By: Lucas Fink By: Lucas Fink | May 20, 2022 | Food & Drink, Travel & Recreation, Clubs and Bars, Music, Events, Entertainment,
Few activities in this world are able to impart that feeling of cool, classy, meditative serenity as successfully as sitting in a hazy, dimly-lit room sipping an old fashioned, listening to a jazz pianist tear up a solo at a blisteringly fast tempo, and snapping your fingers to the rhythm.
Although some worry of the death of jazz as an art form, jazz continues to blossom and find new audiences - young and old - in cities around the globe. Thankfully for Northern Californians, San Francisco is one such city in which jazz is being kept alive. These are some of the coolest and grooviest small venues in the city to catch live jazz and to live out your La La Land jazz club fantasy.
See also: Our Ultimate Tourist Route For Optimally Sightseeing All Of San Francisco
56 Gold St / Website
Bix is a beautiful entry-level choice for novices looking to get their feet wet in the city’s jazz club scene. The experience begins before you even enter: you turn into an alley right off of Jackson Square and see a neon sign casting dreamy ocean blues and reds onto the brick walls and pavement lining the alley. Stepping into Bix feels like stepping through a time-machine back into the Gilded Age of the 1930s: art-deco interior architecture, plush booth seating, and candlelit tables all combine to craft an atmosphere few other spots offer.
Check Bix out on Fridays or Saturdays to see a jazz trio play all the classics, and definitely sample the Potato Pillows and Deviled Eggs on their dinner menu.
1419 Fillmore St / Website
Sheba is the spot to plop down in a cushy chair, order a cocktail or three, snack on some pita bread, and lose all track of time while grooving to the blues; it’s the perfect low-key jazz hangout. With the music lineup ranging from solo pianists to entire quintets, the vibe at Sheba is being reimagined each night.
Sheba also features a robust and delicious Ethiopian dinner menu; the Spicy Lentil Sambussas are our go-to.
400 Eddy St / Website
Black Cat is similar to Bix; both are upscale eateries with live jazz and thorough wine lists, delightful cocktails, and posh dining options. Black Cat, though, is the sleeker and more modern of the two, with a stage and dining area bathed in futuristic, sultry purple and pink lighting. What distinguishes Black Cat musically from its peers is how well the venue is attuned to what’s hip and happening in the modern jazz scene.
In April, the club was visited by the electrifying jazz-fusion duo Sungazer, which amassed a following after wowing the New York jazz scene in 2021. Their food and drink offerings are as well-curated as their musical offerings; we suggest the Smoke-n’-Mirrors cocktail with bourbon and creme de cacao and the decadent lamb meatballs (served alongside a light cucumber yogurt).
1601 Fillmore St / Website
Whereas Bix transports you back to the era of Gilded Age excess, martinis, and flapper dresses, the Boom Boom Room is a portal to the funky, grimy 1970s. While the cocktail menu impresses, you may find yourself grooving out on the dance floor instead of leaning back in a booth with a gin-and-tonic acting all too-cool-for-school.
The dance floor is really what sets the Boom Boom Room apart, and is what helps make it feel so authentically old-school; it is a joyful resurrection of the underground dance halls and clubs that proliferated in the 60s and 70s, halls from which tasty funk basslines echoed. Go catch a movie at the Japantown AMC Kabuki 8 before heading to Boom Boom for a night of non-stop grooves and good vibes.
201 Franklin St / Website
SF Jazz caters to the jazz loyalists, those who don’t care for lux eats, cocktails, or even dancing. Jazz purists can enjoy SF Jazz’s proper concert venue just a couple blocks away from San Francisco City Hall. The spot’s lineup includes throwbacks to the Miles Davis and Dave Brubeck days as well as the most innovative names in jazz today. Their Summer Concert Series is the perfect opportunity to catch any one of over 100 wildly talented jazz groups and artists over the course of June, July, and August.
510 Embarcadero West, Oakland / Website
Our final stop on this brief tour of San Francisco’s jazz offerings is not technically in San Francisco, but fortunately is just a quick 20-minute drive over the Bay Bridge to SF’s neighbor city Oakland. That 20-minute drive will prove more than worth it, for Yoshi’s is one of the most famed jazz locales on the West Coast, and deservedly so. Visitors feast on world-class sushi and Japanese cuisine while enjoying the stylings of numerous renowned jazz musicians hailing from a variety of subgenres, whether it be swing, funk, or bossa nova.
While their wine and beer listings are nothing to scoff at, we recommend taking a peek at their many incredible sake selections (which can be served chilled or hot).
From the art-deco opulence of Bix’s fine dining experience to the Boom Boom Room’s energetic, dance-all-night atmosphere to SF Jazz’s more traditional sit-down-and-groove venue, San Francisco (and Oakland) are replete with plenty of hip spots that will satisfy jazz appreciators of any stripe.
See also: Cigar Bar & Grill Is The Perfect FiDi Oasis For Quality Food, Live Music, And Dancing
Photography by: Chris Bair/Unsplash