10th Anniversary Healdsburg Jazz Festival, May 30-June 8, 2008

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 10:47:00 -0800

10th Anniversary / 10th Annual 2008 Healdsburg Jazz Festival!

Festival Program available for download

WOW! The 10th Annual Healdsburg Jazz Festival was May 30 - June 8, 2008! We celebrated a decade of great jazz with a fantastic line-up of new and familiar names for this 10th Annual / 10th Anniversary Healdsburg Jazz Festival, including Charles Lloyd, Zakir Hussein, Cedar Walton, Charlie Haden, Billy Hart, Joshua Redmond, George Cables, Julian Lage, Pete Escovedo, Eddie Palmieri ... and so many more! Ten great days of jazz to celebrate ten great years of jazz in Healdsburg.

Many thanks to our sponsors (see below), patrons, and members for supporting the Festival, the army of volunteers who pull it all together, and - most of all - you, the fans and Festival attendees that love and appreciate this extraordinary music and the incredible musicians that performed!

Please come and enjoy the live music that happens all year 'round here in Healdsburg at the Palette Art Café and the Hotel Healdsburg, as well as our many special events.

Festival Opening Night

Friday, May 30
Fred Hersch Trio
John Hebert and Nasheet Waits
with special guest Kurt Elling
Location: Jackson Theater at Sonoma Country Day School, 4400 Day School Place, Santa Rosa (off Airport Blvd.)

A highly sympathetic accompanist, Fred Hersch has recorded albums backing vocalists Leny Andrade, Jeri Brown, Chris Connor, Janis Siegel as well as renowned operatic divas Renee Fleming and Dawn Upshaw. But it was the voice of one particular singer he had in mind as he composed his most ambitious project, a suite inspired by Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass. Though they had never worked together, Hersch conceived of his evening-length project as a perfect vehicle for vocalist Kurt Elling, the most flamboyantly creative male jazz singer to emerge in the past 15 years. It wasn't just that the Chicago-based baritone is a poetry fanatic and accomplished lyricist. Hersch knew that Elling has the presence to deliver Whitman's most ecstatic verse and the chops to handle his hybrid composition, which flows from jazz to Coplandesque soundscapes to sensuous word painting. "I pretty much had Kurt Elling in mind from the very beginning," says Hersch, who documented Leaves of Grass on Palmetto in 2005. "I really respect his musicianship."

Hersch hasn't had many opportunities to collaborate with Elling since the Leaves project, which makes this performance particularly welcome. The singer appears as a special guest with Hersch's trio featuring Louisiana-raised bassist John Hebert (pronounced A-bear) and the extraordinary drummer Nasheet Waits, a long-time Hersch associate showcased on several of the pianist's recent Palmetto albums, including last year's outstanding trio session Night and the Music.

Saturday, May 31
An Evening with Charles Lloyd in Quartet and Trio Forms:
Charles Lloyd Quartet with Jason Moran, Reuben Rogers, and Eric Harland
Charles Lloyd's Sangam Trio with Zakir Hussain and Eric Harland
Location: Jackson Theater at Sonoma Country Day School, 4400 Day School Place, Santa Rosa (off Airport Blvd.)

The Memphis-born tenor saxophonist, Charles Lloyd, attained rock star status in the mid 1960s at the Monterey Jazz Festival with his first great band, which was powered by the protean trap set genius Jack DeJohnette. After a decade-long hiatus, Lloyd resurfaced in the 1980s backed by a stellar constellation of European musicians and American master Billy Hart. It was another Billy, the late, beloved Mr. Higgins, who lifted Lloyd's 1990s combos into the creative stratosphere.

Charles Lloyd's exceptional new ECM album Rabo de Nube showcases the latest version of Lloyd's ensemble with Eric Harland, bassist Reuben Rogers and the insistently exploratory pianist Jason Moran. While many of his contemporaries glean concepts and harmonic vocabulary from 1960s piano icons Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, and Keith Jarrett, Moran has sought out alternate paths forged by knotty player/composers Jaki Byard, Muhal Richard Abrams, Andrew Hill and multi-instrumentalist Sam Rivers.

At the heart of Lloyd's music is his electric connection with Harland. The musical relationship between them has entered such a rarified realm that the saxophonist has also enlisted him in his expansive Sangam Trio with Bay Area-based tabla master Zakir Hussain. "It's amazing to hear the two of them together!," Lloyd wrote in a recent email exchange. "I am sure that Master Higgins sent Eric to me." For Harland, the opportunity to play with Lloyd has been a process of constant discovery. "Everything is invited," Harland says. "Charles doesn't push for a specific sound. He trusts the fact that the music will bring the best out of everyone."

