KPIG Favorites Return to Kuumbwa

Santa Cruz's Kuumbwa Jazz Center attracts literally from around the world, but it's always particularly special when our finest local talent makes a stop there. This Friday night, songwriters Keith Greeninger and Dayan Kai take the place for the evening, backed up by Jimmy Norris on percussion and Steve Uccello on bass.

As both solo artists and as frequent collaborators, they've spent many years making great music and building a strong local following and a devoted listenership on our own . Keith was one-third of the award-winning City Folk, before kicking off his own solo career. He's also a lifelong resident of Santa Cruz.

Dayan ("DAY-uhn") is a multi-instrumentalist. Classically trained on piano starting at age 2, he's equally adept on the flute, sax, clarinet, percussion and pretty much anything with strings. Dayan was born in Hawaii and raised in San Juan Batista. These days he calls Watsonville home. 

As a duo, they regularly tour up and down the West Coast, with the occasional trip back east. Pete Angwin, Artistic Director of Redding's Oaksong Music Society, says "Their musicianship is outmatched only by their warm personalities and engaging style. They never disappoint!"

(They're also no stranger to the podcast over on my website. They both sat around my kitchen table and discussed—and played songs from—their duo record "Make It Rain" a year and a half ago. Click here to listen to that interview.)

Keith and Dayan are both working up material for their next records, and you'll no doubt hear much of that on Friday night—including "Hop In the Truck", a newer, topical song of Keith's. As busy as they are, Keith and Dayan don't really do a Santa Cruz show that often, so Friday is a rare chance to see these guys in what Dayan calls "the finest room in Santa Cruz County."

Doors for this open at 7:30 p.m. Show starts at 8 p.m. Kuumbwa Jazz Center is at 320-2 Cedar St. in Santa Cruz. Tickets are $20, available at Streetlight Records, Sylvan Music and at brownpapertickets.com.