Jazz and Wine Pairings

Visit our tasting room sponsors to sample their wines while enjoying local jazz

Saturday, June 5

Herb Gibson Trio

Location: : Murphy-Goode Tasting Room
20 Matheson Streeet, phone 707-431-7644
Time: 3 – 5 pm

Herb Gibson is jazz history — a fine vibes player, as well as a great singer, Herb is heir to the throne of the late great Milt Jackson. Join us at the Murphy-Goode Tasting Room in downtown Healdsburg, where you can drink in the Murphy-Goodeness of some of our all-time favorite wines. We think you will enjoy the tradition of all things Goode — friendship, hard work, a wicked sense of humor, a great bottle of wine, and jazz.

Saturday, June 12

Gary Johnson Trio

Location: Topel Tasting Room
125 Matheson Street, phone 707-433-4166
Time: 3 – 5 pm

Local saxman Gary Johnson fronts a trio at Topel Tasting Room, just a few steps east of the Plaza on Matheson. Mark and Donnis Topel craft exquisite, artisan wines that have won medals at prestigious wine competitions and praise from the nation’s best-known wine critics. Visit their tasting room and enjoy melodic jazz as you sniff, swirl and sip. Appetizers provided, wine available by the glass.

Eddie and Madeline Duran Trio

Location: Seasons of the Vineyard Bar & Boutique
113 Plaza Street, phone 431-2222
Time: 4 – 6 pm

San Francisco Bay Area’s favorite, the Eddie and Madeline Duran Trio  brings their live instrumental jazz to wine country! Join us at Seasons of the Vineyard on the Plaza for a taste of your favorite Ferrari-Carano wines paired with delectable small bites. Sip and sample, sway to the beat of modern, Latin, Brazilian, and bebop jazz tunes sure to soothe your soul while we satisfy your palate. Start your summer evening out groovin’!

Wine, Cheese, and All That Jazz!

Celebrate Passport Weekend on Saturday, April 24 with a lively evening of jazz and bossa nova tunes from our newest sponsor, the Topel Tasting Room. This is the first of three such jazz shows that Topel will host this summer, including one the second weekend of the Festival, on Saturday June 12.

This time Jim Adams, who has entertained thousands in appearances throughout Wine Country for more than 20 years, teams up with Gary Digman, a member of the Santa Rosa Junior College music faculty for 30 years.

Let Topel wines rock your palate as Jim and Gary swing with a bossa nova groove from from 5 to 7 p.m., a perfect prelude to your Saturday night dining. The music is free; regular wine tasting fees ($5 for four tastes) apply. Topel will also offering wine by the glass for $5, along with complimentary cheese and other delicious appetizers.

Topel Tasting Room is open daily 11-7 at 125 Matheson Street, Healdsburg; phone 707-433-4116. Visit them on the web at www.topelwines.com

Idris Ackamoor and Artistic Being
featuring Frederick Harris

March 20, 2010
SATURDAY
Two Shows, 7 pm and 9 pm

Plaza Arts Center / Healdsburg Center for the ARTS
130 Plaza Street, Healdsburg
(707) 431-1970

“Ackamoor’s name might now be spoken with the same hushed reverence afforded such other cosmic travelers as Alice Coltrane, Don Cherry & Pharaoh Sanders.”
Jefre Cantu-Ledesma,  Urim and Thumim Web review

The performance repertoire will be original compositions of Ackamoor and Harris as well as world music, the new age sounds of flutes, mbiras, bells, invented instruments, and other meditative and spiritual jazz sounds inspired and influenced by John Coltrane, Cecil Taylor, Pharaoh Sanders, Alice Coltrane, Art Ensemble of Chicago, and Sun Ra.

This is free concert, so reservations are suggested. For reservations call, 707 431-1970 between 11 am – 5 pm. Walk-up will depend on space availability.

“His [Ackamoor's] compositions incorporated intercontinental and cosmic sources, opening passages into boundless periods and locales, each one seemingly unearthed from futuristic sarcophagi.” - Sam Ada, Fader Magazine

For more information on Artistic Being, visit culturalodyssey.org/artisticbeing.

