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

Monday April 8th

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.. Highly recommended!!!! N/C

Mr.Tipples 39 Fell St, San Francisco 7:00 PM-10:00 PM Showtime..One of the Bay area’s best Django inspired ensembles The French American Quartet plays a mix of gypsy jazz as well as standards by Cole Porter, Hoagy Carmichael and Gershwin. The group is lead by a great guitarist Steve Froberg supported by Hanna Mingano on violin, Fabrice Urrizalqui on drums, François Egron on bass. Highly recommended!!!!! N/C

Local Edition 691 Market St, San Francisco 8:00 PM-Midnight Showtime.. The Fil Lorenz Orchestra is a high-voltage, crowd-pleasing big band born of the blues, with a sound defined by a searing, relentless horn section. Saxophonist/arranger Lorenz has assembled a musical cast of the highest standard, bringing some of the San Francisco Bay Area’s most accomplished and adventurous jazz veterans together with some of the fertile San Francisco scene’s most promising up-and-coming players. Highly recommended!!!! No Cover Charge…

Tuesday April 9th

Mr.Tipples 39 Fell St, San Francisco 7:00 PM-10:00 PM Showtime.. One of my favorite local pianists Adam Shulman has been a creative force on the San Francisco jazz scene for the past decade. Adam will be joined by bassist John Wiitala and drummer James Gallagher. Highly recommended!!!!! N/C..

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

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.

Wednesday April 10th

Club Deluxe 1511 Haight St, San Francisco 6:00 PM-9:00 PM Showtime… singer/songwriter Lilan Kane is one of the Bay Areas very best soulful r&b/funk/pop & jazz vocalists. Lilan and her band has opened for Hall & Oates, Sharon Jones and Trombone Shorty. She is a great performer. Highly recommended!!! $20 Cover Charge..

Biscuits and Blues 401 Mason St, San Francisco 7:30 PM & 9:30 PM Showtimes..One of Detroit’s most talented and heralded blues guitarist’s David Gerald is on a rare West coast tour with his blues soul rocking band. David has a wonderful distinctive sound and is a fine vocalist. Should be a great show. Highly recommended!!!! $20 Cover Charge!!!

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.

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

The Lucky Horseshoe Bar 453 Cortland Ave, San Francisco 8:00 PM-Midnight Showtime.. Ed Ivey’s Weekly Blues Jam Ed Ivey’s Blues Jam is a weekly jam that has the house rocking.. N/C

The Midway 900 Marin St, San Francisco 8:00 PM-11:00 PM Showtime. Envelop At The Midway presents selected works by the great John Coltrane including “A Love Supreme” which was Coltrane’s spiritual declaration of his musical devotion with his faith in God. Highly recommended!!!!! $25 Cover Charge..

Local Edition 691 Market St, San Francisco 8:00 PM-11:45 PM Showtime.. Steve Lucky and the Rumba Bums perform vintage jazz, pounding boogie-woogie rhythms, sultry ballads, and funky-swinging New Orleans R&B. This band simply gives you the beat to move your feet. This will be a fun show. N/C

If you live in and around Santa Cruz you may want to check out

Moes Alley 1535 Commercial Way, Santa Cruz 8:00 PM Showtime.. Singer/songwriter Leilani Wolfgramm is a soulful reggae/r&b/hip-hop musician who mixes influences of he Polynesian roots.. Leilani is an electrifying performer with a dedicated fan base and has been seen with such acts as Incubus, Ziggy Marley and Dirty Heads. Leilani Will be making stops along the West Coast to celebrate her latest release on the upcoming “Live Wire Tour.” Highly recommended!!!!! $15 Cover Charge..

Thursday April 11th

Local Edition 691 Market St, San Francisco 8:00 PM-Midnight Showtime.. The Cottontails are one of the Bay Area’s best vintage jazz ensembles playing a wide range of styles ranging from 20’/30’s Gatsby-era jazz, classic 40’s swing, and vintage 50’s/60’s r&b featuring a truly great jazz vocalist Karina Denike fronting the group. Highly recommended!!!! No Cover Charge..

