THIS WEEK JEFF HAD THE GOOD FORTUNE TO PERFORM AGAIN FOR Concerts at the Cadillac, one of San Francisco’s best kept jazz secrets.
The focus of the ongoing Friday performances is a Steinway Model D concert grand piano built in 1884, the likes of which you rarely hear played outside of places like San Francisco’s Davies Symphony Hall. The piano has its original old-growth spruce soundboard.
“It’s the finest piano I’ve ever played. It’s magnificent and it’s kept in beautiful shape,” says Jeff, who played to a full house and razed the roof with his “Hot House,” “On Green Dolphin Street,” “My Foolish Heart,” “Bye Bye Blackbird,” “See See Rider” and “Walking the Dog,” among other tunes for his third Cadillac performance.
The concerts are held in the lobby of the Cadillac Hotel— one of several residential hotels that fill the Tenderloin, a low-income neighborhood with its ups and downs, a five-minute walk from tony Union Square.
Operated as a non profit, the 102-year-old Cadillac stands out at the corner of Eddy & Leavenworth streets. It’s as well cared for as its famous piano, given to the hotel in 2007 to memorialize the late San Francisco housing activist and Cadillac volunteer, Patricia Walkup. It was her brother Lee Walkup who donated the piano.
The concerts are free and open to the public. They’re held on select Fridays, 12:30 p.m.-1:30 p.m. Check the hotel’s website for performance dates.
Photo by Miss Jo
2 Comments
What a great-looking piano, and a great-looking piano player!
Thanks so much for the info…I know exactly where this is as we have traversed the Tenderloin many times, even thinking of living and working in the area a couple of summers ago.
We volunteered at the Glide Memorial, and after talking with a young gal who works & lives in the area, we decided we shouldn’t do both. She recommended a home away from the area so we walked the city and fell in love with the Embarcadero area and have plans now to live there. However, I still have a heart for the down and out in the Tenderloin.