Happy Hour, a virtuosic collective acclaimed for its unique three-horn sound, will donate the proceeds of its February 5 concert at the Jazzschool in Berkeley to support Haitian Relief Efforts.

“We have all been shocked and overwhelmed by the unspeakable devastation in Haiti,” says the group’s bassist Peter Barshay. “Many of us have donated money to the relief operations already, and many of us would also go down there to help if we could. The need for assistance continues. To that end, the musicians in Happy Hour have agreed to contribute our efforts by donating proceeds from our upcoming concert at the Jazzschool.”

Happy Hour consists of bassist Barshay plus Erik Jekabson (trumpet, flugelhorn), Mike Zilber (saxophones), John Gove (trombone), and Jeff Marrs (drums). Special guests for the February 5 performance will include Linda Tillery, Faye Carol, Art Lande, Susan Muscarella, Mark Levine, and Dayna Stephens, with others still to be announced.

The show starts at 8:00 pm at the Jazzschool, 2087 Addison Street (near Shattuck Avenue), Berkeley. Tickets are $18 ($15 for Jazzschool students),  available online at this page.

“We want to have a truly great evening of music,” says Barshay, “giving people a chance to come by and hear some terrific players while supporting the crucial Haitian relief efforts of Sionfonds, Doctors Without Borders, and Partners in Health, organizations doing vital relief work on the ground in Haiti.”

 A full 100 percent of proceeds will go to the aforementioned organizations. A representative from Sionfonds for Haiti will be on hand to explain their project and answer questions.

“Finally, in lieu of asking audience members to turn their cell phones off,” says Barshay, “we plan to ask everyone to turn it on, as we’re accepting donations by text message!”

Trio 3

(oliver lake/ reggie workman/ andrew cyrille)

When: Tuesday, November 3
Where: Flying Goat Café
324 Center Street, Healdsburg
Time: Two Shows 7pm and 9pm
Cost: Tickets, $25.00 (available now)

Healdsburg is once again very fortunate to be able to experience in a very intimate setting an all-star partnership of jazz masters, with the group Trio 3.  In an extremely rare West Coast tour, Reggie Workman, Oliver Lake and Andrew Cyrille will be performing November 3 at the Flying Goat Café in Healdsburg, as part of a tour which includes Santa Cruz, the San Francisco Jazz Festival and Earshot Jazz Festival in Seattle.

Trio 3 is a group where music is the leader. The unconventional collaboration of internationally recognized jazz masters, Oliver Lake (multi-reeds), Reggie Workman (bass) and Andrew Cyrille (drums), formed to unify the members’ creative energies and promote a single governing principle: organic improvisation. Everyone is a distinct soloist, but it’s definitely an unadulterated group-based effort. Open to infinite possibilities, Trio 3 mixes and explores different sound colors traversing the whole vocabulary of jazz to take the music toward the future.

Hear samples of their music with this MySpace player. (Please wait for it to load.)

And what a glorious jazz vocabulary they have! Collectively, the group  spans over 130 years of jazz history have playing with playing with pivotal artists of jazz and modern music including John Coltrane, Mary Lou Williams, Herbie Mann, Art Blakey, The World Saxophone Quartet, Lou Reed, Richard Muhal Abrams, Cecil Taylor and more.

Deeply rooted in tradition, these jazz veterans describe their sound as “futuristic music within the idiomatic continuum of jazz.” Like musical alchemists, Trio 3 boldly carries the music forward spinning 3-dimensional jazz, reconfiguring jazz conventions of compositions, harmony, meter and melody.

Trio 3 is also a band without borders. According to Lake, “None of us assumes the positions of a drummer or of a saxophone player or drummer. We’re one third of a unit that makes music and we’re each capable of taking responsibility at the time that it is needed to make that music. With that in mind and with that kind of mind our music becomes unique.”

As so it is with Trio 3 – leaderless and borderless, freely taking flights of fancy from ragtime to no-time, fiery rapid-fire ostinatos to slow blues and modal vamps, mixing original compositions with traditional jazz, blues, bebop and beyond – with their audiences along for the ride.

