So sad. Even though I detest the idea of rearranging the original venue, I guess it's a matter of harsh economic times, a very common and pandemic malady these days. I was in S.F. last year and I was in a book store somewhere in the Fillmore district. The woman in the book store was listening to some hard core music (Cecil Taylor, Albert Alyer, etc) when I asked her where were some good venues for serious music in S.F.. She said there was really none outside of Yoshi's. I was stunned to hear this but this is what said.......*shrugs........
It is a superficial impression of the Bay Area to think that Yoshi's and Amoeba are all there is to offer in terms of jazz. I'm not sure what you mean by "hard core," but if you're looking for improvised creative music, there is almost always something going on: http://www.transbaycalendar.org/.
Anyway, I'm not really surprised by Yoshi's SF's "new" direction. It is unfortunate, though.