Jazz clubs in SF

As a jazz fans, nothing beats living in Manhattan, the capital of jazz IMO. SF is probably the second best in US though. While living in the SF bay area, I could count on a few clubs for good jazz most of the time. Yoshi's has been a staple in the East Bay. The old Claremont location has its charm and it got bigger and better after moving to the Jack London Square. It was basically THE place for big names to play for decades (Milt Jackson, Chick Corea, Regina Carter, Charlie Haden to name a few) From the 90s to early 00's, SF has Jazz at Pearl's. In the past few years, Yoshi's SF (its 2nd location) has fill the void after Jazz at Pearl's went out of business. Pat Metheny, Pat Martino, McCoy Tyner, Roy Hargrove, Pharoah Sanders ...... were among some of the remarkable concerts I saw there. However, I sensed a changing of the guard ever since the grand opening of the SFJAZZ Center last year. Regina Carter and Hiromi no longer played at the Yoshi's. I saw both of their recent performances at SFJAZZ.

I foresaw clubs like Yoshi's losing big names to SFJAZZ when I learned about the plan in 2011. And my worry was rightfully justified: it's indeed more expensive to go to a concert at SFJAZZ than at Yoshi's. For comparison, tickets I bought for my SFJAZZ concerts ranged from $25-$75 (mostly in the middle) while it's $20-$50 at the Yoshi's (mostly on the lower side) So, what does the media say about these competitions? East Bay Express published an article about the rise of non-profit, which included SFJAZZ and the Sound Room in Oakland. In addition, it mentioned Yoshi's SF's financial situation and switching focus from jazz, which sounded rather sad to a long-time fan like myself. The days of big names playing 2 shows per night at the Yoshi's in Oakland from Thursday to Sunday are over too. Still, there are big names. Just for this month, Hiroshima, Cassandra Wilson and Arturo Sandoval play there.  Nevertheless, I will check out the less well-established acts at the Sound Room when I get a chance. While researching this topic, I've also found an article about another SF jazz club dealing with changes. I am putting Savannah Jazz on my list of clubs to visit.