Stumbling upon the Black Cat

Wednesday before spring break, mentally exhausted from endless studying, I could not have been looking more forward to the week off school. Midterms seem to be continuous and I unfortunately have one right when we come back. So my plan was to spend my week before break studying. My plan went askew, however.

One of my closest friends from home goes to NYU and had his break during this “study week.” He texted me saying he was going to be in the Bay, wondering if he could stay with me. Of course wanting to see him and show him around Berkeley, I welcomely invited him. But that came with some pressure. When visitors come I feel like I have to sell the Bay to them. Especially compared to a city like New York, I felt like I needed to prove that the West Coast could compete. So I decided Wednesday night we’d go to SF. Some of my friends decided to send it and come along, and my roommate suggested some places to try. After wandering around North Beach, hitting City Lights bookstore and getting some dinner from Golden Boy Pizza, we walked through Chinatown to “a jazz club someone in my club said was cool.” We found ourselves in the Tenderloin district, wondering what we were doing there. We reached the jazz club, the Black Cat, and were told to come back 45 minutes later to get settled “before the live recording.” A live recording? Now we really wondered what we’d experience that night.

45 minutes pass and we walk back to the Black Cat to be seated by the manager. He takes us downstairs to a table where the four of us sit with a view of the stage. Surprised by complementary wine, we order a few snacks and are ready for some sort of performance.

We walked into the first live album recorded in the Tenderloin since Miles Davis in 1961, this time by Keyon Harrold. He went to New York at 18 attempting to be a professional jazz artist who’d “wear a tux.” His first pro gig was on tour with rapper Common. Now, Harrold is off touring his own music, wearing a leather jacket and baggy jeans.

Openly not a huge listener of jazz, and absolutely undereducated in the area, I was just hoping the scene would be cool enough for my friend. I was pleasantly surprised when Harrold walked on with his pianist, guitarist, bassist, and drummer to play the Beatles’ “She’s Leaving Home.” Harrold, although seemingly drunk, got through all of his interactions with the crowd without meeting a beat – his first song was “from one of [the Beatles’] most obscure albums… Sgt. Pepper.” Harrold proceeded to play some of his own music. His song “Her Beauty Through My Eyes” featured a guitar solo and was pretty upbeat. Watching him dance around on the stage, hitting air drums was very entertaining. Many of his songs were love-themed, like “Spill Ethereal Songs.” Quoting Harrold, the song is about “spilling everything you have into the person you love.” In multiple songs, Harrold would bring up other artists/friends of his to sing or play along with him. My favorite song might have been “Levels,” where he went off playing his trumpet, and the other instrumentalists also completely jammed.

Playing an hour and a half, Keyon Harrold’s show came to a close. My friends and I all opened our eyes and looked at each other with nods of approval. As soon as we left and could hear each other talk, we were shouting about the experience. We would go back and make the Black Cat a ritual. Even my friend from New York said he enjoyed the night. Although I was happy he enjoyed San Francisco, I was equally as excited to have stumbled upon this club and had a night I know I’ll always remember as my first at the Black Cat.

Article by Claire Winthrop