The Beatles Jazz Connection
Get ready to groove with a fresh twist on Fab Four classics! Over the years, this group has taken around twenty-five of The Beatles' most iconic tunes and spun them through a kaleidoscope of musical styles. Think Bluesy vibes, Rock energy, slick Fusion, funky grooves, vibrant Brazilian rhythms—and yes, plenty of smooth, soulful Jazz. These bold reinterpretations celebrate just how timeless (and endlessly adaptable) The Beatles’ music really is.
Meet the Band
Christian Foley-Beining
The spark that lit a fire for Jazz in Christian Beining at the age of 17 in his native town of Freiburg, Germany, came from the guitar of Wes Montgomery. From that inspiration he went on to study guitar first at the Swiss Jazz School in Bern. He then later refined his playing at the Berklee School of Music in Boston and the Musicians Institute's GIT (Guitar Institute of Technology) in Hollywood.
Further studies were with Ted Greene, Joe Diorio, Joe Pass, Pat Metheny, Robben Ford, Larry Carlton, as well as bass teacher, Bob Magnusson.
Christian was on the faculty of the Musicians Institute in Hollywood for eight years and taught music clinics in France, Germany, and Brazil. He has recorded and performed with many well-known musicians like Randy Porter, Bob Magnusson, Jim Plank, Harvie Swartz, John Guerin, Frank Gambale, Mike Shapiro, Putter Smith, Carlos Niehues, Lorca Hart, and currently with Paul McCandless of the legendary jazz group “Oregon”.
Tom Shader is an acoustic bass player raised in the Detroit area. As a youth he played classical music and studied the violin, viola, cello, string bass, and voice. His early professional career was dedicated to playing the electric bass, with which Tom explored many of the rock/ pop genres.
Since jazz and the acoustic bass have become Tom's passion, he has had the privilege of performing with many fine musicians, including Steve Allen, Henry Mancini, and Michael Buble'. In addition to being a mainstay at many North Bay and San Francisco jazz clubs, Tom has made regular appearances at some of the area's popular jazz festivals, including Russian River, Cotati, Benicia, Monterey, Mammoth Lakes, Morro Bay, and the Sacramento Jubilee.
Kendrick Freeman is a Bay Area drummer, percussionist and teacher. He has background in both drum set and hand drums, having studied with American drum set artists and musicians from Ghana, Congo and the Caribbean, with an emphasis on the music of Haiti. His drum set and traditional studies inform each other, and he has been flexible enough to work with a range of artists in a number of styles and settings. Some examples include dobro ace Rob Ickes, string wizard Joe Craven and Americana singer/songwriters David Jacobs-Strain, Keith Greeninger and Sean Carscadden. He has been a member of guitarist Ricardo Peixoto’s quintet for the last 5 years and works with Fula Brothers, an African rooted trio led by Malian ngoni player Mamadou Sidibe. Kendrick has received study grants from the National Endowment For The Arts for work with drum set artist George Marsh and The Alliance For California Traditional Arts for part of his 8 years and counting apprenticeship with Haitian master drummer Daniel Brevil. He has performed with Haitian dance companies Group Petit La Croix, led by Blanche Brown, and Portsha Jefferson’s Oakland-based company Rara Tou Limen. He teaches privately and leads an ensemble at Sonoma State University for Doug Leibinger in the Jazz program.
Jeff Sanford, a native of New York, plays all the saxophones, clarinets and flutes and founded and leads the Cartoonjazz Orchestra. Since his arrival in San Francisco in 1976, he has played everything from top 40 to waltzes for dancing to the SF and Napa Valley Symphony orchestras, gigs with Clark Terry, Tootie Heath and Regina Carter, and international performances with Castles and Concerts all over the world. Jeff has been teaching since he was fifteen and also teaches big band classes at the JCC in Palo Alto and the Holy Trinity Church in San Carlos.