camila Meza. This is a show not to be missed!!!!! Highly recommended!!!! $30/$50/$70/$80 Cover Charges.

Bird & Beckett 653 Chenery St, San Francisco 7:30 PM Showtime… Jeff Sanford’s Cartoon Jazz Nonet , a madcap batch of nine fine musicians, performs the music of Raymond Scott, John Kirby and other geniuses of mid-20th century classical cartoon compositions.. Highly recommended!!!!! $25 Cover Charge..

Bottom of the Hill 1233 17th St, San Francisco 9:00 PM Showtime.. Another night of great music featuring a really good noise rock/grindcore group from Providence, RI Daughters , along with a dinge pop/noise punk band from Seattle Dream Decay and another Providence, RI band death industrail/neoclassical darkwave Lingua Ignota. Highly recommended!!!! $20 Cover Charge..

Club Deluxe 1511 Haight St, San Francisco 6:00 PM-9:00 PM Showtime.. Barrio Manouche is a great Bay Area ensemble performing a repertoire of original instrumental compositions with a unique sound that it’s difficult to classify but instantly recognizable deeply influenced by a range of musical traditions, from the swing of Louis Armstrong and Sidney Bechet, to the hot jazz of Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli, the gypsy soul of eastern europe, the flamenco of Paco de Lucía to the avant-garde sounds of Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane…

Club Deluxe 1511 Haight St, San Francisco 10:00 PM-1:00 AM Showtime.. Howell Devine is my favorite Bay Area blues band. They will have the house rockin at the Deluxe. N/C

Revolution Cafe 3248 22nd St, San Francisco 5:00 PM-8:00 PM Showtime..Westside Jazz Club, lead by the wonderful tenor saxophonist Scott Silverberg, is a collective of innovative jazz musicians performing jazz standards, challenging modern compositions and freshly-updated classics. I have seen this ensemble a number of time and they never dissapoint.. Highly recommended!!! N/C

Ivy Room 860 San Pablo Ave, Albany 9:00 PM Showtime..A great show tonight featuring two outstanding bands. Junk Parlor is an adventure down a path paved with eastern european, gypsy crooner punk, vintage bellydance melodies and our own brand of moody, haunting originals. Leonard Cohen-esk vocals and poetry, acoustic gypsy jazz guitar, ripping violin, cajon, percussion, fretless electric bass, all come together to paint a fantastically edgy dream scape. Crying Time plays straight-up honky-tonk and country music, from Bob Wills to Glen Campbell, with whistle stops in between. Sitting in with the band is legendary pedal steel guitasr master Bobby Black ….Highly recommended!!!! $14 Cover Charge..

The Freight & Salvage 2020 Addison St, Berkeley 8:00 PM Showtime.. The 7th Annual California Banjo Extravaganza is the event where San Francisco Bay Area banjo player Bill Evans brings together some of the best banjo players in the world and combines them with an ace backup band featuring several West Coast favorites for a series of incredible concerts across northern California and an afternoon of workshops in Berkeley. This year’s annual California five-string banjo celebration features 2018 IMBA Banjo Player of the Year Ned Luberecki , Canada’s old-time banjo master Chris Coole and, of course, California favorite Bill Evans . Joining this trio of banjo greats is their All-Star band, this year featuring John Reischman on mandolin, Chad Manning on fiddle, Jim Nunally on guitar & Sharon Gilchrist on bass for an evening of bluegrass, old-time, and beyond, celebrating the many different ways music is made today on the five-string banjo. Highly recommended!!!!! $36 Cover Charge..

Sunday November 11th

Biscuits and Blues 401 Mason St, San Francisco 7:30 Showtimes. Legendary guitar virtuoso Harvey Mandel, aka “The Snake,” truly one of the most distinctive and innovative musicians, continues to perform throughout the world, captivating audiences with his inventive style of electric guitar playing. A pioneer of modern electric blues from Chicago, Mandel developed and mastered sustained and controlled feedback, displaying both extroversion and musical virtuosity. He has performed with many blues legends including Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Otis Rush, Albert King, and Buddy Guy. Highly recommended!!! $22 Cover Charge

The Lucky Horseshoe Bar 453 Cortland Ave, San Francisco 4:00 PM-7:00 PM Showtime..Bernal Hillbillies.. A great three hours of bluegrass music at a really great venue reminiscent of the jams at the Old Paul Saloon many years ago. N/C

Bird & Beckett 653 Chenery St, San Francisco 4:30 PM-6:30 PM Showtime… The Americano Social Club plays music for “la dolce vita”: a mix of romantic and eclectic melodies from all over the world including pop, jazz, folk, classical, rock, opera, the music of Brazil and Europe’s cafés as well as some great original pieces. This is a great ensemble. Highly recommended!!!! $10 Cover Charge..

Bottom of the Hill 1233 17th St, San Francisco 8:30 PM Showtime.. Another night of great music featuring a really good noise rock/grindcore group from Providence, RI Daughters , along with a dinge pop/noise punk band from Seattle Dream Decay and another Providence, RI band death industrail/neoclassical darkwave Lingua Ignota. Highly recommended!!!! $20 Cover Charge..

Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society 311 Mirada Rd, Half Moon Bay 4:30 PM Showtime.. Jane Bunnett and Maqueque has created something new and phenomenal in the world of jazz. What started out five years ago as a project to record and mentor young brilliant Cuban female musicians, has become one of the top groups on the North American jazz scene and, most recently, were voted as one the top ten jazz groups by the prestigious DownBeat magazine’s critics poll. Highly recommended!!! $35 Cover Charge..

If you live or are around the North Bay check out

Rancho Nicasio 1 Old Rancheria Rd, Nicasio, CA 4:00 PM Showtime.. Mike Lipskin is one of the greatest stride/jazz pianists in the universe and & Dina Lee is one of the Bay Area’s best jazz vocalists. If you are out and around Nicasio you really should check this show out. Plus added bonus No Cover Charge!!!

Video Pick of The Week..

Sir Doug & The Genuine Texas Cosmic Groove tells the story of Doug Sahm, the wild man musicians’ musician and unsung hero of Texas music. A country music child prodigy and teenage rhythm & blues dynamo who caused a riot at his San Antonio high school, Sahm emerged as an international rock star leading the Sir Douglas Quintet. He landed in San Francisco just in time for the Summer of Love in 1967. He returned to Texas as the cowboy hippie rocker who built a burgeoning music scene in Austin in before forming the Tex-Mex super group The Texas Tornados. A kinetic, quirky character with a solid sense of place as well as an innate wanderlust, Doug Sahm’s story is the story of Texas music.