Concerts at the Cadillac to Host SFRT

The San Francisco Recovery Theatre (SFRT) is a grassroots performance organization based in the Tenderloin led by Artistic Director Geoffrey Grier. In November of 2012, the company presented Night At The Black Hawk, a revue celebrating one of the most significant jazz venues in San Francisco, which operated between 1949 and 1963. The location was a venue for many recordings by leading artists that included Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, and Ahmad Jamal. The revue was structured around two one-act plays, Grier’s “The Spot” and “The Dutchman,” one of the best known plays by Amiri Baraka.

Tomorrow Concerts at the Cadillac will host the performance of Another Night at the Black Hawk. The actors will include Eric Ward, Vernon Medearis, Sherrie Taylor, and Gale Rosemond. Music will be provided by pianist Dave Austin and the Trio de Swing, whose members were Gorden Fels on reeds, Chuck Bennett on bass, and Bob Blankenship on drums when I last wrote about them in August of 2019. They will be joined by James Hundon on harmonica.

As was the case with last month’s Concerts at the Cadillac event, this show will begin at 1 p.m. tomorrow, Friday, January 27. The Cadillac Hotel is located at 380 Eddy Street, on the northeast corner of Leavenworth Street. The lobby features the Patricia Walkup Memorial Piano, which will be Austin’s instrument. It is a meticulously restored 1884 Model D Steinway concert grand, whose original soundboard is still intact. All Concerts at the Cadillac events are presented without charge. The purpose of the series is to provide high-quality music to the residents of the hotel and the Tenderloin District; but all are invited to visit the venue that calls itself “The House of Welcome Since 1907.”