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Is This New Orleans? No, Newport Beach

“We wanted a place where we could eat late, listen to live music, and actually be able to hear each other,” recalled Mark Ghoukassian, 18-year owner of Bayside Restaurant.

“I asked Ron what he thought and if he could create this jazz club idea. He said, ‘Let’s do a jam session.’ Five years later, we’ve never missed a Friday Night.”

Ron Kobayashi and his jazz friends will extend the streak to 260 on March 16.

“It’s the essence of jazz,” said Kobayashi, who’s played with performers from Mel Torme to Peter Frampton. “It’s free-form improvisation, bunch of musicians who never played together. But we know the tunes, The Great American Songbook.”

As the photo shows, the Friday Night after Hours Jam at Bayside in Newport Beach gets more than a bunch of musicians. They’re the best jazz musicians around, not that the man in the middle does a TSA-style screening on his guests.

“One to two new ones every Friday,” Kobayashi said. “Every so often we run into problems—a musician who shows up and doesn’t know how to play. That takes a lot of negotiation.”

But that’s The Jam. It allows students to have a chance to play jazz with pros.

“That’s how Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie learned in New York—sat in and learned from their elders,” Kobayashi said. He and Ghoukassian really don’t market the jam, and the pianist has never arranged for a recording.

“It’s on somebody’s cellphone, and I’ve seen things on Facebook.”

Oh, word’s out.

“One time we had a cellist come in … and a young kid came in and played trumpet, trombone and piano.

He was 18, drove from Tucson. Heard about the jam.”

“Very loyal following,” Ghoukassian said. “Some people show up at 5, make sure they have a seat at the bar.”

Lost Art

Kobayashi grew up in Fullerton, went to California State University-Fullerton, liberal arts, worked for the county. Then quit to be a professional musician. Sax-playing dad was reluctantly supportive.

“Asian families’ security is a big thing,” Kobayashi said. “Fortunately I’ve been able to make a living playing music.” Playing jazz, no less, which gets a smaller slice of the music-business pie, a business where the model has long been broken.

Kobayashi just put out his fifth album, “Of Standards, Be-Bop and Swing.”

“You really can’t make money on an album—especially in jazz, the average working musician, there isn’t the audience for that,” Kobayashi said. “Even the bigtime jazz musicians struggle to make money off royalties—the internet and piracy, even Wynton Marsalis couldn’t make a living on CD or iTunes sales.”

Kobayashi’s managed.

“Several balls in the air—teaches at OCHSA, Vanguard and privately… and studio work, recording for singers, musicians.”

At night he hustles for gigs at clubs, restaurants or private parties.

“I juggle those three things, and it’s kept me going for 30 years. The challenging part is the juggling.”

Tax time is challenging, too. Collecting 1099s. Festivals are a windfall. Kobayashi just played the Long Beach Jazz Festival, $300 to $500 per musician at good festivals.

He’s a proud jazzman.

“America’s contribution to arts and culture. Borne here. As Americans, we should be so proud of jazz, my fear is it’s gonna be a lost art.”

He lives in Orange. 56. It’d be easier to play America’s music in Europe and many countries in Asia.

“Much more appreciated,” Kobayashi said.

Ghoukassian does his part, for jazz and live music. Live music except one night a year, Super Bowl Sunday.

“Customers never have to wonder if there will be live music or not,” the owner-jazz fan said.

Bayside is one of the county’s few jazz venues, though Kobayashi says Orange County tends to pay better than Los Angeles. He was worried the Newport Beach location would be a logistical problem for the jam.

“It’s so far south, and the musicians all come after gigs.” But they do come. The jam can fit 14 to 15 if one to two share a barstool. Kyle Palmer, trumpet player for years with Jay Leno’s “Tonight Show” band, will join the anniversary jam.

10 p.m. Go.

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