Lloyd has certainly provided a perfect improvisational platform for Zakir Hussain, an artist whose musical contributions are impossible to overstate. As the scion of a tabla dynasty headed by his late father, the revered tabla guru Alla Rakha, Hussain has continued his father's mission, tearing down musical boundaries while upholding the highest standards of North Indian, Hindustani classical music. As a composer of scores for films by Ismail Merchant and Bernardo Bertolucci, as a tireless promoter of India's musical riches through his Masters of Percussion tours, and as a cross-cultural musical explorer, Hussain is a well-traveled one-man bridge between East and West.

Latin Jazz On The Green

Sunday, June 1
Eddie Palmieri Latin Jazz Sextet
Brian Lynch, Conrad Herwig, Jose Claussell, "Little Johnny" Rivero, and Luques Curtis

Pete Escovedo Ensemble
Roger Glenn, Murray Low, Curtis Ohlson, and Paul Van Wageningen
with special guest John Santos

plus Salsa Lessons with Antonio and Irene of Santa Rosa Salsa!
Location: Recreation Park in Healdsburg - located at Piper and University Streets

Could there be a better setting to experience Latin music than an afternoon concert in the park? Whatever time of day Eddie Palmieri takes the stage, it's a safe bet that there will be plenty of heat. At 71, Latin jazz's foremost composer is still a vital, commanding figure with nine Grammys under his belt, most recently for his 2007 collaboration with trumpeter Brian Lynch, Simpatico. For more than five decades, he has served as a tireless ambassador for Latin music, first as a sideman in top dance orchestras, and then as the leader of the innovative ensemble dubbed La Perfecta, a landmark conjunto with a distinctive flute and trombone instrumentation that transformed Palmieri from a respected accompanist into Latin music's vanguard standard bearer.

Pete Escovedo may be living down in L.A. these days, but he left his heart in the Bay Area, and the region continues to return his affections tenfold. The Latin jazz percussionist has been a Northern California institution since the late 1950s, when he performed widely with his younger siblings, bassist Phil and drummer Coke in the Escovedo Brothers, a pioneering Bay Area Latin jazz combo. From his work in the groundbreaking Latin rock bands Santana and Azteca through his decades leading his own popular Latin jazz orchestra, Escovedo has played a central role on the West Coast music scene as a sideman, bandleader, and savvy talent scout.

Sunday, June 1
Jazz Night at the Movies with Mark Cantor
Location: Raven Film Center, 415 Center Street, Healdsburg

Film historian and archivist Mark Cantor possesses one of the most comprehensive collections of American popular music on film, with a particular focus on jazz. Returning to Healdsburg he'll bring whatever juicy new footage he comes up with before the Festival, and some of his long-standing favorites – rarities from New Orleans and Chicago styles to swing and bebop, and some modern surprises too.

Monday, June 2
"Bug Music for Juniors"
A Concert for Families with Don Byron Sextet
Ron Miles, Robert DeBellis, George Colligan, Mark Helias, and Billy Hart
Location: Raven Theater, 115 North Street, Healdsburg

This event will bring the jazz experience to children and their families across Sonoma County by presenting Don Byron's Bug Music for Juniors. Bug Music for Juniors is for families with children 7 and over - and for the kid in all of us. Fun-filled and fascinating program unites live jazz, classic cartoons, and historic film footage in a one-of-a-kind exploration of the Swing Era. Part concert, part demonstration, part Q&A, and 100% pleasure, Bug Music for Juniors is jazz education at its most entertaining and exciting.

Monday, June 2
Bop n' Shop
Location: Around Healdsburg Plaza, Downtown Healdsburg

Healdsburg will really be jumping on Monday, June 2, for the first ever Bop 'n Shop. In conjunction with the 10th anniversary of the Healdsburg Jazz Festival, many stores in and around the Downtown Plaza will be open from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Store windows will be decorated in jazz themes by local artists and store owners, and many merchants will serve wine and refreshments. Seven jazz bands will play at various locations throughout downtown. During Jazz Festival week, local restaurants will be featuring special menu items and creative beverages attuned to the jazz theme. Participating restaurants include Barn Diva, Bistro Ralph, Cena Luna, Charcuterie, Charlie Palmer's Dry Creek Kitchen, Healdsburg Bar & Grill, Palette Art Cafe, Ravenous, Ravenette, Scopa, Willi's Seafood, and Zin.

