Cheryl Young

Review of SFJAZZ Festival

Fantastic addition to San Francisco's jazz scene, ...

Fantastic addition to San Francisco's jazz scene, and a welcome home to a 30-year old SF institution. The building is modern and sleek with two main performance spaces 1) the spacious Miner Auditorium build specifically for jazz acoustics, and 2) the more intimate Joe Henderson Lab, are a music appreciator's dream.

SF Jazz constantly pushes the boundary with edgy programming balanced by their intimate relationship to jazz stalwarts. For example in a given season you can catch Pharoah Sanders or Herbie Hancock, and also see Jason Moran improvise to the sounds of live skateboarding on a ramp set up in Miner. It's great to see them be able to try even more progressive programming in their own space like Moran's skateboarding shows.

The Center is conveniently located near VanNess Muni station so you don't have to worry about parking if you feel like taking advantage of transit. Hayes Valley has plenty of pre-show offerings as well as the Charles Phan restaurant in house. They also have great cocktails (usually a couple available each show) and serve the likes of North Coast Brewing Co. beers (loved sipping on a Brother Thelonius here!), all of which you can enjoy at your seat while tapping your foot to whatever jazz stylings you are there to enjoy.

I highly recommend becoming a member to save on service fees ($7.50 per ticket), get early access to tickets, save on member discounts to select shows (usually 25% off), attend members' only events, some of which are free. Really, the membership pays dividends and you can support this SF institution. If you're 35 or under though you might feel like a youngin' at members' events--but we need to change that!

Tip: the seats in the balcony are like stools that swivel. While they have a back, I don't find them as comfortable as the seats below. However, the tickets to balcony seats are often quite affordable and there really is no bad seat in terms of views and acoustics.