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

Monday December 16th

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.. 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..
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…

Amnesia Bar 853 Valencia St, San Francisco 6:30 PM-8:30 PM Showtime..
The Handsome Ladies, the best ladies-only bluegrass ensemble, hold an early jam session. If you are a lady, bring your instrument and get involved. Highly recommended!! N/C

Amnesia Bar 853 Valencia St, San Francisco 9:00 PM-11:55 PM Showtime..
Windy Hill, the first ladies of Bay Area bluegrass music, have a return engagement to Amnesia. This should be a good show..N/C

Yoshis 510 Embarcadero West, Oakland 8:00 PM Showtime…Legendary iconic singer/songwriter Sophie B Hawkin has been tugging at heartstrings for decades with her powerful storytelling. She embraces an eclectic range of musical influences that includes Marlene Dietrich, jazz vocalists Billie Holiday, Nina Simone and Anita O’Day, Bob Dylan, John Coltrane, Miles Davis celebrated African musician Babatunde Olatunji, and Brian Ferry and Roxy Music. This should be a great show…Highly recommended!!!!! $24-$59 Cover Charge..

If you live near Santa Cruz check out

Kuumbwa Jazz Center 320 Cedar St # 2, Santa Cruz, CA 7:00 PM & 9:00 PM Showtimes.. .With a career spanning 25 years and almost 20 albums Charlie Hunter consistently ups his game as an innovative writer and bandleader. Charlie will be performing with a trio that includes blues/jazz/funk singer Lucy Woodward and drummer Doug Belote. Highly recommended!!!!! $34.65 Cover Charge Per Show…

Tuesday December 17th

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

Club Deluxe 1511 Haight St, San Francisco 6:00 PM 9:00 PM Showtime…
Jules Broussard has been a Bay Area favorite for over thirty years. His career spans over three decades of shared studio and stage with such luminaries as Ray Charles, Boz Scaggs, Van Morrison, Carlos Santana, Earl Grant, Elvin Bishop, Art Garfunkel and Doctor Hook. Jules will be performing with one the the Bay Area’s best jazz vocalists Stella Heath founder of the Billie Holiday Project. This is going to be a great 3 hours of music. Highly recommended!!!!! N/C

Bottom of the Hill 1233 17th St, San Francisco 8:30 PM Showtime. A good show in store tonight with a indie rock band from Ontario, CA that I really like Ariel View headlining. Rounding out the bill are two pop punksters from San Francisco Maggie Gently and See Night. Highly recommended!!!! $12 Cover Charge..

Brick & Mortar Music Hall 1710 Mission St, San Francisco 9:00 PM Showtime. A great night of music featuring a really fun and accomplished acoustic jam band out of Portland Band Of Comerados. Opening up the show are a bluesy progressive bluegrass band Boot Juice and the folk rock/soul band Tay & The Janglahdahs. I really like all three bands. This should be a great show.. Highly recommended!!!!! $10 Cover Charge..

The Freight & Salvage 2020 Addison Street Berkeley 8:00 PM Showtime.. Its the Holiday Swing Show featuring Bay Area treasure folk and blues singer Maria Muldaur and music virtuoso John Jorgenson. Over the years, as an antidote to all the sappy and sentimental Christmas tunes we are all inundated with every holiday season, Muldaur has collected some wonderfully hip, swinging, humorous and irreverent Christmas songs by her favorite Jazz and Blues artists. In collaboration with John Jorgenson’s Trio, they will be presenting their special “Holiday Swing Show” for a fun evening of what Maria calls “Christmas tunes for Hipsters.” Highly recommended!!!!! $15-$30 Cover Charge…

Ashkenaz 1317 San Pablo Ave, Berkeley 8:00 PM-11:30 PM Showtime..
Tom Rigney and Flambeau is the Bay Area’s preeminent cajun & zydeco band. This is such a fun band. Highly recommended!! $15 Cover Charge..