» Tickets available now! By phone at 707 433-4644

» More info on the web at TrioThree.com

The latest addition to the jazz line-up in Healdsburg comes from a young talent still in high school. Kai Devitt-Lee, who’ll be a junior at Healdsburg High next fall, will be showing off his still-developing skills on jazz guitar at the Palette Art Café on alternate Sundays this summer. (Update: Kai has been upgraded to weekly appearances at Palette, every Sunday this summer.)

Kai, still only 15 years old, has been playing guitar for about 4 years, though he showed early musical aptitude as a pre-schooler. His father, Martin Lee, made sure there was a piano in the house when young Kai started picking out tunes by ear, and formal piano lessons started at the age of 8.

But Kai began to focus his talent on guitar when he was 11, and his aptitude took off rapidly. Within a couple years he was playing with informal jazz combos, and when he got to Healdsburg High music director Randy Masselink encouraged his interest. He’s now student-in-charge of the Jazz Combo, a sextet that provides a showcase for high school musicians.

Randy Vincent, a well-known area jazz guitarist, has been a mentor and teacher for Kai. But not only jazz floats Kai’s boat – he’s also a developing flamenco guitarist, under the tutelage of Mark Taylor. In fact Taylor may sit in with Kai at the Palette, possibly either on second guitar or playing the cajon, a box-like percussion instrument. Kai’s flamenco music will be showcased this summer at Manzanita Restaurant (336 Healdsburg Ave., 433-8111) on Saturday evenings, from 6:30 to 8:30 pm.

Palette Art Café (235 Healdsburg Ave., 433-2788) started their Sunday Brunch menu a couple weeks ago, and Kai will play every Sunday from 11:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m, from July 12 to August 23, and possibly beyond that if all goes well! Come for the food, stay for the music, and welcome Healdsburg’s newest jazz talent, 15-year old Kai Devitt-Lee.

Brazilian guitarist, composer
Toninho Horta shares his music

Where: Palette Art Café
235 Center Street (Behind La Crema tasting room)

Date: Monday,  June 1, 2009
Time: 3:30 – 5:30 pm
Tickets: Limited availability
$75.00

Experience a rare opportunity to learn from a great living master of Brazilian jazz, Toninho Horta. This is truly a very special educational event, a chance to meet and talk with Toninho about his way of playing, his style of improvising his compositions.

Vocalists are welcome, and other musicians can bring their instruments — guitars, flutes, harmonicas, horns, drums, whatever – to the class, as there may be a chance to play with Toninho at the end of the two-hour class.

Toninho will talk about his background; explain about his way of playing, his style of improvising and talk about his compositions. He will also review his guitar left and right hand techniques.

The Toninho Horta Trio with special guest Airto will headline the “Stars of Brazil” show on the previous day, so ears will be perked and blood will be primed among musicians for this master class.

Here’s what Pat Metheny has to say about Toninho Horta: “Through his work with Milton Nascimento, his own recordings and the cover versions of his tunes that have appeared on various albums throughout the past decade or so, Toninho has emerged as one of the most harmonically sophisticated and melodically satisfying Brazilian composers of recent times.

“Somehow, he writes chord progressions that defy gravity, moving up when you think they’re going down. His melodies stay with you for days; you’re sure you’ve heard them before, but they are brand new. And as an arranger, he’s a master, moving up when you think they’re going down. His melodies stay with you for days; you’re sure you’ve heard them before, but they are brand new.”  (For more, visit Toninho Horta’s MySpace page).

This two-hour class begins promptly at 3:30 at the Palette Art Café, with  a special lunch menu is available for class participants starting at 2:30.  The lunch special costs $15 and includes a sandwich of your choice: Turkey Club, Chicken Pesto or Veggie Club, a glass of wine, beer or soft drink, and a side of soup or salad.  (Please pre-order. We will contact you by email after registration about this option.)  Coffee drinks will be available as well.

