Tired of living in Larkspur and looking for digs with better access to the music that has defined his life, saxophonist Noel Jewkes was pleased to move into a small apartment in downtown Point Richmond in early 2023.
More than a jazz veteran, he’s a widely revered player whose peers dubbed him “Dr. Legato” due to his profound gift for unfurling lithe, elegantly crafted melodic lines with unhurried precision. Once ensconced in his cozy studio it didn’t take him long to start exploring his new neighborhood.
On Jewkes’ first jaunt down Washington Avenue he heard some jazz coming out of the barber shop, he said.
“So I walked in and said ‘I like your music.’ ” And thus was born a new friendship with Sam Charles, proprietor of Park Place Barbers and a New Orleans native and lifelong jazz lover.
Glancing around the old-school shop, Jewkes quickly noticed that the décor included nearly a dozen record sleeves from classic 1950s and 1960s Blue Note albums such as The Amazing Bud Powell, Lou Donaldson’s Mr. Shing-a-Ling, and Jimmy Smith’s Crazy! Baby, not to mention several horns mounted on the walls.
His daughter, jazz vocalist Tora Smart, was in town to help her father move into his apartment and noted the budding friendship. She suggested that Jewkes play some music in the shop after hours, an idea that Charles immediately embraced.
“Tora said, ‘Have you ever thought about doing pop up jazz and have folks play in the barbershop?’ ” Charles recalled. “‘All you’ve gotta do is rearrange the chairs.’ ”
Jewkes, 84, has been performing at Park Place Barbers monthly ever since, attracting standing-room-only audiences for free intimate concerts unlike anything else on tap in the Bay Area. “I call him Papa Noel, and if he’s not available, we don’t have a show,” Charles said.
Jewkes returns to the shop Thur., Feb. 20 for two shows, 6 p.m. and 7:15 p.m., with his regular compatriots, guitarist Randy Vincent, a North Bay master who mentored guitar star Julian Lage, and veteran bassist Chris Amberger, a Bay Area mainstay for more than five decades who’s recorded with the likes of Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Rosemary Clooney, and piano great Red Garland. They’re joined by guest vocalists Tina Marzell and Kay Kostopoulos.
“I’ve known Chris since the late 1970s, when I had a seven-piece band he was in,” Jewkes said. “I always loved Randy’s playing, and we’ve jelled as a trio. We’ve also been working at Zinz Wine Bar in Corte Madera, which has allowed us to get some material together. I’m creating a book of all my favorite tunes. I’ve got quite a nice writing set up in the apartment.”
Jewkes has played thousands of sets since he moved from Sacramento to San Francisco in 1960, but he’s never had a situation quite like Park Place Barbers, where his commute takes about 20 seconds.
If you go
WHAT: Noel Jewkes performing monthly at Park Place Barbers
WHEN: Next shows are Thur., Feb. 20, at 6:15 p.m. and 7:15 p.m.
WHERE: Park Place Barbers, 113 Park Place, Richmond
After walking down the stairs from his unit, he said, “I roll half a block down the street and do the gig.” There are no tickets for the shows, and seating is first-come, first-served.
Last month, Park Place Barbers was packed with 25 people for the opening show, while a small crowd gathered outside the shop to listen to Jewkes’ trio through the doors, waiting to catch the second show. Jewkes gracefully navigated jazz tunes and standards, such as a briskly swinging version of “Falling In Love With Love,” before vocalist Kay Kostopoulos joined for a deft rendition of “Surrey With the Fringe On Top.”
He pulled out his flute for a Latin-tinged take on “All Or Nothing At All,” and displayed his rich, woody clarinet tone on “Tango In Blue,” a piece featuring Kostopoulos on finger cymbals. On “Soul Station,” a hard-bop classic by tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley, she delivered an original set of lyrics celebrating the monthly gigs and “a barber as hip as a cat can be.”
Charles beamed and seemed to revel in his role as host, dishing out bowls of gumbo prepared by his brother Michael Charles, a retired chef. Libations of various proofs were passed around, and no money changed hands. It’s Louisiana-style hospitality, and Charles treasures the community that’s developed around the performances. Music and barbering go way back, he pointed out, “when you had barber shop quartets to entertain clients.”
