August 20, 2004

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Palo Alto Online

A jazzy trend

by Steven Shih

Like a Kung Fu master, the drummer swings his sticks in a whirlwind of delicate rim shots, titillating the audience with an elusive, frenetic beat.

One glance at him reveals that the face of jazz is changing: His tattoos make him look more like a drummer for the Pixies than a jazzman disciple of John Coltrane and Elvin Jones. He grimaces in concentration -- as if in physical pain -- while playing the advanced rhythms of Thelonious Monk on songs such as "Humph" and "Misterioso."

Scott Amendola, a world-renowned drummer, doesn't play free shows for just anybody. But his friend, Francisco Garibay, was especially persuasive.

"He kept bugging me," Amendola said of Garibay, general manager of STOA, an upscale vegetarian restaurant in south Palo Alto.

Accompanied by Ben Goldberg on clarinet and John Shifflett on acoustic bass, Amendola performs both jazz standards and contemporary compositions. They are currently the marquee act in a rotating roster of jazz musicians that appear every Tuesday, Friday and Saturday at Stoa.

And it's free -- a growing trend in Palo Alto.

Two other local venues -- Trader Vic's and Rose & Crown -- also offer regular jazz nights, also free. The atmosphere ranges from casual (Rose & Crown) to tropical (Trader Vic's) to sleek and sophisticated (STOA). Each locale has its own set of eclectic characters: sales reps, engineers, actors, former Naval officers, all brought together by their love of jazz.

"It follows part of a vibe or culture that we're trying to create at STOA," said Garibay, a reformed hip-hop DJ who first discovered jazz while listening to Bob James samples on Run DMC records.

"We're trying to bring a little city life to the South Bay."

A dedicated Stan Getz fan, Garibay came to STOA from the San Francisco jazz club Bacar to help co-owner Yoav Gilat create a free-jazz venue in Palo Alto. For the last year, patrons have been able to dine on creative vegetarian food and listen to jazz music in an upscale setting.

"We want STOA to be known as a place where people can enjoy great food and wine and listen to good jazz music. It's a unique combination that makes you feel at home -- no reason to travel to San Francisco to get that combination," Gilat said.

The Rose & Crown joined the jazz scene in early 2003. Bassist Nathan Pease and drummer Jon Wagner, who first started jamming together in 2001, found they had good chemistry and a year and a half later began doing jazz night on Sundays at the British-style downtown pub, where patrons can enjoy fish and chips with their pint of ale.

"They're very improvisational yet they could play anything out of the jazz standard book," said Drennon Davis, a manager at the Rose & Crown.

With Pease on acoustic bass, Wagner on drums and a different guest musician every week, the musicians experiment with standards like Ellington's "Take the A Train" or Fats Waller's "Honeysuckle Rose." One guest musician, Rick Vandivier, played an electric guitar with distortion on several songs, calling it "contemporary jazz rooted in '50s and '60s but with a 2004 aesthetic."

"We stop thinking about what we should be doing and it's always when we're having the most fun that people are the most engaged," Pease said.

Despite their virtuosity, Pease and Wagner are not professional musicians -- both have day jobs. Pease works for digital audio-console makers Euphonix, while Wagner is a mechanical engineer for biotech startup Velocity 11.

"The market can bear only so many professional positions. A lot of [musicians] are doing something else during the day," Pease said.

Even as musical moonlighters, Pease and Wagner put on a good show. Both are energetic, intense performers and their guests are all solid jazzmen -- which has attracted many regular fans to the pub.

Stuart Pendleton, a pub regular, grew up listening to Rush and Deep Purple, but when he and his son first strolled into the Rose & Crown one Sunday they both became instant jazz fans.

"You can't get a better value on the Peninsula that I know of," Pendleton said.

At Trader Vic's the value lies in the $1.5 million worth of art that decorates the restaurant and bar, but on Thursday nights that becomes just background for Latin jazz band Sambosseros. Specializing in samba and bossa nova, Sambosseros is the regular house band at Trader Vic's, known for its Polynesian menu and famous Mai Tais.

The six-member band, along with Brazilian vocalist Ana Carbatti, performs in Trader Vic's lounge area, which typically seats 40 people. That capacity drops to 25 on Thursday nights, when a touch of Ipanema invades Palo Alto.

The six members of Sambosseros also have day jobs.

"It's much more of an artistic endeavor than (a) commercial (enterprise)," said band founder and flutist Mark Dinan.

Sambosseros was born in 2001 when guitarist Pablo Riveria, seeking a job as a electrical engineer, came to Dinan, a technical recruiter. Now Sambosseros performs all over the Bay Area, including gigs. Despite their success, they continue to juggle job and music commitments.

"It's a balancing act," Dinan said. "Do you really want to play the Elbo room in San Francisco on a Tuesday night for 150 bucks when you have to get up at 6:30 in the morning to go to work?"

While Palo Alto may no longer be home to big names like Stan Getz (who taught at Stanford in the mid 1980s), the legacy of jazz is alive and upbeat in its bars, restaurants and people.

"Really we're just doing this because we love the music," Dinan said. Editorial Intern Steven Shih can be e-mailed at sshih@paweekly.com.

What: Jazz nights at STOA, Rose & Crown and Trader Vic's

When: Jazz nights at STOA take place every Tuesday, Friday and Saturday from 7 to 10 p.m. The Scott Amendola Trio will perform next on Aug. 27 and Aug. 31. Jazz nights at Rose & Crown occur every Sunday from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. Trader Vic's hosts its jazz night every Thursday from 8 to 11 p.m.

Where: STOA Restaurant and Wine Bar, 3750 Fabian Way in Palo Alto; Rose & Crown, 547 Emerson St. in Palo Alto; Trader Vic's, 4269 El Camino Real in Palo Alto.

Cost: Admission is free.

Info: STOA Restaurant and Wine Bar, (650) 424-3900 or www.stoarestaurant.com; Rose & Crown, (650) 327-7673 or www.roseandcrownpub.net; Trader Vic's, (650) 849-9800 or www.tradervicspaloalto.com.

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