Bop 'n Shop bands include: In Black, Blue Seven, Peter Van Gelder Quartet, Oat Valley Jazz Band, Russian River Ramblers, Cannonball Horns, and The Healdsburg High School Jazz Band Combo.

A special Bop 'n Shop, event not to be missed is a reception at the Dovetail Collection, for luthier Tom Ribbecke, internationally known for his handcrafted guitars, some of which will be on display.

Many Healdsburg merchants have made voluntary contributions to Bop 'n Shop because all such money goes directly to support the Jazz Festival's music education programs in the local elementary, junior and high schools.

So come to Healdsburg on June 2, for Bop 'n Shop to hear great music, enjoy good food and drink and support an event which helps deliver the gift of jazz music to the schools!

Monday, June 2
Jazz & Wine Dinner at the Dry Creek Kitchen
Lee Charlton Trio
Greg Hester and Steve Webber
Location: Dry Creek Kitchen, 317 Center St., Healdsburg

The Jazz and Wine Dinner Series returns to Dry Creek Kitchen along with the cuisine from Charlie Palmer. Drummer Lee Charlton is a well-traveled player whose credits include recordings with pianists Ellis Marsalis and Vince Guaraldi, and master singer/songwriters Mose Allison and Van Morrison. The long-time Bay Area resident performs with his stylish trio featuring pianist Greg Hester and bassist Steve Webber.

Concert, Dance, and Party

Tuesday, June 3
Wayne Wallace Latin Jazz Ensemble
David Belove, Murray Low, Michael Spiro, Paul Van Wageningen, and special guest Melecio Magdaluyo
Pre-concert performance by Tacuma King and the Children's Percussion Workshop
Location: Healdsburg Plaza, Downtown Healdsburg

The Healdsburg summer tradition, Tuesdays in the Park, again starts with the "next generation" of jazz percussionists from local schools under Tacuma King's inspirational leadership. Then the concert and dance begins with the extraordinary Latin sounds of the Wayne Wallace Ensemble.

Wayne Wallace is the kind of musician who rarely calls attention to himself, while contributing to everyone else's albums and projects. With credits that range from the Count Basie Orchestra and Benny Carter Big Band to Sonny Rollins and Earl "Fatha" Hines, Wallace has performed with many of the most significant musicians of the past century. And his work is hardly confined to the realm of jazz. He's also recorded with the likes of Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, and Earth, Wind and Fire. As both an improviser with a huge, beautifully burnished sound and a dependably creative arranger, Wallace has also been an essential element in several of the region's best Latin bands, including Pete Escovedo, John Santos and the Machete Ensemble, Conjunto Cespedes, and Jesus Diaz y Su QBA. For his Healdsburg performance, Wallace has distilled his working band into an all-star sextet steeped in Afro-Caribbean grooves, featuring the Bay Area's first-call Latin jazz players, including pianist Murray Low, bassist David Belove, percussionist Michael Spiro, drummer Paul Van Wageningen, and special guest Melecio Magdaluyo on reeds.

Tuesday, June 3
Angela Wellman Quintet featuring Lori Wellman
Location: Palette Art Café, 235 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg

Kansas City-native Angela Wellman is a commanding trombonist with a big, rounded tone who has performed with jazz greats such as McCoy Tyner and Joe Williams as well as fellow "bone" authorities Al Grey and Slide Hampton. The long-time Oakland resident performs with her quintet featuring her sister, Lori Wellman, a gifted singer who got her start sharing stages with Angela when they were kids growing up in a highly musical family. An esteemed music educator with a Masters Degree from the Eastman School of Music, Angela Wellman is the founder and director of the innovative Oakland Public Conservatory of Music.

Wednesday, June 4
Healdsburg High School Jazz Band – Past and Present
With Sarah Wilson’s Trapeze Project with Myra Melford, Ben Goldberg, and Matt Wilson
Location: Raven Theater, 115 North Street, Healdsburg

Tonight's program showcases the musicians from the Healdsburg High School Jazz Band, featuring members past and present, including illustrious alumnus Sarah Wilson. The evening opens with a group performance by jazz band alumni, followed by the current HHS Jazz Band performing three pieces conducted by Randy Masselink and Khalil Shaheed. For their finale, the HHS Jazz Band performs "Ricochet," a piece by Sarah Wilson, a trumpeter and vocalist who graduated from Healdsburg High School and the HHS Jazz Band in 1986, and has gone on to become a successful jazz musician and composer. Wilson closes the evening playing music from her Trapeze Project featuring a breathtaking ensemble of musicians who are all esteemed bandleaders and composers, including pianist Myra Melford, clarinetist Ben Goldberg, drummer Matt Wilson and bassist/guitarist Jerome Harris. No doubt about it, Wilson knows how to come home in style.

