By Cathy Cassinos-Carr | Solving Sacramento | Special to the OBSERVER
Jazz has deep roots in Sacramento. For 44 years, the city played host to a massive jazz festival, traditionally held over Memorial Day weekend in Old Sacramento and drawing, at its peak, more than 100,000 attendees. But changing times led to declining numbers, forcing the event’s closure in 2017.
Sacramento also lacks a club dedicated to jazz, suggesting this uniquely all-American art form is all but dead in the River City. But there’s a movement underway to keep the music alive, spearheaded in part by a conglomerate of restaurant owners who have recently added jazz to their menus. The effort, they say, has resulted in a trifecta of dividends: It drives in business, gives old pros and young lions alike a place to play, and fills a void for local jazz fans.
Here are three Sacramento venues dedicated to the mission.
Twin Lotus Thai: Dinner and a show
It may not be jazz-only, but it’s jazz mostly — and that’s why local longtime jazz vocalist and radio personality Beth Duncan calls Twin Lotus Thai “the closest thing we’ve got to a jazz club.” Their calendar has a jazz-heavy roster of shows being performed by some of the area’s top musicians, including restaurant owner Joe Gilman himself.
Given Gilman’s status as one of the region’s most prominent music educators (currently at American River College and Sacramento State) and pianists — his résumé includes stints with Bobby Hutcherson, Henry Mancini and other giants — you’d think it would’ve been jazz first, food second when he and his wife, Kai, opened Twin Lotus Thai at 8345 Folsom Blvd. in March 2022. But no.
“It was strictly intended to be a restaurant,” he says. But when business remained slow after the first month, Gilman knew he needed to take action. Music was the obvious choice. “I thought, ‘Well, I’ll grab my keyboard and a singer, we’ll play some tunes on a Saturday night and see if that brings in more business.’”
A social media announcement was all it took. “The next thing I know, I’ve got 80 people who want to come,” Gilman recalls. It was a good kind of problem: The interest was there, but the space wasn’t. The restaurant’s capacity maxes out around 48. The fix? Do two shows a night.
No longer “Gilman and a singer,” Twin Lotus’ music offerings have expanded to include everything from trios to larger bands performing a wide range of music. Still, jazz is the primary focus, and there’s clearly an audience for it. “Even when we’re doing reasonably hardcore jazz, like Thelonious Monk or Wayne Shorter, we’re getting 60-65 reservations,” Gilman says.
The Twin Lotus experience is very much “dinner and a show,” as Gilman notes, differentiating it from much of the bar scene. “Most of the time when you go to hear music, it’s a band playing in a corner while people are having a drink, talking and relaxing,” he says. “This is different.”
SacYard: Serious musicianship in a casual setting
While the setting couldn’t be more casual — it’s a beer garden, with a sprawling patio, a collection of communal tables, and brews aplenty on tap — there’s some serious jazz happening on Wednesday nights at SacYard Community Tap House at 1725 33rd St.
Things kick off at 6 p.m. with an hour-long set from the house band, followed by a two-hour jam session, an open mike-style free-for-all that draws a multi-generational mix. The current house band is fronted by guitar virtuoso Barry Finnerty, a Bay Area transplant who has played and recorded with such heavyweights as Miles Davis, the Crusaders and the Brecker Brothers.
Having such credentialed players in the mix is serving SacYard well. “We’re starting to get a reputation as far as music is concerned,” says Dan Thebeau, who owns SacYard with wife, Melody. While different styles of music are featured on other nights, jazz night, a staple since June 2021, has been a roaring success, drawing an estimated 200-300 customers on a typical Wednesday night, according to Thebeau.
“If it’s too cold or it’s raining, we bring it inside,” he says. “We’ve got music 52 weeks a year.”
Jazz night at Jet’s: Where the action is
Thursdays are jazz nights at Jet’s American Grill & Bar. Like SacYard, Jet’s opens each show with a performance by a local band. But instead of a regular house band, Jet’s features different groups week to week — and what happens for the rest of the evening varies as well, according to events coordinator Terry Harry.
“Sometimes we’ll have one band that plays for an hour and then a jam session, sometimes we’ll have two bands back-to-back, sometimes one band will play for three hours,” he says.
Jet’s (the namesake of Jet Bonanno, who owns-operates with his brother Trent) opened in its current Midtown location at 1226 20th St. in December 2021. In early 2022, jazz night was launched.
Why jazz? Bonanno points to several factors. “Sacramento used to have a big jazz festival every year, plus several of our local schools have some of the top jazz programs in the country, so we realized jazz was a huge thing in this city,” he says. Giving young musicians an opportunity was a major driving force, Bonanno says.
In addition to high schoolers and alumni, Jet’s also draws Sac State students and jazz veterans, Harry says. “We have a wide range of ages, and a wide range of styles — pretty much all subgenres of jazz.”
This story is part of the Solving Sacramento journalism collaborative. Solving Sacramento is supported by funding from the James Irvine Foundation and Solutions Journalism Network. Our partners include California Groundbreakers, Capital Public Radio, Outword, Russian America Media, Sacramento Business Journal, Sacramento News & Review, Sacramento Observer and Univision 19. Take our reader survey.