Ivy Room 860 San Pablo Ave, Albany 8:00 PM Showtime..Come and help celebrate KPFA‘s 70th Anniversary with a great night of music featuring The Coffis Brothers & The Mountain Men a rootsy rock n’ roll band born and raised in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Influenced by those early surroundings, songwriters Jamie and Kellen Coffis’ blend of folk, blues, R&B and straight-ahead rock is evidence an upbringing spent listening to all of the right records from Tom Petty, Neil Young, and The Beatles. Rebellious troubadour David Luning, celebrated for his compelling, dynamic live performances sharing the stage with Tedeschi Trucks, Chris Issak, Robert Earl Keene among others and the high energy old time bluegrass and old country band The Bearcat Stringband & Duo round out a great night of music.. Highly recommended!!!!! $10 Cover Charge..

Yoshis 510 Embarcadero West, Oakland 8:00 PM Showtime….. Jimmie Vaughan is far more than just one of the greatest and most respected guitarists in the world of popular music. As Guitar Player magazine notes, “He is a virtual deity–a living legend.” After all, Vaughan provides a vital link between contemporary music and its proud heritage, as well as being a longtime avatar of retro cool. Since releasing his first solo album in 1994, he has set the standard for quality modern roots music. Throughout his career, Vaughan has earned the esteem of his legendary guitar-playing heroes and superstar peers along with successive generations of young players. His musical ethos and personal style have had an impact on contemporary culture, from spearheading the current blues revival with The Fabulous Thunderbirds to his longtime, innate fashion sense of slicked-back hair and sharp vintage threads (now seen throughout the pages of contemporary fashion journals) to becoming a premier designer of classic custom cars. But for Jimmie Vaughan, none of it is part of a crusade or a career plan. It’s just his natural way of living his life and pursuing the interests that have captivated Vaughan since his youth. Highly recommended!!!!! $34-$75 Cover Charge..

If you live in and around Santa Cruz you might want to check out both of these venues..

Kuumbwa Jazz Center 320 Cedar St # 2, Santa Cruz 7:00 PM & 9:00 PM Showtimes..Guitar ace Lee Ritenour began working with renowned artists while still in his teens. Nicknamed “Captain Fingers” for his virtuosic guitar skills, Ritenour rode the electric jazz/fusion wave of the late ’70s into national prominence. A founding member of Fourplay—the longtime L.A. super-group with Harvey Mason, Nathan East and Bob James—Ritenour’s smooth, melodic style has inspired an entire generation of guitarists. Pianist Dave Grusin is one of the most prolific producer/arrangers of the last five decades. Grusin’s GRP label has recorded the crème de la crème of the jazz and smooth jazz worlds. They are both great musicians. Highly recommended!!!!!! $42 Cover Charge…

Moes Alley 1535 Commercial Way, Santa Cruz 8:00 PM Showtime.. Mexico’s King of Cumbia Celso Pina is an accordion player and singer who has risen to be one of the most notable figures in cumbia music. Cumbia has it’s origins in Colombia’s African and indigenous populations, but it has spread to be one of the most universal Latin American genres. Celso Piña is a pioneer in mixing or blending sounds of tropical base, combined with all kind of popular genres from norteño to sonidero, Ska, Reggae, Rap, Hip Hop or R&B, just to mention some. For this reason he’s considered one of the best musicians from Mexico and Latin America. Highly recommended!!!! $35 Cover Charge..

Friday April 12th

Biscuits and Blues 401 Mason St, San Francisco 7:30 PM & 10:00 PM Showtimes.. “The Velvet Hurricane” Guy King is a great contemporary blues musician whose music is fresh and unique while maintaining a strong link to the musical masters that came before him. His natural musical abilities and his one of a kind blend of blues, jazz, soul, and r&b are some of what makes Guy King so special in the music world. Named as Chicago’s Latest Royalty by Vintage Guitar Magazine, Guy continues to perform, write and record new material with an ear sensibly tilted toward producing great music: taking the varied music he loves and recasting it in new directions. Highly recommended!!!! $24 Cover Charge..