Wednesday, June 4
Herb Gibson Quartet
Location: Palette Art Café, 235 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg

Veteran vibraphonist Herb Gibson has been an important figure on the Bay Area scene for decades, approaching his instrument with a strong feel for the blues and a command of the bebop idiom. Also an effective vocalist, Gibson is well known in wine country through his long-running weekend gig at Brannan's Grill in Calistoga. Though he recorded his first album late in life in 1995, he's made up for lost time. His latest CD, Blue Vibes, features piano legend Cedar Walton and charismatic bluesman Keb' Mo', Gibson's first cousin.

Thursday, June 5
Marc Cary's Focus Trio
David Ewell and Sameer Gupta
Location: Barndiva, 231 Center Street, Healdsburg

From bebop to hip hop, the New York-based pianist Marc Cary is a fearless musical explorer with a gift for leading adventurous ensembles. He first gained attention as part of the hard-bop oriented Young Lions, recording with Roy Hargrove on albums The Vibe and Hardgroove. A native of Washington, D.C., Cary was raised in a highly creative family. His great-grandmother played piano at local movie houses partnered with Eubie Blake. His mother is a visual artist and father played trumpet. Cary graduated from the Duke Ellington School of Art, and is well known for his stint accompanying Sarah Vaughan. Over the years Cary has worked with an impressive array of artists representing a wide range of styles, from Me'Shell Ndegéocello, Erykah Badu, and Ani DiFranco to Betty Carter, Arthur Taylor, Jackie McLean, Milt Jackson, Eddie Henderson, Wynton Marsalis, Max Roach, and Shirley Horn, to name a few. He's been a regular presence in California since he creating the Focus Trio, the group he brings to Healdsburg. It's a potent bi-coastal band featuring the exceptional Bay Area rhythm section tandem of bassist David Ewell and drummer Sameer Gupta.

Friday, June 6
Dinner Jazz with the Steve Moon and Damon Lee Duo
Location: Palette Art Café, 235 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg

Last year pianist Steve Moon and acoustic bassist Damon Lee recorded a lovely album together in the Luna Quartet, a highly refined combo with a melodically rich repertoire. For tonight's performance, they work in an intimate duo context, playing standards and original material. Enjoy the Palette Art Café's innovative menu before the concert at the Raven Theater.

Friday, June 6
The Music of Eric Dolphy
Featuring Bennie Maupin, James Newton, Jay Hoggard, Billy Hart, and Darek "Oles" Oleszkiewicz
Location: Raven Theater, 115 North Street, Healdsburg

Eric Dolphy, the visionary composer, altoist, flutist and bass clarinetist, has now been gone longer than he stayed with us here on Earth, but his music remains a beacon for artists everywhere dedicated to the search for beauty. Dolphy's ecstatic sound, full of joyful peals, cascading squeals and exuberant cries, made him the ideal foil for John Coltrane, with whom he forged his deepest musical connection. As if leaving clues behind to help those following in his footsteps, he deposited a treasure trove of sheet music with his close friends Hale and Juanita Smith days before departing for Europe, where he passed away in 1964 at the age of 36. In marking the 80th anniversary of Dolphy's birth on June 28th, James Newton and Bennie Maupin are the first musicians to perform music from this remarkable archive. In addition to these newly discovered works, their Dolphyana ensemble has prepared a program of Dolphy's music ranging from his breakthrough post-bop work for Prestige to his masterpiece on Blue Note, Out To Lunch. Newton, jazz's most adventurous flutist, and Maupin, equally expressive on tenor and soprano saxophone, alto flute and bass clarinet, are joined in Dolphyana by a superlative cast, including vibraphonist Jay Hoggard, drummer Billy Hart, and bassist Darek "Oles" Oleszkiewicz. This is the band's debut performance.

"The concept of this ensemble is to respectfully perform Dolphy's music in a contemporary style that reflects the innovations that have occurred in the music since his passing," Newton says, "and to showcase the profundity of Eric Dolphy's contribution to the language of modern jazz. We're seeking to shed light on the composer who created a timeless language that has great relevance for the future of contemporary music."

