Songs of the Jazz Age

Dave Schweisguth sings the songs of the Jazz Age, with stride jazz master Mike Lipskin on piano!

Jazz and bathtub gin kept America's spirits high through Prohibition, the crash of '29 and the Depression. We'll present songs from up and down Tin Pan Alley, and give some special attention to Harlem nightclubs.

Dave Schweisguth has performed many shows at Martuni's, most recently "A Jewish Atheist Christmas with Burton Lane" in December 2025. Dave also wrote and emceed Society Cabaret's "Songs and Their Stories" showcases, which featured songwriters Johnny Mercer, Carolyn Leigh, Jerome Kern and Frank Loesser, in 2021 and 2022, and guested in Shannon Wolfe's "Cocktails and Cabaret" at Stookey's Blue Room in 2025 and 2026.

Mike Lipskin began learning Harlem stride jazz piano in his teens in his native New York, from Willie "the Lion" Smith and other original masters. He has performed at Carnegie Hall and Davies Symphony Hall, across America and Europe, and, for many years, in his adopted home, trad-jazz-loving San Francisco, and has made many recordings. You can hear him many weekend evenings at Bix in San Francisco's Jackson Square.

Martuni's offers San Francisco's finest and most discreet back room, where the music runs hot and cool and the gin is always flowing. At the corner of Valencia and Market streets, Martuni's is easily reached by BART or Muni.