Ivy Room 860 San Pablo Ave, Albany 8:00 PM Showtime.. .With a career spanning 25 years and almost 20 albums Charlie Hunter consistently ups his game as an innovative writer and bandleader. Charlie will be performing with a trio that includes blues/jazz/funk singer Lucy Woodward and drummer Doug Belote. Highly recommended!!!!! $25 Cover Charge…

Wednesday December 18th

August Hall 420 Mason St, San Francisco 8:30 PM Showtime.. One of the great Los Angeles alternative rock bands of the 90’s Phantom Planet is back on a limited tour. The four piece power-pop and alt-rock sound band is best known for its track “California”, which became the theme song for the TV series The O.C.. Opening up the set is a wonderful rock trio out of Austin, Texas Fastball.. Highly recommended!!!!!! $25 Cover Charge…

Le Colonial 20 Cosmo Pl, San Francisco 8:00 PM-11:00 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

Mr.Tipples 39 Fell St, San Francisco 7:00 PM-10:00 PM Showtime..
The Midnight Moods are one of the Bay Areas best kept secrets. This is a wonderful classic jazz trio led the amazing Jacqueline Corona on vocals with Alex Farrell on bass and Julian Shipp on piano. Highly recommended!! N/C

Club Deluxe 1511 Haight St, San Francisco 6:00 PM-9:00 PM Showtime..
Lulu & The Rent Party is one of my favorite bay Area bands. They play an eclectic selection of jazz, latin, and pop tunes. They are really fun. 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.

The Lucky Horseshoe Bar 453 Cortland Ave, San Francisco 8 PM-Midnight Showtime.. Ed Ivey’s Weekly Blues Jam gets the bar rocking. His weekly jam is really fun. N/C

Local Edition 691 Market St, San Francisco 8:30 PM-11:45 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!! No Cover Charge…

Ivy Room 860 San Pablo Ave, Albany 8:00 PM Showtime.. Damn Skippy featuring three members of the 1990’s Bay Area acid-Jazz supergroup T.J. Kirk, Scott Amendola, Will Bernard & John Schott are joined by Jenny Scheinman & Todd Sickafoose making for a special night of grooving musical mayhem and feverish East Bay-centric Jazz and Funk. Highly recommended!!!! $10 Cover Charge..

If you live near Santa Cruz check out

Kuumbwa Jazz Center 320 Cedar St # 2, Santa Cruz, CA 7:00 PM & 9:00 PM Showtimes.. . Three-time Grammy-winning salsa and Latin jazz band Spanish Harlem Orchestra sets the gold standard for excellence in authentic, New York style salsa. Their energy on stage and their rich sound and musical precision leave audiences mesmerized until the last note is played. With an unwavering respect for the music’s storied history, the ensemble’s thirteen world-class musicians and vocalists come together to create an unparalleled musical experience. Highly recommended!!!!!!!! $52.50 Cover Charge Per Show..

Thursday December 19th

SF Jazz 201 Franklin St, San Francisco 7:30 PM Showtime. Three-time Grammy-winning salsa and Latin jazz band Spanish Harlem Orchestra sets the gold standard for excellence in authentic, New York style salsa. Their energy on stage and their rich sound and musical precision leave audiences mesmerized until the last note is played. With an unwavering respect for the music’s storied history, the ensemble’s thirteen world-class musicians and vocalists come together to create an unparalleled musical experience. Highly recommended!!!!!!!! $50/$75/$105 Cover Charge..

SF Jazz Joe Henderson Lab 201 Franklin St, San Francisco 7:00 PM & 8:30 PM Showtimes. 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!!!!!! $35 Cover Charge Per Show.

Club Deluxe 1511 Haight St, San Francisco 6:00 PM-9:00 PM Showtime.
Vocalist Darlene Langston shares her selections from the Great American Songbook, as well as her love of the blues. Ms. Langston is accompanied by the all star Saints & Sinners Jazz Band. Join Darlene Langston for an exciting evening of straight ahead jazz, swinging vocals, and soulful blues.