Friday, June 6 & Saturday, June 7
John Heard Trio
Danny Grissett and Lorca Hart
Location: Hotel Healdsburg

Veterans of the Healdsburg Jazz Festival know the best time in town is almost invariably the "after-hours" gig at the Hotel Healdsburg Lobby, when the headliners head on over following the Friday and Saturday night shows. John Heard is a Healdsburg favorite who has helped make the festival a major creative event from the beginning. With his supple sense of swing and commanding tone, he's a bassist's bassist who has collaborated with a staggering array of jazz giants, including Benny Carter, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Hampton Hawes, Oscar Peterson, John Handy, Wes Montgomery, Cal Tjader, Freddie Hubbard, Count Basie, Sonny Rollins, Sonny Stitt, Milt Jackson, Ella Fitzgerald, Art Pepper, George Cables, Harold Land, and Dexter Gordon. Raised in Pittsburgh, he is also a gifted artist. Except for a four-year hiatus in the late 1980s and early 1990s to concentrate on sculpting and painting, he has worked constantly as a musician, appearing on more than 150 albums. Now he balances his time between his love of art and his passion for jazz. His trio features L.A.-raised pianist Danny Grissett, a rising figure on the New York scene, and drummer Lorca Hart, who's rapidly gaining attention as an important new voice on the traps. They'll be joined by special guests throughout their evening shows.

Saturday, June 7
Christian Foley-Beining and Gary Johnson Duo
Location: La Crema Winery Tasting Room, 235 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg

Enjoy the meeting of music and wines with two local musicians who never fail to please. Guitarist Christian Foley-Beining and saxman Gary Johnson explore jazz classics, Brazilian rhythms, and original compositions with confidence and style, adding to the growing legend of the "Healdsburg jazz scene." They'll be playing at the La Crema Winery Tasting Room in this special "good taste is good to find" event. After all, isn't that what life in Healdsburg is all about?

Saturday, June 7
"A Night In The Country"
Solo, Duos, Trios, and More
Charlie Haden and Kenny Barron
with special guests Joshua Redman and Ruth Cameron

Julian Lage Trio
with Ray Drummond and Billy Hart
Location: Raven Theater, 115 North Street, Healdsburg

With a series of solo, duo, trio and quartet settings, tonight's concert features a variety of intimate sonic encounters. Bassist Charlie Haden has been one of jazz's most consistently creative musicians since his groundbreaking work in Ornette Coleman's revolutionary free jazz quartet of the late '50s. In a generation rife with bassists commanding flawless technique, Haden stood out as a player capable of expressing the deepest of emotions with seemingly simple, harmonically open lines. Over the past 35 years, he's recorded numerous sessions, including a series of albums with his film noir–influenced Quartet West and politically engaged, avant-garde Liberation Music Orchestra.

One of jazz's most respected pianists, Kenny Barron has accompanied just about every major figure of the past four decades, from Dizzy Gillespie and Freddie Hubbard to James Moody and Stan Getz. His work as a bandleader has recently moved to the foreground with a series of enthralling albums for Enja and Verve.

Haden can claim almost familial ties with Joshua Redman, whose father, tenor titan Dewey Redman, played in the bassist's Liberation Music Orchestra. Dewey and Haden also shared bandstands with Ornette Coleman and spent years together in Keith Jarrett's hugely influential US quartet of the mid-1970s. Haden made a point of being present when Joshua emerged as a force in his own right, joining him on his first national tour, and performing on his 1993 Warner Bros. album Wish.

At twenty years of age, Julian Lage is an old hand at the Healdsburg Jazz Festival. The preternaturally talented Santa Rosa guitarist has performed every year since the second season (when he was 11!), and we've witnessed his rapid growth from astounding prodigy to seasoned improviser. Along the way, he's gained international attention for his work with his partner in prodigiousness, pianist Taylor Eigsti, and vibraphone great Gary Burton. Unfazed by sharing the stage with his musical heroes, he's performed with giants such as Herbie Hancock, Bobby Hutcherson, Carlos Santana, and has often encountered his heroes on stage here in Healdsburg.

For his ninth consecutive Healdsburg appearance, Lage couldn't be in better company. Bassist Ray "Bulldog" Drummond is an unflappable master, a tremendously swinging player whose resume includes stints just about every major jazz artist active in the past three decades. Billy Hart is a trap set poet, a supremely sensitive drummer who elevates every situation he encounters. Like Drummond, he's recorded a series of excellent albums as a leader, with credits too extensive to list, and we welcome him back to Healdsburg.

