Duck Foot is dipping a toe back into the live jam session waters.

If it looks, walks, and quacks like a certain common North American waterfowl, it’s probably just what you think it is. But when Matt Delvecchio named the brewery he co-founded Duck Foot, he was thinking less of meandering Mallards and more of snowy sports. “‘Duck Foot’ is the stance my snowboard bindings are set in,” remarks Delvecchio, who will cohost a jazz jam session with the San Diego Jazz Collective at the Miramar brewery on February 22.

“I was thinking originally it would be a brand marketed towards the snowboarding community in all the ski bars across the country. That was easier said than done, but we are having a blast. My title is ‘Head Quack.’ I do CEO stuff, but I don’t like that title because it’s too serious. We make beer and try to keep things fun, and CEO sounds too boss-like.”

Asked about the locale, he says, “I would say Miramar chose us. We looked for a location for almost a year. There were not a lot of great options or friendly landlords when we were looking. Our landlord is Ballast Point Brewing’s landlord, so they were hip to the business use and were very friendly to us, and still are.” A second Duck Foot venue now operates in East Village.

The brewery started hosting jam sessions in 2019, shuttered them when covid hit, and then restarted them just recently. Delvecchio is an ardent student of jazz guitar and a long-running member of the Jazz Collective, but he turned over the job of operating the sessions to a more seasoned musician: Stephen Kelly, who plays piano and sings. Delvecchio hails from NYC; Kelly is a Buffalo, New York native who moved to Rancho Bernardo for work in 2001, and never looked back. “I would describe myself as a life-long learner and eager amateur looking for opportunities to play, like most of our [SD Jazz Collective] Meetup members,” he says. “I take courses in music and jazz at Grossmont and Mesa Colleges, taught by amazing teachers who are also professional musicians.”

He continues, “The jam starts out with a pre-designated rhythm section consisting of keyboard, drums, and bass. House band members come from among the more advanced and experienced members of the Collective. Tunes come from the Great American Songbook, plus Latin standards, and we venture into hard bop, although blues, too, form part of the flavor. Our first in-person event since March 2020 was at Duck Foot Brewery on December 7. About 30 people came; 18 signed up on the clipboard to play, and they all did. The energy was very high. Everyone was so grateful to be back playing together in person after so many months. A couple of jazz students from Mesa College joined us, which was great.”

The numbers are impressive for post-lockdown jams. “Thirty is a good night for sure,” says Kelly. “We get a mix of instruments. If we have a lot of one particular instrument, including voice, we will try to space them out, which means people might not be called up to play in the order they signed up. Time permitting, we try to make sure that everyone who wants to play can sit in on at least one tune. We are also conscious that we have an audience to entertain, engage, and keep in their seats, purchasing Duck Foot beer.”

According to Delvecchio, “My goal is to make Duck Foot a staple of the jazz scene for players, and this was a great opportunity to get that going again. Stephen [Kelly] was gracious enough to put in his time for the love of the art, and that’s what it takes. Jazz is about community, and we have a great one, and I am just lucky I have a great place to host.”