In a city that lacks a jazz club, where does one go to hear live jazz?

For many local music fans, the unlikely answer lies in a quaint Thai restaurant located off the beaten path in a strip mall in the College-Glen neighborhood, a stone’s throw from Sac State.

Twin Lotus Thai has many tentacles connecting it to the university, including the fact that Joe Gilman, who owns and operates the restaurant with his wife, Kai, is a jazz studies professor there. Until recently, he was also a full-time music professor at American River College, where he retired after more than 30 years. A monster pianist himself, Gilman’s resume includes stints with such heavyweights as Henry Mancini, George Duke and vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson. These days, though, you’ll mostly find him tinkling the ivories at Twin Lotus shows, typically alongside other veterans of the local jazz scene.

But there’s more to Twin Lotus than jazz, notes Gilman, who prefers not to call it a jazz club or even a jazz hub, but rather, an intimate spot offering traditional Thai food and a variety of live music. “It’s true that we lean a little more heavily on the jazz side,” he says. “But we’ve had to go with multiple genres to keep the audience numbers in the 60–90 percent range. It’s family friendly, and it’s not genre-specific.” To his point, a recent peek at Twin Lotus’ calendar revealed everything from a recreation of Miles Davis’ “Nefertiti” to a Dionne Warwick tribute, an Irish-Celtic show and a celebration of musical theater composer Jerome Kern.

“It was intended to be a family restaurant, period,” says the clean-shaven, friendly-faced Gilman, reflecting back. “My wife Kai had been a businesswoman in Thailand, so after we raised our two kids we started thinking about a family business. I found this place on Folsom Boulevard that was up for sale, and within two weeks we’d opened escrow, not really knowing what we were doing. We were pretty much novices.” With Kai running the kitchen and with the assistance of the couple’s two adult children, Andrew (who now lives in Thailand) and Laila, who still works front-of-house, the restaurant opened to little fanfare in March 2022. 

With Kai in charge of the cuisine, the food quickly earned raves for its freshness and authenticity. “Kai has to be the person to make the sauces, the curry blends,” says Gilman. “She’s very particular about that.” But like most new ventures, startup was a struggle. When foot traffic remained slow after the first month, Gilman decided to try a new angle: Live music.

“I thought, ‘I’ll grab my keyboard and a singer and play some songs on a Saturday night and see what happens,’” he says.

A social media post was all it took. “Suddenly, I had 80 people who wanted to come,” says Gilman. It was almost too much of a good thing: The restaurant’s capacity is around 45. The solution? Do two shows the same night, back-to-back.

That formula continues today. Most Saturdays and Sundays, Twin Lotus shows feature sets at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. (Friday shows are usually one set only.) Reservations are made online, and pre-ordering — which benefits both the kitchen crew and customers — is encouraged. The structure is clockwork-like: Customers are seated at their assigned tables; the staff scurries to deliver plates of pad Thai and Singha beer; and the show starts shortly thereafter.

Because tables are quickly flipped between shows, performances are somewhat short, Gilman notes, typically about 45–50 minutes. “Customers know exactly what to expect, and I think that’s important,” he says.

Starting small was also key to Twin Lotus’ success, says Gilman, who over the past three years has expanded the music program to include larger groups and an increasingly eclectic mix of genres. “We just keep tweaking things as we go,” Gilman says. The caliber of musicianship is also one of the reasons people keep coming back for more.

Twin Lotus’ regular roster is like a who’s who of the area’s most acclaimed musicians, including guitarist Henry Robinett, saxophonist Jacam Manricks, trombonist Shelley Denny and singers Beth Duncan, Vivian Lee and Susan Skinner. But it’s also common to see younger hotshots on the Twin Lotus stage, often playing alongside the old-schoolers who have mentored them.

RJ Bullen, a Twin Lotus regular, says he first caught a show about a year-and-a-half ago and was immediately hooked. “I’ve gotten an education since attending Twin Lotus shows,” Bullen says. “I’d been aware of jazz in general, but what I like about Twin Lotus is that I’ve learned about different kinds of jazz, from traditional to swing era and bebop, saxophone-driven jazz, guitar-driven jazz and more. I’ve learned about Dave Brubeck, John Coltrane and other artists who are like royalty in the jazz world. Twin Lotus is a treasure.” 

Bullen, who is there most weekends now (and has even been known to clear a table or two) is not alone. Twin Lotus has become the go-to for many local music lovers, and it doesn’t show any signs of slowing down. After a strong start in its first year, revenues doubled by the end of the second year, according to Gilman. 

More recently, Twin Lotus expanded in size and scope with the addition of the Annex, an adjacent 1,700-square-foot space. With padded black folding chairs and walls adorned with large black-and-white prints of prominent performers from Twin Lotus’ stable, it’s a stylish room with a cool club feel. Capacity is about 90, Gilman says — roughly twice that of the restaurant. 

While food isn’t served there, customers can grab a drink and bring it in. Annex shows also require a small cover charge, whereas Twin Lotus shows do not. “In the restaurant it’s a voluntary cover charge; we ask people to tip the musicians by putting money in the box,” Gilman says. “It’s a different business model.” 

In his usual fashion, Gilman is figuring things out as he goes. So far, music typically happens in the restaurant on weekends and midweek in the Annex. But that could change, says Gilman. “In the next couple of months, we’re probably going to switch things around,” he says. “Figuring out a way to integrate the Annex and the restaurant and make them work together — that’s the newest wrinkle.”

Whatever happens, one thing that won’t change, Gilman says, is the quality of the music programming. “We’ll continue to accommodate a variety of tastes and try new things to keep it interesting, but still keep it within the aesthetic branding of Twin Lotus Thai,” he says. “People need to know what to expect.”

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