“From the very first one we’ve had Louisiana-style food and wine, beer, soda, whiskey,” he said. “I didn’t know what was going to happen as far as how it’s going to be supported.”
Trianda Keramidas, a longtime Richmond resident, had come early and secured several seats inside. She’s been a regular since Jewkes started performing at the shop and marveled at the scene that’s taken root.
“It’s so great to have something like this in the neighborhood,” she said, drink in hand.
She was one of dozens of people who quickly rallied in support of the shows, bringing beverages and other supplies and contributing money to pay the musicians. Charles often played Jewkes’ music on the shop’s sound system during business hours, which helped attract new fans of the saxophonist.
After nearly two years, Point Richmond seems to want more of Jewkes. There’s been talk of performances at neighboring Kaleidoscope Coffee, the library’s West Side Branch, or even the Masquers Playhouse theater, “where they’ve got professional lights and seating,” Charles said. “Noel says he would put together a Duke Ellington program.”
Word is definitely spreading. Last year jazz vocal star Kim Nalley joined Jewkes’ trio for several songs, and musicians often attend the shows. Last month, veteran vocalist Wanda Stafford was in the audience, and the eminent Berkeley jazz couple, pianist Laura Klein and guitarist Tony Corman, joined the standing-room-only contingent at the back of the shop.
Point Richmond barber adds music — his ‘dream job’
“It’s a privilege, honor and blessing,” Charles said. “This is the closest I’ve ever come to my dream job, running a jazz supper club.”
Growing up in New Orleans as one of five siblings, Charles remembers his mother used to manage jazz clubs such as Devil’s Dungeon and the Blue Lake, though he was too young to go inside the joints.
“That was just one of several things she did,” he recalled. “She graduated from Jones Beauty College and was known for working with hair. I fell into that too. You’ve got to have several paths.”
The family relocated to Oakland in 1976, after Charles had finished high school, and he took up welding. Working in construction, he spent several years in New York City and Mississippi before moving back to California in 1991, when he settled in Richmond. He got his barber’s license while he continued as a welder, and ended up working with at-risk Richmond youths under a federal grant. “We’d go door-to-door to recruit them, teaching them the building trades,” he said.
When the recession of 2008 put many construction projects on hold Charles went back to barbering. He started cutting hair at Park Place when an African American patron felt the barbers there weren’t trained to style Black hair. When the shop’s proprietor decided to give up the space in 2017 Charles took it over with the help of his apprentice-turned-co-owner, Maria Hashim.
He quickly set about turning the space into an old-school community establishment, with low rates for seniors and jazz-themed decorations (a customer donated the first Blue Note album cover Charles hung up). Without planning for it, Charles designed a supremely soulful setting for one of the Bay Area’s jazz treasures.
For Jewkes, who spends much of his time writing and recording music and keeping up his chops on his menagerie of instruments (“I’ve got bass clarinet, flute, soprano sax, clarinet, and upright bass,” he said), Point Richmond has been an ideal locale. He’s slowing down as he ages but regularly rides his e-bike to the harbor, where he enjoys visiting the Red Oak Victory museum ship.
An invaluable resource on Bay Area jazz history himself, Jewkes continues to shape the contemporary scene.
How sweet that Noel found his way into a next door jazz haven with New Orleans gumbo. And Mr. Charles got his heart and soul blessed with what Noel brings to any gathering! And the community! They are the big winners. Karma will out! Aloha!
Thank you for this article! The best thing I have read on Richmondside, Oaklandside or Berkeleyside. There are some life-affirming treasures in the Bay Area if you can find them. This magic in this barbershop could save the world. We must support our fragile live music community.
It has been my great joy to perform at Sam’s many times with Noel. We have played together for many years in his quartet, and under my stage name: Black Olive Jazz. Sam is a treasure, and so is Point Richmond, the unsung beauty of the Bay Area. Thank you, Andrew, for this beautifully written article!
A redolent setting of scene, Andy, and a call to community values we’re all so in need of, regardless the size of our community.