Kurt Riback Trio

About

Lincoln Adler, saxophone. Scott Foster, piano. Kurt Ribak, bass. $20 cover charge / byob. Students $10 / kids free. For a reservation, call the bookshop at 415-586-3733. Kurt Rebak's compositions signify his reach for what happens when “Charles Mingus meets The Meters, and they go to Duke Ellington’s house to jam, with Cachao and Thelonious Monk sitting in.” Kurt has shared the stage with circus performers, preachers and fire-breathing strippers, but never all three at once. He's performed in venues ranging from Yoshi's to a club where someone stashed a loaded .45 in his bass bag. When Kurt was about four years old his mother found him dancing to the sound of the dishwasher. More conventional early musical experiences included playing ‘cello and singing in the San Francisco Boys Chorus, which performed with the San Francisco Symphony and Opera. Kurt studied at UC Berkeley, then earned a scholarship to Berklee College of Music, where he graduated with top honors. While at Berklee, he spent many hours transcribing and absorbing the styles of bassists Paul Chambers, Ray Brown, and Charles Mingus, and gained a love of composition and songwriting. Early tunes reflect a strong Thelonious Monk influence, while others reflect his love of the great bassist/composer/bandleader Charles Mingus. Later tunes bring to mind Horace Silver, Lee Morgan, and the South African composer Abdullah Ibrahim. In June 2012 Kurt was in an auto accident, seriously injuring his left hand and forearm. Thirteen operations later he resumed playing, much to the surprise of some surgeons. Kurt notes, “When I was hurt I learned how many people loved me, cared about me. They say it takes a village to raise a child. It also takes a community to heal someone.” In at least one of his tunes, he cheerfully asserts that he's not adverse to the restorative qualities of a good cocktail. Kurt's recordings are played on KCSM-FM, KPFA, KZSC, KZFR, KKUP, San Diego's Jazz 88, PRI and other jazz stations. He leads his group at venues throughout the greater San Francisco Bay Area and beyond, including sold-out appearances at Yoshi’s and SFJAZZ. His group has also performed at the Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse, San Francisco Jazz Festival , San Jose Jazz Festival, Nor-Cal Jazz Festival, Fillmore Street Jazz Festival, and Blue Note Napa...and Bird & Beckett. Kurt's working trio with Lincoln Adler on saxophone and Greg Sankovich on piano dates back to associations made in his San Francisco Boys Chorus days when he and Lincoln were members, and his subsequent undergraduate years at Berkeley when he and Lincoln encountered Greg. G reg and Lincoln co-produced Kurt's last three records, “ PAST PRESENT FUTURE ”," I Got One More! " and " ONWARD ". Greg will miss this Bird & Beckett date while he rehabs from surgery, but guitarist Scott Foster, a key figure on the Bird & Beckett roster, will step in to sub. LINCOLN ADLER , saxophones. Lincoln started playing various musical instruments at the age of 5, eventually being drawn to the saxophone in high school. Lincoln became fascinated by the power of music to communicate feelings across the boundaries of language and culture. He developed his sound playing in Bay Area bands and refined his abilities at the University of California, Berkeley as a member of the UC Jazz Ensembles. Lincoln studied with legendary saxophonist Joe Henderson and local hero Hal Stein. In Los Angeles he became an in-demand session player and composer/producer for TV and film. He released four albums under his own name as well as one with the L.A. based Rain-bo Tribe, and two with Times 4 . Lincoln has performed and recorded with actor/pianist Jeff Goldblum, The Jets, kd lang, and Olivia Newton John. He plays regularly with Kurt Ribak and is a member of jazz-funk group Times 4 , including multiple appearances at both Yoshi's Nightspots. His musical influences include Sonny Rollins, Johnny Griffin, Grover Washington Jr., Stanley Turrentine, Gustav Mahler and Meshell Ndegeocello. SCOTT FOSTER , guitar. Besides the fact that he has the longest tenure of any musician on the Bird & Beckett bandstand, dating back to the beginnings of our weekly "Jazz in the Bookshop" programming inaugurated in late 2002 by the late tenor player Chuck Peterson, Scott has had understated but outsized influence on the shape of jazz in the City in the first quarter of the 21st century. Scott has had an understated but outsized influence on the shape of jazz in the City in the first quarter of the 21st century. It all started musically in the garage of his parents' suburban house in the far east bay in the early 1980s under the heady influence of punk rock, Jimi Hendrix and Carlos Santana shredding with his high school buddies. Scott took the shards of that musical mayhem with him to Berklee School of Music in Boston. On graduation, he brought some of the associations he made there back to the Bay Area, including his vocalist/pianist/educator wife Roz, his drumming buddy Dan Foltz and others, and developed a fair portion of his adult jazz sensibilities as a gigging professional at a succession of venues through the decades. Scott's sense of the guitar was significantly shaped by his encounters with major Northern California players including Eddie Duran. Calvin Keys, Bruce Forman, Jeff Buens, Brad Buethe, Ray Scott, Bob Brumbeloe, Randy Vincent, Duncan James and so many others. Along the way, Scott blossomed as an educator at the San Francisco's Community Music Center and at The Urban School, where he now directs the Performing Arts Department and where as a teacher he developed the nascent talents of numerous players who have made their mark nationally and internationally and make up the fabric of the region's current jazz scene.