Club Deluxe 1511 Haight St, San Francisco 9:30 PM-12:30 AM Showtime..
Junk Parlor’s influences range from Louis Armstrong, Charlie Christian and Django Reinhardt to Fats Domino, Howling Wolf and Elvis. This is one of the best and most creative Bay Area bands. Highly recommended!! N/C.

Le Colonial 20 Cosmo Pl, San Francisco 8:00 PM-11:00 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!! No Cover Charge…

Tupelo 1337 Grant Ave, San Francisco 9:00 PM-1:00 AM Showtime.. If you don’t know Johnny Z and the Camaros you should. They are such a fun rock and roll band. They will have Tupelo rockin’ out. N/C..

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

Moes Alley 1535 Commercial Way, Santa Cruz 8:30 PM Showtime.
Melvin Seals & The Jerry Garcia Band has been a powerful presence in the music industry for over 30 years with a long-established reputation as a performer, recording artist and producer. Melvin is most revered for his powerful, high-spirited, Hammond B-3 organ, and keyboards in the Jerry Garcia Band. Melvin spun his B-3 magic with the Jerry Garcia Band for 18 years and in doing so helped pioneer and define what has now become “Jam Band Music”. From blues to funk to rock to jazz, Melvin Seals serves up a tasty mix with a little R&B and gospel thrown in to spice things up. Highly recommended!!!!!!

Friday December 20th

SF Jazz 201 Franklin St, San Francisco 7:30 PM Showtime. Pianist Adam Shulman reprises his tribute to Bay Area jazz legend Vince Guaraldi and his soundtrack to Charles Schulz’s 1965 holiday classic, A Charlie Brown Christmas. Among the most beloved holiday albums of all time Shulman will be joined by bassist John Wiitala and drummer James Gallagher. Highly recommended!!!! $30/$50/$70 Cover Charge.

SF Jazz Joe Henderson Lab 201 Franklin St, San Francisco 7:00 PM & 8:30 PM Showtimes. 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!!!!!! $35 Cover Charge Per Show.

Club Deluxe 1511 Haight St, San Francisco 9:30 PM-1:00 AM 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

Bird & Beckett 653 Chenery St, San Francisco 5:30 PM-8:00 PM Showtime..
The Scott Foster Quintet has been performing regularly for the last several years and compiled a large repertoire. Joining Scott will be Geechi Taylor on trumpet, David Boyce and James Mahone on reeds, Surya Prashanka on drums, Grant Levin on piano Dave Rwell on bass and led by Scott on guitar. Scott is a great jazz guitarist and this band really cooks. Highly recommended!!! $10 Cover Charge..

Club Fox 2209 Broadway Street, Redwood City 8:00 PM Showtime..
Melvin Seals & The Jerry Garcia Band has been a powerful presence in the music industry for over 30 years with a long-established reputation as a performer, recording artist and producer. Melvin is most revered for his powerful, high-spirited, Hammond B-3 organ, and keyboards in the Jerry Garcia Band. Melvin spun his B-3 magic with the Jerry Garcia Band for 18 years and in doing so helped pioneer and define what has now become “Jam Band Music”. From blues to funk to rock to jazz, Melvin Seals serves up a tasty mix with a little R&B and gospel thrown in to spice things up. Highly recommended!!!!!! $35 Cover Charge…

Speisekammer 2424 Lincoln Ave, Alameda 8:30 PM Showtime.. Blonde Toledo plays energetic music with rhythms from a plurality of backgrounds. Full of surprises, yet firmly based in Brill Building Pop, Colombian Cumbia, Yiddish Theatre, Post Bop Jazz, 60’s Rock, and whatever falls to hand. Highly recommended!!!!!! No Cover Charge..