Sunday, June 8
"Come Sunday" Spirituals and Sacred Jazz Compositions
Music Director James Newton with George Cables and Ruth Naomi Floyd
Location: Raven Theater, 115 North Street, Healdsburg

Let us gather together to praise the spirit. Whatever faith you may or may not subscribe to, there will be an abundance of inspiration with the bountifully blessed pianist George Cables accompanying Ruth Naomi Floyd, world-famous jazz singer of sacred music, dedicated to celebrating the soul through song. With flute master James Newton serving as musical director, Cables and Floyd will be joined in musical celebration by musicians featured throughout the Festival. A creatively ambitious performer with a lush, soaring mezzo-soprano, Floyd has recorded a series of CDs filled with praise and glory, such as her 2006 concept album Root to the Fruit, which illustrates the historical nexus between the origins of African American faith and jazz. Based in Philadelphia, she is also a noted music educator and activist dedicated to providing care and spiritual support to people affected by HIV and AIDS.

The beloved pianist has been a Healdsburg mainstay since the beginning, and last year the Festival celebrated his spirit and music. Cables has been at the forefront of the jazz's progressive mainstream for almost 40 years. Though based in his hometown New York City since 1989, he forged particularly strong ties with the Bay Area as the house pianist at Keystone Korner during the North Beach club's heyday in the 1970s. While living in L.A., where he collaborated widely with resurgent altoist Art Pepper, Cables spent so much time at Keystone that many people assumed he lived in San Francisco. His tenure at the club was immortalized in a three-volume live Blue Note recording, Nights at the Keystone, that captured Cables accompanying tenor great Dexter Gordon.

Festival Grand Finale

Sunday, June 8
Cedar Walton Trio
with David Williams and Lewis Nash

Bobby Hutcherson Quartet
with Renee Rosnes, Ray Drummond, and Victor Lewis

Festival Grand Finale All-Star Alumni Band
with Bobby Watson, Craig Handy, Mary Stallings and many Festival Favorites!
Produced in association with Jill Newman Productions
Location: Rodney Strong Vineyards, 11455 Old Redwood Highway, Healdsburg

Over the course of five decades, jazz fans have come to expect scintillating keyboard work from pianist Cedar Walton. A supremely graceful improviser and composer of nearly a dozen jazz standards, Walton is a bona fide member of the jazz elite, a player whose irrepressible sense of swing has helped define bebop-inspired jazz for several generations. Coming of age in the late 1940s, he was witness as the cutting edge of jazz moved from big bands to small combos. By the end of the 1950s, he was one of modern jazz's most respected young lions, and his participation on John Coltrane's seminal 1960 Giant Steps put him at the top.

For his Healdsburg performance, Walton is joined by his longtime bassist, the redoubtable David Williams, and Lewis Nash, whose taste, musicality and compact power has made him one of New York's busiest drummers.

A master vibes player, Bobby Hutcherson belongs to one of the more exclusive clubs in jazz. Widely recognized as one of the most creative musicians ever to pick up a pair of mallets, the 67–year old Hutcherson has attained his rarefied status by developing an individual voice as both a player and composer, despite his instrument's idiosyncrasies. His latest CD, For Sentimental Reasons on the new label Kind of Blue, is an exquisite quartet session featuring pianist Renee Rosnes, an intrepid improviser who has played extensively with Hutcherson. Veteran bassist Ray Drummond, whose notes are so plump and thick they seem to bounce off the bandstand, and powerhouse drummer Victor Lewis round out the rhythm section. Lewis combines power and finesse on the trap set with a gift for crafting memorable compositions.

As traditions go, it's hard to beat closing an event with fireworks, and with the combustible players of the All Star Alumni Band there will be no shortage of pyrotechnics. With his plush, searing tone and fluid delivery, altoist Bobby Watson is an emotionally dynamic player and a fine composer. Berkeley-raised Craig Handy is a confident tenor sax player with a big, burly sound who served as music director of the acclaimed Mingus Big Band.

Soul is a quality that can't be bought or borrowed, faked or sold, which explains why Mary Stallings has emerged as one of the most expressive and compelling jazz singers on the scene. Though her discography has never kept pace with her consummate artistry, the San Francisco native has always won admirers among fans like Dizzy Gillespie, Billy Eckstine, and Count Basie, with all of whom she has toured widely.

Don't be surprised if many of the musicians featured throughout the festival's full 10 days will be on hand to join the joyful conflagration of our grand finale, as we conclude our first decade and set the scene for our second.