Club Deluxe 1511 Haight St, San Francisco 6:00 PM-9:00 PM Showtime… The Cottontails are one of the Bay Area’s best vintage jazz ensembles playing a wide range of styles ranging from 20’/30’s Gatsby-era jazz, classic 40’s swing, and vintage 50’s/60’s r&b featuring a truly great jazz vocalist Karina Denike fronting the group. Highly recommended!!!! No Cover Charge..

Neck Of The Woods 406 Clement St, San Francisco 9:00 PM Showtime…. Singer/songwriter Leilani Wolfgramm is a soulful reggae/r&b/hip-hop musician who mixes influences of he Polynesian roots.. Leilani is an electrifying performer with a dedicated fan base and has been seen with such acts as Incubus, Ziggy Marley and Dirty Heads. Leilani Will be making stops along the West Coast to celebrate her latest release on the upcoming “Live Wire Tour.” Highly recommended!!!!! $20 Cover Charge..

Yoshis 510 Embarcadero West, Oakland 7:30 PM -9:30 PM Showtimes….. Guitar ace Lee Ritenour began working with renowned artists while still in his teens. Nicknamed “Captain Fingers” for his virtuosic guitar skills, Ritenour rode the electric jazz/fusion wave of the late ’70s into national prominence. A founding member of Fourplay—the longtime L.A. super-group with Harvey Mason, Nathan East and Bob James—Ritenour’s smooth, melodic style has inspired an entire generation of guitarists. Pianist Dave Grusin is one of the most prolific producer/arrangers of the last five decades. Grusin’s GRP label has recorded the crème de la crème of the jazz and smooth jazz worlds. They are both great musicians. Highly recommended!!!!!! $32-$74 Cover Charge…

Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival Empire Polo Club 81800 Avenue 51 Indio,CA.. This marks the 20th anniversary of one of the great music/art festivals. Today’s lineup includes Janelle Monae, Kacey Musgraves, Hurray For The Riff Raff, Amelie Lens, Childish Gambino and Jaden Smith. For todays complete lineup visit Coachella Lineup. $490 Festival ticket Cover Charge.

Saturday April 13th

The SF Masonic 1111 California St, San Francisco 8:00 PM Showtime.. At age 82, Buddy Guy is a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, a major influence on rock titans like Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, and Stevie Ray Vaughan, a pioneer of Chicago’s fabled West Side sound, and a living link to the city’s halcyon days of electric blues. Buddy Guy has received 7 GRAMMY Awards, a 2015 Lifetime Achievement GRAMMY Award, 37 Blues Music Awards (the most any artist has received), the Billboard Magazine Century Award for distinguished artistic achievement, a Kennedy Center Honor, and the Presidential National Medal of Arts. Rolling Stone Magazine ranked him #23 in its “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.” Highly recommended!!!!!! $39-$75 Cover Charge..

August Hall 420 Mason St, San Francisco 10:00 PM Showtime.. Time to shake your money maker and get loose with Grits & Biscuits. This trio is one of the best party bands around celebrating the southern experience through urban music, cultural connections and nightlife moves in a down home environment. I am looking forward to seeing them. Highly recommended!!!! $20 Cover Charge..

Bird & Beckett 653 Chenery St, San Francisco 8:40 PM-11:00 PM Showtime.. Knucklebean the late, great drummer Eddie Marshall‘s, working band has reunited to play his compositions, with his son, Alcide Marshall in the drum chair, Peck Allmond on trumpet & flugelhorn, Kenny Brooks on tenor sax, Glen Pearson on piano and Jeff Chambers on bass. Highly recommended!!!!! $25 Cover Charge..

Biscuits and Blues 401 Mason St, San Francisco 7:00 PM & 9:30 PM Showtimes..“The Velvet Hurricane”Guy King is a great contemporary blues musician whose music is fresh and unique while maintaining a strong link to the musical masters that came before him. His natural musical abilities and his one of a kind blend of blues, jazz, soul, and r&b are some of what makes Guy King so special in the music world. Named as Chicago’s Latest Royalty by Vintage Guitar Magazine, Guy continues to perform, write and record new material with an ear sensibly tilted toward producing great music: taking the varied music he loves and recasting it in new directions. Highly recommended!!!! $24 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 the massively talented NorCal trio featuring Joshua Howell (Vocals, Guitar, Harmonica)Pete Devine (Drums & Washboard) and Joe Kyle Jr. (Upright Bass). Triple threat talent Joshua Howell (slide guitars, harmonica, voice) and percussion savant Pete Devine (drums, washboard) plus snappy doghouse bassist Joe Kyle Jr. deftly mix sinuous Delta/country blues with wildly syncopated rhythms to create a rollicking present day sound from the past. HowellDevine breaks from the norm, providing rich and complex textures integral to the music rather than simple backing for a soloist. The result is a sound which stands in stark contrast to the typical blues heard in bars these days and would more likely be shaking the floors of a Southern juke joint some 70 years ago. Highly recommended!!!! No Cover Charge.. N/C