The Healdsburg Jazz Festival is very fortunate to have Toninho Horta bring his music to town for the 11^th annual festival, and doubly fortunate that he is willing to share his knowledge and love of the music with us in this intimate setting. “I am looking forward to meet all friends together,” he tells us.

For more information phone (800) 838-3006 or email the Healdsburg Jazz Festival.

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Brazilian BBQ and concert

Grupo Falso Bahiano

Location: Palette Art Café
235 Healdsburg Ave.
Phone: 707 433-2788  |  Visit on the web
Date: Sunday, May 31

Time: 8 pm; dinner served from 6 pm
No cover
Meal price: $20 with advanced reservations, $25 at the venue

If you didn’t have enough fun at the Stars of Brazil show at Rec Park, Brazilian music continues at the Palette on Sunday evening. The venue will serve exotic Brazilian cuisine, including an Outdoor BBQ, while Grupo Falso Baiano plays.

Before there was samba and bossa nova, Brazilians grooved and danced to the intricate music known as choro, a virtuosic style often compared to bluegrass.

In the Bay Area, no ensemble has done more to keep choro in the foreground than Grupo Falso Baiano, a captivating quartet featuring Zack Pitt-Smith on reeds, Niko Bell on cavaquinho, Brian Moran on seven-string guitar and Los Angeles-based percussionist Ami Molinelli.

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BBQ Menu: Rice with coconut milk, Feijoada - Black beans & Sausage, Esfihas - Beef Empanadas, Churrasquiho - Barbeque Brazilian style; Beef, Chicken, Sausage and Vegetables, and Panquecas - Vegetarian Dinner Crepes

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With a repertoire spanning more than a century, Falso Baiano plays traditional choro, as well as contemporary, jazz-tinged arrangements by modern masters like Hermeto Pascoal and Hamilton de Holanda. Delivered at breakneck tempos, the music combines deliriously playful group passages with luscious melodies and soaring solos.

» Visit Grupo Falso Baiano’s website

» Return to Complete Schedule

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Mission Accomplished!

Today Operation Jazz Band finished their week in Healdsburg by playing in concert before all SIX fifth grade classes: Fitch Mountain Elementary, St. John School, Alexander Valley School, Geyserville School, Westside Elementary School, and Sonoma Country Day School! About 200 students in all filled the Raven Theater in Healdsburg to hear what Operation Jazz Band really sounded like.

During the past week Operation Jazz Band, led by Babatunde Lea, had broken down into the main sections of a jazz band: drums, rhythm, horns, and vocals. Those sections then visited all six schools to demonstrate their instruments, discuss the history of jazz, teach the different forms of jazz, and introduce the children to basic musical concepts. Criss-crossing the town every day, two teams of musicians in caravans dashed from one classroom to the next entertaining the kids and getting them introduced to their musical art form, the one true American musical art form: jazz.

This was the ninth year for Operation Jazz Band, sponsored by the Healdsburg Jazz Festival. This year Operation Jazz Band members were:

• Babatunde Lea: band leader, drums, and percussion
• Clairdee: vocals
• Ken French: piano accompanist
• Dave Bass: piano
• Gary Brown: acoustic bass
• Angela Wellman: trombone
• Khalil Shaheed: trumpet
• Richard Howell: saxophone

As mentioned, the musicians took to the stage as a full band all together to play for the children. The kids, having become acquainted with the musicians in the intimate settings of their classrooms, greeted them as they took to the stage with screams and raucous applause akin to the screaming teen girls meeting The Beatles at JFK!

