RICHARDHOWELL

At least half a dozen Bay Area jazz artists can enjoy the unusual experience of performing in the SFJAZZ Center’s glass-walled Joe Henderson Lab while gazing upon their own likeness across Franklin Street. Sprinkled amid images of departed and out-of-town jazz greats, their photos have been installed on an abandoned SFUSD building, which has served as SFJAZZ’s al fresco gallery since shortly after the nation’s first concert hall designed for jazz opened in 2013.

Two blocks east on Fell Street at Mr. Tipple’s, Jay Bordeleau’s Hayes Valley jazz supper club has taken the iconographic concept several steps further, commissioning Tracy Piper to adorn the front door with a mural of a Bay Area jazz luminary. For several years, the façade featured her brightly hued visage of pianist Tammy Hall, who performs frequently at the club. After two years, the painting had weathered and Bordeleau figured it was time to honor another artist.

“It felt like we had achieved something,” he said, recounting the decision to repaint the door. “There are more people who need the spotlight. Making it a living tradition is the most interesting part.”

Richard Howell next to Tracy Piper’s mural at Mr. Tipple’s. | Credit: Andrew Gilbert

In October, Piper painted a Technicolor likeness of saxophonist Richard Howell, a Bay Area jazz giant who is often more recognized abroad than at home. A longtime educator who has been on faculty at the Oaktown Jazz Workshops for decades, Howell returns to Mr. Tipple’s for four shows over two nights, Dec. 19-20.

Bordeleau said choosing Howell was a no-brainer, as he embodies all the qualities that elevate the Bay Area scene. “The quick guidelines include artists doing good work, playing our room, a history of uplifting others, and reaching across generations,” Bordeleau said.

“What has always struck me about Richard is that his shows here feature veteran players, like pianist Frank Martin and drummer Deszon Claiborne, and much younger ones. He’s keeping the big arc alive, taking risks, playing the long game with an eye out for who’s taking over my gigs down the line.”

Howell spends a good part of every year performing in Europe, and it’s not unusual for Bay Area jazz fans to marvel that he isn’t more widely recognized at home. He isn’t one to grouse about being under-appreciated. Catching up with him after his latest continental sojourn, he described with delight collaborating with a longtime friend in Hamburg “singing and writing for a pop music project,” he said. “It’s a different side than what people see of me here. Then I went to Portugal and did some jam sessions.”

Released just before the Mr. Tipple’s mural went up, the latest album by Richard Howell and the Joy Protocol Ensemble is Our Purpose, a project that captures a broad spectrum of his work, including his sweet-soul vocals. Piper said she wasn’t responding directly to his music in creating the mural, but her rainbow palette and energetic brushstrokes seem to flow right out of this tenor sax.

“I really start with this gestural technique, get the paint on the canvas and create the image out of the imperfection,” she said. “I like that you can see the paint and the process.”

For Howell, the conspicuous distinction has provided a welcome affirmation of his role on the Bay Area scene. The Marin resident was already having a good day when Bordeleau called him to suss out whether he’d be okay with his image replacing Tammy Hall’s on the façade.

“He asked me ‘If it’s okay with you, can we put your image on our door?’” Howell recalled. “I felt like crying. I asked him, ‘Why me?’ ‘Richard, you bring us joy,’ and I said, ‘You’re going to have me crying again.’ I’m humbled and honored.”

A Southern California native who got his start on the L.A. music scene playing jazz, salsa, funk, and R&B, Howell spent time in the orbit of Maurice White and Earth, Wind & Fire. He made a powerful impression on the Bay Area jazz scene after moving north in the early 1980s when he joined an all-star unit with trumpeter Don Cherry, bassist Charlie Haden, and drummer Billy Higgins for a three-night run at the Great American Music Hall.

Richard Howell | Credit: Courtesy of Richard Howell

He relished the challenge of working with those exploratory masters and has been equally inspired during his years touring with artists like blues powerhouse Etta James and funk queen Chaka Khan. That’s the thing about Howell. If the energy is right, he’s ready to plug into any soulful musical situation.

In the mid-aughts he played a crucial role in the Mo’Rockin Project, the North African soul jazz band that trumpeter Khalil Shaheed, the founder of the Oaktown Jazz Workshops, launched with Moroccan oud master Yassir Chadly. Familiar with Maghreb modes and rhythms via earlier work with Berber musician Houssaine Kili in Germany, he ended up producing and playing on both of Mo’Rockin’s acclaimed albums, 2006’s Sahaba and 2008’s Tajine.

Always on the lookout for untapped talent, he performed widely with Omar Sosa shortly after the Cuban pianist arrived in the Bay Area, a collaboration prominently featured on Howell’s 1998 CD A Perfect Night in San Francisco.

For Friday’s Mr. Tipple’s engagement, Howell plays 19 with a quintet featuring the supremely resourceful pianist Frank Martin, a member of Howell’s Joy Protocol Ensemble, and bassist David Ewell.

“David and I played for years in Vivendo de Pão,” Howell said, referring to the Afro-Brazilian ensemble that worked regularly around the turn of the century. “We have a special thing.”

Rounding out the combo are two much younger players. Alto saxophonist Jesse Levit studied under Howell at the Oaktown Jazz Workshops and has gone on to be a leading player on the Bay Area scene. (“Jesse is my favorite saxophonist; he surpassed me,” Howell said). And drummer Miles Turk, playing his first gigs with Howell, graduated from Oakland School for the Arts in 2022. He was recommended by Howell’s son Elé Howell, a rising force in New York City who’s been touring with saxophonist and NEA Jazz Master Gary Bartz.

On Saturday for two early shows, Howell performs with largely the same cast. Fred Randolph will take over the bass chair and percussionist Adrian Areas (who’s also a member of Joy Protocol) will be added. Howell also performs Jan. 4 at Oaktown Jazz Workshops with a band featuring program alumni, including Elé Howell, vibraphonist Gus Hurteau, pianist Ruben Green, trumpeter Max Ehrhardt and bassist Ravi Abcarian, Oaktown’s executive director.

He may be the face of one of the region’s best jazz venues, but Howell plans to keep tending to the next generation, embodying jazz’s power to bring people together in joyful communion.

A Los Angeles native based in the Berkeley area since 1996, Andrew Gilbert covers jazz, international music and dance for KQED's California Report, The Mercury News, San Francisco Chronicle, Berkeleyside and other publications.