Jazz quintet finds fans in Oakland retirement communities, playing music 'from their era'

""I discovered immediately that the senior facility was like a concert setting. Residents weren't there to come in and talk to each other. They come, sit in the chair, look at you, and listen," Roden said. "That in itself led to a certain level of engagement that is fun from my side. And you add that we are playing music that is from their era, and they love it. They don't hear it very often.""

"Roden calls Piedmont Gardens "home base" for the band."

"The opening number was "A Foggy Day," which Roden explained was first introduced in 1937 in the movie "A Damsel in Distress.""

On a Tuesday night at Piedmont Gardens about two dozen residents gather in an 11th-floor lounge for a live jazz show by the Bob Roden Quintet. The quintet formed eight years ago and has played traditional Bay Area venues and retirement communities since 2019. Piedmont Gardens serves as the band's home base and will host its fourth New Year's Eve show. Larry Walker's volunteer piano work led to the gigs. Roden frames performances like concerts, sharing facts about compositions and playing standards from residents' era, prompting heads to bob and feet to tap.

Read at The Oaklandside