JUNE 2025 RECOMMENDATIONS
Not a Calendar Really,
More Like Telephone Pole With Posters
The LOCAL SF Scene
Last Update: June 12, 2024
HEADLINE VENUES
If you are in the San Francisco Bay Area, do check out the calendar at SFJAZZ. They have amazing bands that often defy categories and genres. It is a great place to hear music. The lineup for the 2025 season is off the charts!
https://www.sfjazz.org/
FUN NIGHT TO GO OUT: WEDNESDAYS
The Mission has plenty of music on Wednesdays. The https://etceterawinebar.com/ on Valencia by 19th Street often has a stellar jazz trio. Unfortunately Cha Cha Cha on Mission Street at 19th closed. Blondie’s does the Salsa thing where you can sometimes hear Carl Perazzo playing congas and singing some classics. The Royal Cuckoo has Chris Siebert on the mighty Hammond organ and often the best jazz players in town sitting in! (3202 Mission St, San Francisco, CA)
REOCCURRING EVENTS
Bird and Beckett Books is in cozy Glen Park near the BART not far from La Corneta which makes a very good burrito. There is also pizza and sushi nearby. Really easy to get to if you are on BART. There is excellent live music 4 nights a week. See calendar for recent events.
Thursday – Yerba Buena Lunchtime Concerts
Free shows of an amazing array of music.
https://ybgfestival.org/thursday-lunchtime/#thursday-lunchtime-calendar
Friday and Saturdays
Lakehouse Jazz
7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Stowlake Boathouse
50 Stow Lake Drive East
In Golden Gate Park. A very cool place to listen to music.
CHRIS SIEBERT LIVE
Wed-Sun, 8-11pm
Always an all-star musical lineup with many of the best jazz players in town sitting in at the Royal Cuckoo. Never a cover charge, always featuring the mighty Hammond organ!
3202 Mission St, San Francisco, CA
You can take the bus
If you pay the fare,
The Mission 14 will get you there.
Go underground.
Or ride your bike.
Get your dancing shoes on
There’s a party tonight.
– Goin on Down – Paul Lyons
Salsa and Latin Jazz at Blondies – Wednesdays 8-11:30pm
Dancing and great drinks. Rotating bands and always some local flavor.
Thursday Fabio often holds down the spot at Arcana with his band Orange Sunshine. Always a great band with Adam Klipple often on the gig. Sometimes Victor Little on bass. Always funky. The wine at Arcana is hit or miss so choose wisely.
Thursday nights, I would also recommend Oli Dudek and his Jazz Odyssey – always great players, often local legends and always fresh tunes. Oli Dudek plays Thursday nights at Local Edition in the Hearst Building 691 Market St, (cross street is 3rd) and parking can be found on side streets as this part of town is pretty empty at this time of night. Very cool place as it is like a speakeasy with a lot of history. https://www.instagram.com/baybassdude/
For another outstanding jazz a good spot in North Beach is Keys Bistro 498 Broadway. Excellent food at the venue and many excellent restaurants nearby.
Sunday nights at the Madrone Art Bar is the spot. Starting out at 8:30 pm is trumpeter Mike Almos leading a trio. Get there early and listen to some outstanding straight ahead jazz before the place fills up and they open it up for a jam. Many times some heavy cats roll through the door from residencies at SFJAZZ and elsewhere.
Sunday from 5-8pm Edgardo Cambon leads an amazing trio on a rooftop restaurant bar named Cavaña near the ballpark. 100 Channel St., 17th Floor, San Francisco. 415-757-1470. Tricky parking at times. Fancy place but no cover where the owners seem to have no idea the amazing band that is playing on the deck as they keep the inside house music on while they play. Go out onto the deck and listen and dance to the band.
The Page Bar at 298 Divisadero @ Page St.
Lots of music and some of the best players in San Francisco. Not easy to figure out who is playing on a giving night but this place is cozy and has a lot of soul. Mondays from 5-7pm happy hour often has some pretty amazing musicians working the gig.
Bay Area Jazz in The Neighborhood
The non-profit Jazz in the Neighborhood guarantees a fair wage for musicians. It makes it so people can go to cool restaurants, bars and establishments and hear professional players in town perform.
https://jazzintheneighborhood.org/jazzmobile/
https://jazzintheneighborhood.org/events-calendar/
