New North Beach jazz club Keys Bistro looking for solid footing
Last November, news that a bona fide jazz club was opening in North Beach contributed to surging optimism around San Francisco’s recovery from the lingering pandemic malaise.
Located partly in a Broadway building that was once home to the storied 1950s nightclub El Matador, Keys Jazz Bistro celebrates its first anniversary throughout the month with a talent-laden program of Bay Area masters. But rather than marking the city’s resurgence, the milestone highlights a moment when San Francisco’s rebound seems to have caromed off the rails.
By just about any measure, Keys is doing everything right. Owned and run by Australian-born pianist and organist Simon Rowe, the club is a throwback to North Beach nightlife’s glory days, with a welcoming staff, enticing menu, and enviable acoustics.
Committed to building the local scene, Rowe has focused on creating a homebase for leading Bay Area artists. There have been nights when the club is packed, but the underwhelming summer season has continued into the fall, a slowdown reported by many restaurants and venues.
“I just want to reach a point of sustainability,” said Rowe, whose resume includes a five-year stint as executive director of the University of the Pacific’s Brubeck Institute and launching the San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s Roots, Jazz and American Music program as founding executive director.
“We need to reach a certain threshold. I’m looking at other ways to be creative, like hosting events and parties. But the basic vision remains the same: present beautiful music, a room full of people, and pay the rent.”
The near-simultaneous opening of Keys and a nearby supper club Lyon & Swan seemed to promise a nightlife rebirth, with both venues hailed in a widely circulated Nob Hill Gazette article by jazz vocalist Kitty Margolis. But the very expensive looking Lyon & Swan announced its closure last month, reports of spotty turnouts for prime gigs are coming in from other essential San Francisco jazz presenters like Bird & Beckett Books and Records and Black Cat.
One shift in Rowe’s strategy to increase audiences involves leaning more heavily on vocalists, with a regular rotation of Bay Area favorites, including the great Kenny Washington Nov. 4.
The San Jose-reared musical partners Amy D. and vibraphonist Dillon Vado’s newly-named project Heart Matter plays Nov. 10, and Clairdee, who christened Keys with a ravishing club-opening performance one year ago, returns on Nov. 11.
The following weekend is a soulapalooza with Tiffany Austin Nov. 17 and Nicolas Bearde Nov. 18. Legendary San Francisco vocalist Mary Stallings, who performed at El Matador and just about every other major Bay Area theater, nightclub and jazz spot over the past six decades, closes out the month Nov. 24-25. Which isn’t to say that Rowe is neglecting instrumentalists.
“For our anniversary we want to showcase the artists who’ve contributed to the first year, but we’re also launching some new series,” he said, noting a Mighty Hammond series taking advantage of the club’s resident B3 organ Nov. 1 and 8.
And many of the horn players who helped inaugurate Keys last year are coming back, including saxophonists Smith Dobson (Nov. 8), Kristen Strom (Nov. 15), and Patrick Wolff (Nov.22), whose group also features the dean of Bay Area saxophonists, Noel Jewkes.
Wolff is one of the Bay Area luminaries who’ve found an open door at Keys. Last August he recorded a live album at the club with New York drum great William Hooker, Los Gatos-raised Paris-based pianist Richard Sears, and bass maestro Eric Revis. As a hustling player who works at venues around the region, he’s noticed the softening turnouts.
“Simon is doing it right,” said Wolff, who also performs at Piedmont Piano Company Nov. 11 and Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society Nov. 12 with veteran New York guitarist Peter Bernstein. “The food is great, the people are cool, the acoustics are excellent. He is really supporting straight-ahead swinging jazz and giving it the best possible environment. He’s booking enough stuff that has broad appeal, treating musicians fantastically. Now the audiences have to do their part.”
Rowe has the advantage of some financial backing, particularly from Keys’ co-owner Matt Mullenweg, the co-founder of WordPress and founder and CEO of Automattic. They connected via their shared history as alumni of Houston’s vaunted High School for Performing and Visual Arts (where Rowe nurtured his love of jazz before returning to Sydney).
After one year, he feels Keys is still a work in progress seeking out the sweet spot where the best jazz connects with sustainable audiences. There have been highlights like drummer Akira Tana presenting top Japanese musicians from Osaka, and New Orleans trumpet star Nicolas Payton blowing with organist Wil Blades.
“I’m always dreaming of possibilities,” Rowe said. “I’m still shaking it up when an opportunity presents itself.”
Contact Andrew Gilbert at jazzscribe@aol.com.