All week long the musicians prepped the kids to not only listen to jazz, but to participate as well. Babatunde Lea took to the stage with his call-and-response chant in Yoruba (from Nigeria, and presented phonetically):

“Ah-go ee-lay ah-go! Ah-go ee-lay ah-go! Ah-go ee-lay ah-go YA! Ah-go ee-lay ah-go YA”

… all the while keeping the beat on a shekere. Then the band launched into an vibrant take on Dizzy Gillespie’s “Birk’s Works”:

Then the band brought the lovely Clairdee onstage to the roars from the kids, and she cooled the children down a notch with a wonderful version of Irving Berlin’s “Blue Skies”:

Highlights for the kids include audience participation; Dave Bass had taught the kids Ray Charles’ version of “Hit The Road Jack”, with boys and girls singing the parts appropriately! Clairdee got the whole audience singing “Let The Good Times Roll”, and then brought up a select group to join her in free-form scat:

With our culture in full gear to the future, our children often do not get introduced and familiar with so much of our cultural history such as art, music, and literature. Mainstream media focuses on the here and now, with radio pretty much focusing on the hear and now. Many kids only know about jazz as background music for car commercials or guys in Ray-Bans and berets. Operation Jazz Band is unique to Healdsburg, and to-date thousands of kids have been introduced to the musicians who perform jazz for a living, hear jazz from swing to Afro-Cuban to bebop, and come to understand that it is part of their musical heritage that they can embrace and enjoy.

Next Friday is the 11th Annual Healdsburg Jazz Festival Gala Dinner, Dance, and Auction at the Vintners Inn in Santa Rosa. This annual Gala raises money to fund Operation Jazz Band and other jazz education programs sponsored by the Healdsburg Jazz Festival. Please come, enjoy a wonderful dinner, dance to great jazz, and bid high and often – knowing your dollars will help our children know and appreciate jazz.

James Moody Quartet

featuring special guest

Marlena Shaw

Location: Rodney Strong Vineyards
11455 Old Redwood Highway, Healdsburg

Date: Sunday, June 7
Time: 3 pm (gates open at 2 pm)
Tickets: $45

MC: Greg Bridges
General Outdoor seating on the lawn. Low chairs allowed. Umbrellas permitted along the back fence only. Children 10 and under are free.

“Moody plays with all types of soul, and his music is optimistic music, infectious” — Wynton Marsalis

James Moody is America’s irrepressible ambassador of swing, an NEA Jazz Master whose career stretches back to the advent of bebop when he made his recording debut with Dizzy Gillespie in 1946.

A muscular tenor saxophonist and pioneering flutist with a ravishing tone, Moody is also a delightfully effective singer whose vocalese version of his jukebox hit “Moody’s Mood For Love” is a bona fide classic. At 85, he’s an ageless jazz legend playing with as much brawn and wit as ever, a masterly showman and improviser who combines a wicked sense of humor with a profound improvisational concept.

In an historic pairing, Moody is joined by the indomitable jazz chanteuse Marlena Shaw. The first female vocalist ever signed by the storied Blue Note label, she’s won a new generation of fans through the widespread sampling of her classic tracks by contemporary R&B and hip hop artists looking for an instant infusion of soul.

While Shaw has sung everything from R&B and rock to disco and gospel, her rhythmic sophistication and salty blues feeling unmistakably distinguish her as jazz royalty, a title conferred by giants with whom she’s toured and recorded, such as Ray Brown, Benny Carter and Joe Williams.

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Richard Howell Quintet

“Pharoah Sanders, John Coltrane, Charles Lloyd and Ernie
Watts. . . Richard brings all of that and more.” — Babatunde Lea

Tenor saxophonist/vocalist Richard Howell calls the Bay Area home, but he’s been a leading light on the international scene for decades. A riveting improviser who is also a prolific producer and respected educator, he’s worked and recorded with leading figures in rock, pop, blues and jazz, from Etta James, Chaka Khan and Cecil Taylor to Charlie Haden, Willie Bobo, and Pete Escovedo. Locally he’s been an essential member of the cross-cultural  Mo’Rockin Project and drummer Babatunde Lea’s spiritually charged combo.

It’s hardly surprising that Howell’s at the center of a combustible quintet featuring drummer E.W. Wainwright, bassist Gary Brown, pianist Frederick Harris and Destiny Muhammad on harp and vocals. The ensemble exemplifies the exuberant cultural heritage and spontaneous creativity of jazz. Balancing tradition and innovation, the band explores accessible melodies and grooves while offering spiritual tribute to the great artists who came before.

» Visit Richard Howell’s website

» Return to Complete Schedule