George Cables and Friends
Tuesday, July 28, 2026 @ 8:00 pm
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SJW Members: $54 | $44 | Child & Student $12
Non-members: $62 | $52 | Child & Student $20
At 81, pianist George Cables is jazz royalty. As an accompanist, composer and bandleader he’s been at the center of jazz’s progressive mainstream since the late 1960s, with a resume that rivals any living peer and a book of beloved compositions in regular circulation.
A treasured presence at the Workshop for years, George Cables made his mark on classic recordings by era-defining musicians including Freddie Hubbard, Bobby Hutcherson, Joe Henderson, and Woody Shaw. As a bandleader and composer, he’s released some two dozen albums, most recently his 2024 trio session I Hear Echoes with bassist Essiet Essiet and drummer Jerome Jennings.
Since his recording debut on the 1968 album Electrifying Sounds of the Paul Jeffrey — a quintet session with drummer Billy Hart, later his bandmate in the all-star combo The Cookers — Cables has distinguished himself with his bright, voluptuous sound and a vivifying blend of elegance and grit. Altoist Art Pepper famously dubbed him “Mr. Beautiful” for his sublime melodic sensibility, but he could just as easily have been describing Cables as a man. A composer of arrestingly alluring tunes, he has left a deep imprint wherever he’s spent time, nowhere more so than in Northern California, where his regular presence at Keystone Korner helped define the storied North Beach venue’s creative mojo.
Personnel:
- George Cables, piano
- Additional personnel TBA
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