Oakland’s last underground jazz club, Birdland Jazzista, bids farewell

Many of the self-proclaimed “jazz cats” that frequent the Birdland Jazzista Social Club on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard reminisce about the East Bay’s rich jazz history. They rattle off names of former spots stretching from Berkeley to Seventh Street in West Oakland, where musicians could jam late into the night without the stuffy constraints felt in upscale venues.