He helped define Bay Area jazz. Now he’s turning 80 with special S.F. concert 5%
By Aidin Vaziri1%
7/23/2026, 1:00:00 PM
Topics: Jazz
BS Summary: This article contains 11 faulty reasoning types, including Representativeness Heuristic, Optimism Bias, and Appeal to Authority, with Biased Writer Voice as the most egregious example at 20.5% saturation with 83 hits. Analysis detected 278 faulty-reasoning hits from 405 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 20.6% and a BS Rank of 5% (19,533 of 20,516 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 95.20% of the article peer group.
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Bay Area jazz pianist Mike Greensill plans to celebrate his 80th birthday at the keyboard, surrounded by singers and musicians who have shared different chapters of his long career.
Greensill is scheduled to perform Sept. 6 — one day after his birthday — as part of Old First Concerts presented at Old First Presbyterian Church in San Francisco.
The program will also commemorate his 40th year appearing in the concert series.
The pianist, arranger and accompanist is expected to be joined by vocalists Roberta Donnay, Kellie Fuller and Gale Terminello, saxophonist Noel Jewkes, French horn player Bill Klingelhoffer, bassist Ruth Davies and guitarist Brad Buethe.
Greensill has been a fixture in Bay Area jazz and cabaret since settling in San Francisco in 1977.
He became best known as the musical director, arranger and accompanist for his wife, the late singer Wesla Whitfield.
Together, they became leading interpreters of the Great American Songbook, performing at venues ranging from San Francisco’s intimate piano rooms to New York’s Carnegie Hall and the White House.
They recorded 20 albums together before Whitfield died in 2018 at age 70.
Over the years, Greensill appeared at several prominent but now-shuttered San Francisco nightspots, among them the Plush Room, Stars, Moose’s and the Washington Square Bar & Grill, commonly known as the Washbag.
He also performed at the Rrazz Room and Feinstein’s at the Nikko.
But he's always kept his calendar marked for the annual Labor Day weekend engagement at Old First, with changing groups of collaborators.
For the birthday concert, the guest lineup reflects those musical partnerships.
Jewkes represents one of the longest-running collaborations.
He and Greensill recorded the 1991 album “American Lullaby,” while Klingelhoffer performed in a French horn quartet featured in Greensill’s arrangements for Whitfield’s 2006 album “Livin’ on Love.”
Greensill’s collaborations with the featured singers are more recent.
Donnay worked with him on “Blossom-ing!,” her 2022 tribute to singer and pianist Blossom Dearie.
Fuller, a Wine Country jazz, blues and R&B vocalist, has frequently performed with Greensill at venues including Blue Note Napa.
The two appeared together in a 2024 concert inspired by the Dream Bowl, the former Napa Valley ballroom that hosted big-band stars during the swing era.
Terminello recorded her 2025 album, “I’m Old Fashioned,” with the Mike Greensill Trio and appeared with him at Old First that same year.
Speakers
2speakers8.6%attributed speech370writer words
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0%flagged-word coverageFuller
20 attributed words57% of attributed speech45% writer coverage
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