A recent Sunday afternoon jazz matinee at Cafe Royale was a sleepy affair. About 15 people, most of them middle-aged, sat around this ramshackle downtown San Francisco bar sipping tea and wine while a saxophone, drum and bass trio played a mellow mixture of mostly standards. The noise of rustling bags of pistachios and yogurt-covered pretzels, which several audience members had taken along for snacks, accompanied the polite applause at the end of each number. Anyone who stopped by the Cafe Royale that afternoon to take the pulse of the local jazz scene would have reason to declare it faint.
Cliches about jazzs being a dying art form the province of a generation reminiscing about the good old days of smoky clubs in the Fillmore district and North Beach linger in the Bay Area. And, as is the case elsewhere around the country, the local jazz vista isnt what it once was.
“San Francisco still has some tremendous musicians," said Ken Bullock, who runs the monthly jazz matinee at Cafe Royale. “But for decades, the city hasnt been a great place for them to have a real public face."
Yet the citys most visible presenter of the genre, SFJazz (which oversees the annual San Francisco Jazz Festival, among other events), coupled with a simmering--if not quite bubbling--underground scene, is working to keep jazz alive. And things may be looking up: SFJazz recently announced plans to build a 35,000-square-foot jazz performance and education center in Hayes Valley.
Since its founding in 1983, SFJazz has been a nomadic organization, presenting shows in places like the Herbst Theater, Davies Symphony Hall and the Masonic Center. Since 2004 it has developed its own successful band, the SFJazz Collective, whose members have included Joshua Redman, Dave Douglas, Joe Lovano and Nicholas Payton.
Cliches about jazzs being a dying art form the province of a generation reminiscing about the good old days of smoky clubs in the Fillmore district and North Beach linger in the Bay Area. And, as is the case elsewhere around the country, the local jazz vista isnt what it once was.
“San Francisco still has some tremendous musicians," said Ken Bullock, who runs the monthly jazz matinee at Cafe Royale. “But for decades, the city hasnt been a great place for them to have a real public face."
Yet the citys most visible presenter of the genre, SFJazz (which oversees the annual San Francisco Jazz Festival, among other events), coupled with a simmering--if not quite bubbling--underground scene, is working to keep jazz alive. And things may be looking up: SFJazz recently announced plans to build a 35,000-square-foot jazz performance and education center in Hayes Valley.
Since its founding in 1983, SFJazz has been a nomadic organization, presenting shows in places like the Herbst Theater, Davies Symphony Hall and the Masonic Center. Since 2004 it has developed its own successful band, the SFJazz Collective, whose members have included Joshua Redman, Dave Douglas, Joe Lovano and Nicholas Payton.