The UC Theatre 2036 University Ave, Berkeley 8:00 PM Showtime.. The great Ethiopian musician and arranger Mulato Astatke is best known as the father and pioneer of Ethio-jazz music and is arguably one of the most influential and legendary musicians from Ethiopia. During the 1960’s, he studied music abroad in London, Boston, and New York. He then returned home to Ethiopia armed with a love for jazz and Latin music. There he blended Ethiopian traditional music with the Latin-jazz he was so fond of to create a unique hybrid he called “Ethio-jazz”. The multi-instrumentalist, playing the vibraphone, keyboards and organs, is further credited as having established congas and bongos, instruments normally central to Latin styles, in Ethiopian music. Highly recommended!!!!! $42.50-$67.50 Cover Charge..

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

Moes Alley 1535 Commercial Way, Santa Cruz 9:00 PM Showtime. A great night of music and dancing your ass off with Midtown Social a nine-piece tour-de- force.The musicianship and fresh vocal arrangements of ranging from funk, rock hip hop and soul had the place rockin’. Highly recommended!!!!! $15 Cover Charge..

Saturday December 21st

SF Jazz 201 Franklin St, San Francisco 11:00 AM Showtime. Pianist Adam Shulman reprises his tribute to Bay Area jazz legend Vince Guaraldi and his soundtrack to Charles Schulz’s 1965 holiday classic, A Charlie Brown Christmas. Among the most beloved holiday albums of all time Shulman will be joined by bassist John Wiitala and drummer James Gallagher. Highly recommended!!!! $5/$10/$23 Cover Charge.

SF Jazz 201 Franklin St, San Francisco 7:30 PM Showtime. The Marcus Shelby Orchestra will be performing Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn’s arrangement of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker Suite. . Highly recommended!!!!! $40/$60/$80 cover charge.

SF Jazz Joe Henderson Lab 201 Franklin St, San Francisco 7:00 PM & 8:30 PM Showtimes. 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!!!!!! $35 Cover Charge Per Show.

Bottom of the Hill 1233 17th St, San Francisco 8:30 PM Showtime. A really fun night of music to benefit W.O.M.A.N.; Inc. (Organized to Make Abuse Nonexistent, Inc. (W.O.M.A.N., Inc.). Headlining the show is one of my favorite indie rock surf pop local bands The Hot Toddies. Also on the bill are emo pop punsters The Real Pity Party, Chicago based indie alternative dream rockers Bernie & The Wolf and to get things started a rocking indie punk band out of San Jose Kitty Kat Fan Club. Highly recommended!!!!! $15 Cover Charge….

The Lost Church 65 Capp St, San Francisco 8:00 PM Showtime.
Rusty Stringfield is a high energy acoustic four piece have been spilling out of their corner pub and onto some of the finest stages in town. No song is safe once Rusty Stringfield get fired up from traditional bluegrass to soul, reggae, and arena rock (maybe all at once). Tight harmonies, tasty instrumentals… and a side of accordion. This is one foot stomping band. Opening the show are The Overextended, a Bay Area quartet influenced by their backgrounds in traditional, folk, ethnic, pop and alternative music with roots. Highly recommended!!!!!! $20 Cover Charge..

Club Deluxe 1511 Haight St, San Francisco 10:00 PM-1:00 AM 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…

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!!!

The Freight & Salvage 2020 Addison Street Berkeley 7:00 PM Showtime..
Kugelplex is the West Coast’s most rockin’-est purveyor of klezmer and old-world party music. Formed in 2001, the group plays wild, soulful dance music featuring an all-star cast of Bay Area virtuoso musicians. Everyone in the ensemble tours internationally, performs/records with a wide range of bands, and then comes together as Kugelplex to play this music that keeps the old-world klezmer tradition thriving into the 21st century and beyond…Highly recommended!!!!!! $10-$20 Cover Charge..

