Friday October 3, 2025
07:00 PM - 10:00 pm
Master drummer Jaz Sawyer lights up the October Hotplate with music from an iconic collaboration between jazz giants, the 1958 Atlantic classic Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers with Thelonious Monk.
A drummer, educator and bandleader of the first order, San Francisco-raised Jaz Sawyer has worked with many of jazz’s most formidable artists, from Wynton Marsalis, Abbey Lincoln, and George Benson to Bobby Hutcherson, Jacky Terrasson and Dee Dee Bridgewater. Now splitting his time between San Francisco and Los Angeles, he has worked with SFJAZZ as an artist and educator for many years, and one of his memorable performances includes the all-star 50th anniversary of Duke Ellington’s Concert of Sacred Music at Grace Cathedral in 2015.
Recorded for Atlantic Records in May of 1957, Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers with Thelonious Monk was a one-off collaboration between the two jazz giants. Featuring the then-current quintet lineup of Blakey’s band with tenor saxophonist Johnny Griffin, trumpeter Bill Hardman, and bassist Spanky DeBrest with Monk taking over for regular Messengers pianist Sam Dockery, the album is made up of spirited versions of Monk’s classic compositions “Evidence,” “Rhythm-a-ning,” “Blue Monk,” “In Walked Bud,” and “I Mean You” along with the Griffin original “Purple Shades,” which closes the session.
All Ages
Cover: $25.00
