WITH THE TUCSON Jazz Society on hiatus until September and few jazz concerts on the summer horizon, people are asking, "Where can we hear jazz?"

The answer is: in the clubs. Years ago many restaurants opened their patios for jazz groups during the summer evenings. Maybe the summers got hotter or the bands too expensive, but that trend seems to have moved jazz off the patio and into the solo-duo format frequenting cafés around town.

To help boost business on slow summer Monday nights, Kingfisher Bar & Grill, 2564 E. Grant Road, has invented the Blue Monday. Every Monday during the summer, the restaurant will have a jazz duo or trio from 9 p.m. to midnight. There's no cover charge, a special late night menu and groovy blue martinis. They're not sure who will be there during July and August. Appropriately, the Blue Monks duo opened the series in June.

Those Monks do get around. Since February, Matthew Mitchell, guitarist with the Blue Monks, has played solo jazz in Café Magritte's Bowler Room, 254 E. Congress St., from 8 to 11 p.m. He is joined on Sunday nights by bassist Tracy York. Magritte owner Camille Bonzani says jazz fits her new Bowler Room "like a glove" and is hoping to place a piano in the room soon and slowly expand her jazz presentations.

Café Sweetwater, 340 E. Sixth St., has been presenting local jazz groups four nights a week for about five years. The schedule is fairly consistent. Unlike most clubs, Sweetwater presents quartets, quintets and larger groups. Guitarist Xavier Marquez's group is there every Monday night, though he will probably take his yearly month-long vacation from the club in mid-July. Thursday night at Sweetwater is home for guitarist Marshall Jones, vocalist Katy Witz and their group. Both groups lean toward the fusion and pop sides of jazz. On Fridays and Saturdays, the groups vary from jazz trios to blues bands.

"I'm trying to make it so it's still listenable jazz. People can sit and listen and still talk but it's not background music," says Parr Bashore, Sweetwater general manager. "I think we'll stick to the jazz thing. The blues in general is a little rough. We want to be more of a dinner jazz house."

Scheduled in Sweetwater at press time were George Howard and Roadhouse Hounds on Saturday, July 1, The Hurricane Blues Band on July 8 and 15 and Latin Jazz Descarga on the July 14. Pianist Garth Koren's trio and drummer Robin Horn's band are also weekend regulars at Café Sweetwater. The hours of entertainment are 9:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m.

Latin Jazz Descarga with vocalist Rafael Moreno is moving from Sam's House of Swing to Pappy's Trattoria, 375 S. Stone Ave. on Thursday nights from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. Latin jazz also can be found at both San Francisco Bar and Grill locations. Ismael Barajas' band plays at 3922 N. Oracle Road on Fridays, and at the new San Francisco Bar and Grill, 6548 E. Tanque Verde Road, on Saturday nights.

A smaller version of the band is back at the Oracle location on Sunday nights from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. It's a jazz trio with guitar, sax, bass and a little drum machine they call Guillermo.

Bentley's House of Coffee and Tea, 1730 E. Speedway, has a solo or duo every Friday and includes jazz once a month. Guitarist Danny Byrne's duo performs Friday, July 7.

The Coffee, Etc. on Campbell Avenue and the new one on Oracle Road have discontinued their jazz presentations for the summer.

Also, the Westward Look Resort, 245 E. Ina Road, has forced 'Round Midnight into a summer vacation. The group's leader, Jed Paradies, said the resort has been sold and the new regime has replaced his group with the Ronstadt Cousins, a country group which has had a steady Thursday night gig there. They'll now appear Thursday through Saturday nights. Paradies said he hopes 'Round Midnight will have the weekend job back in the fall.

Paradies also lost his Sunday gig at Milagro, 3073 N. Campbell Ave. The tenor saxophonist had been teaming up with guitarist Xavier Marquez, but Milagro also has cancelled its music for the summer.

Van Gogh's Ristorante Italiano, 7895 E. Broadway, typically has jazz on Friday and Saturday from 8 to 10 p.m., but they won't guarantee that they'll have music on any given weekend in the summer. Call ahead to find out.

The Invisible Theater will present a weekend of cabaret music July 6 through 8 at the Doubletree Hotel ballroom, 445 S. Alvernon Way. "Sizzling Summer Sounds" will feature song-and-dance man Jack Neubeck and jazz pianist Jeffrey Haskell. Special guest at 8 p.m Thursday, July 6, will be songstress Betty Craig in a salute to George Gershwin. At 8 p.m. July 7 and 2 p.m. July 8, the guests will be vocalist Jean Oliver and trombonist Tom Ervin in a big band salute. A tribute to the women of Broadway with Dawn Veree will start at 8 p.m. on Saturday, July 8. Tickets are $15 general admission. Call IT at 882-9721 for reservations and information.

The club scene changes weekly, and gigs get cancelled with a moment's notice. As up-to-date information as possible can be found on the Tucson Jazz Society's jazz hotline at 743-3399, but it is always prudent to call the club ahead of time.
--Yvonne Ervin

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