There’ll be creative jazz in downtown Oakland every Monday night for a while, starting tonight (Jan. 7).
The place is called The Layover, and it bills itself as a bohemian music/art bar. Local musicians, billing themselves as the Oakland Freedom Jazz Society, have organized the Monday jazz sessions.
The debut bill is the trio of Ben Goldberg (clarinet), Sheldon Brown (alto sax), and Vijay Anderson (drums); you can read more about them at Anderson’s web site.
For a bit of info about the Jan. 7 show, see Facebook. The full Layover calendar is here; clicking any of the “Oakland Freedom Jazz” links reveals the full calendar:
- Jan. 7 — GBA, as noted above
- Jan. 14 — Darren Johnston Ensemble performing “Broken Shadows” (the Ornette Coleman album, I’d assume)
- Jan. 21 — Lisa Mezzacappa, leading both a string band (violin, cello, guitar, etc.) and her Bait & Switch quartet
- Jan. 28 — Aram Shelton‘s Ton Trio II. (See the comments, and for a bit about Ton Trio, see here.)
Whether this continues for more than a month, we’ll see. It would be nice, even though the first Monday of each month would conflict with the monthly jazz show at the Makeout Room in San Francisco.
The Layover is at 1517 Franklin St. between 15th and 17th, in downtown Oakland.
Memory Select: Journeys in Creative Music 
an update: 4th Mondays will be Ton Trio II: Aram Shelton, alto saxophone; Scott Brown, bass; Alex Vittum, drums.
Thanks Aram. That’s pretty cool — having a recurring gig is such a rare thing for a band.