The UC Theatre 2036 University Ave, Berkeley 8:00 PM Showtime.. The great Ethiopian musician and arranger Mulato Astatke is best known as the father and pioneer of Ethio-jazz music and is arguably one of the most influential and legendary musicians from Ethiopia. During the 1960’s, he studied music abroad in London, Boston, and New York. He then returned home to Ethiopia armed with a love for jazz and Latin music. There he blended Ethiopian traditional music with the Latin-jazz he was so fond of to create a unique hybrid he called “Ethio-jazz”. The multi-instrumentalist, playing the vibraphone, keyboards and organs, is further credited as having established congas and bongos, instruments normally central to Latin styles, in Ethiopian music. Highly recommended!!!!! $42.50-$67.50 Cover Charge..

Mystic Theatre 23 Petaluma Blvd N, Petaluma 8:30 PM Showtime.. Since its inception in 1995, innovation and creativity have defined Ozomatli. Hailing from Los Angeles, the group found a way to represent the city’s eclectic culture through music that appeals to the local community and the world beyond. Ozomatli’s success is exemplified in an impressive variety of genres from classic to modern Latino, urban, hip-hop and other world styles. The “Dioses del Baile,” or “Gods of Dance,” have created one of the most exciting, captivating and flat-out fun live shows touring today. They continue to harness their musical instincts by conceiving new concepts and forging new sounds that keep fans on their toes and the world dancing. They put on a great performance… Opening the show is Oakland’s La Misa Negra, a 7-piece band known for their unique blend of heavyweight cumbia and high-energy, Afro-Latin music. Highly recommended!!!!!! $34-$43 Cover Charge…

Sunday December 22nd

SF Jazz 201 Franklin St, San Francisco 7:00 PM Showtime. The GRAMMY-winning Jewish klezmer superstars The Klezmatics return to celebrate the Festival of Light, performing seasonal music from their acclaimed holiday album Happy Joyous Hanukkah that set lyrics by the lateWoody Guthrie to their delightful original compositions. The Klezmatics have led the resurgence of the nearly forgotten klezmer tradition and contemporized it with an irreverent dose of punk rock attitude, and since their inception, have been one of most visible faces of today’s Yiddish culture. Highly recommended!!!!!!! $25/$45/$65 Cover Charge..

SF Jazz Joe Henderson Lab 201 Franklin St, San Francisco 6:00 PM & 7:30 PM Showtimes. 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!!!!!! $35 Cover Charge Per Show.

Bird & Beckett 653 Chenery St, San Francisco 4:30 PM-6:30 PM Showtime.. Legendary American blues guitarist, singer, bandleader and record producer Steve Freund will be performing with his Big 3 group featuring Howell Devine‘s Pete Devine on drums & washboard and Joe Kyle on bass’. This is a show not to miss.. Highly recommended!!!! $20 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

Video Pick Of The Week..

I wanted to share this great holiday music documentary with all of you.
Jingle Bell Rocks, directed by Mitchell Kezin, delves into the minds of some of the world’s most legendary Christmas music fanatics and hits the road to hang with his holiday heroes – including hip hop legend Joseph “Rev Run” Simmons of RUN-D.M.C., The Flaming Lips’ frontman Wayne Coyne, filmmaker John Waters, bebopper Bob Dorough, L.A. DJ and musicologist Dr. Demento, and Calypso legend The Mighty Sparrow. In his search for the twelve best, under appreciated Christmas songs ever recorded, Kezin both asks and answers the question, “Why, when Christmas rolls around, are we still stuck cozying up with Bing Crosby under a blanket of snow?” Equal parts social history, pop culture pilgrimage, and revealing character study, JINGLE BELL ROCKS! follows this motley crew of merry misfits as they confront the Christmas music mainstream, reinventing the seasonal soundtrack for the 21st century. With rollicking live performances, intimate interviews, and a kaleidoscope of touching and rare archive footage, JINGLE BELL ROCKS! is a cinematic sleigh-ride into the strange and sublime universe of alternative Christmas music. It’s also a mix-tape of twelve of the weirdest, wildest, most poignant Christmas songs you’ve never heard.