Revolution Cafe 3248 22nd St, San Francisco 5:00 PM-8:30 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 disappoint.. Highly recommended!!! N/C

Sausalito Seahorse 305 Harbor Drive, Sausalito 8:00 PM Showtime.. Steve Lucky & The Rhumba Bums is one of the fun bands in the Bay Area performing vintage jazz, pounding boogie-woogies, sultry ballads, and funky-swinging New Orleans R&B. Tonight they focus on giving you the beat to move your feet. Highly recommended!!!! $15 Cover Charge

Cornerstone Craft Beer & Live Music 2367 Shattuck Ave, Berkeley 8:30 PM Showtime… Mojo Green is a 7-piece, female-fronted, horn-heavy funk from Reno, NV. Over the last few years Mojo Green has been taking their high energy, hard hitting, crazy dance party to storied venues & festivals across the West coast. The band has earned them the reputation of being one of the funkiest live shows around. Opening the show is Petaluma’s own The Big Fit which plays a unique blend of Pop, Funk, and Rock music. This band has as good a horn section as anyone and they cover all the bases from Tower of Power, The Meters, The Sons of Champlin, and Stevie Wonder. The Big Fit is sure to get your blood pumping, booty shaking, and your groove grooving! This is gong to be a great show.. Highly recommended!!!!! $14 Cover Charge…

Yoshis 510 Embarcadero West, Oakland 7:30 PM -9:30 PM Showtimes….. Guitar ace Lee Ritenour began working with renowned artists while still in his teens. Nicknamed “Captain Fingers” for his virtuosic guitar skills, Ritenour rode the electric jazz/fusion wave of the late ’70s into national prominence. A founding member of Fourplay—the longtime L.A. super-group with Harvey Mason, Nathan East and Bob James—Ritenour’s smooth, melodic style has inspired an entire generation of guitarists. Pianist Dave Grusin is one of the most prolific producer/arrangers of the last five decades. Grusin’s GRP label has recorded the crème de la crème of the jazz and smooth jazz worlds. They are both great musicians. Highly recommended!!!!!! $32-$74 Cover Charge..

If you live in and around Santa Cruz you might want to check out these two venues.

Moes Alley 1535 Commercial Way, Santa Cruz 6:00 PM & 8:30 PM Showtimes.. Los Lobos is one of the most acclaimed American bands. Calling themselves “just another band from East L.A.” they have won over critics and a legion of loyal fans with their bracing mixture of rock, blues, Tex-Mex, country, R&B, and Mexican folk sounds, with the band’s sound ranging from gentle acoustic ballads to the outer limits of experimental rock. Their eclectic sound is what defined them as a vital example of America’s cultural melting pot. Fusing traditional country with a rich variety of rock, pop, and Latin influences. Highly recommended!!!!! $55 Cover Charge..

Rio Theatre 1205 Soquel Ave, Santa Cruz 8:00 PM Showtime. Jimmie Vaughan is far more than just one of the greatest and most respected guitarists in the world of popular music. As Guitar Player magazine notes, “He is a virtual deity–a living legend.” After all, Vaughan provides a vital link between contemporary music and its proud heritage, as well as being a longtime avatar of retro cool. Since releasing his first solo album in 1994, he has set the standard for quality modern roots music. Throughout his career, Vaughan has earned the esteem of his legendary guitar-playing heroes and superstar peers along with successive generations of young players. His musical ethos and personal style have had an impact on contemporary culture, from spearheading the current blues revival with The Fabulous Thunderbirds to his longtime, innate fashion sense of slicked-back hair and sharp vintage threads (now seen throughout the pages of contemporary fashion journals) to becoming a premier designer of classic custom cars. But for Jimmie Vaughan, none of it is part of a crusade or a career plan. It’s just his natural way of living his life and pursuing the interests that have captivated Vaughan since his youth. Highly recommended!!!!! $45 Cover Charge..

Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival Empire Polo Club 81800 Avenue 51 Indio,CA.. This marks the 20th anniversary of one of the great music/art festivals. Today’s lineup includes Tame Impala, Solange and Kid Cudi. For todays complete lineup visit Coachella Lineup. $490 Festival ticket Cover Charge.

Sunday April 14th

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. Highly recommended!!!! N/C

Biscuits and Blues 401 Mason St, San Francisco 7:00 PM & 9:00 PM Showtimes.. . Alvon is one of the most versatile musicians singers and entertainers on the music scene today. Known as the “Ambassador of the Blues”, Alvon travels the world singing and swinging jazz standards and sharing his love and respect for the American art form with enthusiastic audiences all over the world. Highly recommended!! $20 Cover Charge..

Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society 311 Mirada Rd, Half Moon Bay 4:30 PM Showtime. Post-bop trumpeter, arranger and composer, David Weiss returns with his Sextet with David on trumpet, Myron Walden on alto sax, J.D. Allen on tenor sax, Josh Nelson on piano, Hans Glawischnig on bass and E.J. Strickland on drums. Weiss, who has toured with Freddie Hubbard, Billy Harper, Bobby Hutcherson, Slide Hampton, James Moody, among many others, formed the Sextet to explore new compositional concepts and styles he was developing that did not fit the sound of his other projects. As a prolific and accomplished leader of several unique ensembles, Weiss’ goals have always been to move jazz forward. Get ready to stretch the outer reaches of straight-ahead jazz! Highly recommended!!!!! $35/$45 Cover Charge..

Piedmont Piano Company 1728 San Pablo Avenue, Oakland 4:00 PM- Showtime.. Vocalist Jackie Ryan, pianist Larry Vuckovich, and bassist Jeff Chambers come together for an intimate trio format of varied jazz styles and tempos. Their music has richness and depth, featuring jazz classics, rare standards, South American bolerso, Brazilian music, blues, and more. Highly recommended!!!!! $20 Cover Charge..

Yoshis 510 Embarcadero West, Oakland 7:00 PM -9:00 PM Showtimes….. A supreme meeting of rhythm masters occurs with this inspired duet. The Tony Award winning Savion Glover, an artist called “the greatest virtuoso of our time, perhaps of all time” (New Yorker), joins forces with Marcus Gilmore, an heir to jazz royalty as grandson to iconic drummer Roy Haynes. Gilmore, known for his own group Actions Speak, is a dynamic musician who plays often with such luminaries such as Chick Corea, Pharoah Sanders, Vijay Iyer & Ravi Coltrane. Glover and Gilmore are where rhythm and melody converge. Highly recommended !!!!! $39-$74 Cover Charge….

Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival Empire Polo Club 81800 Avenue 51 Indio,CA.. This marks the 20th anniversary of one of the great music/art festivals. Today’s lineup includes Ariana Grande, Khalid, Zedd and Sofi Tukker. For todays complete lineup visit Coachella Lineup. $490 Festival ticket Cover Charge.

Video Pick Of The Week!!

This Is Noise Pop is a look at the birth of Independant Rock. Since 1993, San Francisco’s Noise Pop festival has hosted indie bands including Death Cab for Cutie, The Shins, Pavement and many more. Director Adam Werbach’s documentary (which premiered at this year’s Noise Pop and is looking for distribution) was filmed onstage and backstage between 1998 and 2009, capturing the rise of current indie rock in the process. “It’s about the idea of indie and what happens when it goes mainstream—is it still indie?” says Werbach. Among the highlights: Isaac Brock of Modest Mouse cursing out an audience for making too many requests, Ben Gibbard of Death Cab recalling the band’s rise to fame and Pavement’s Scott Kannberg offering bitter memories of the band–prior to its recent reunion.