Volunteers Give the Festival its Heart

We’re long overdue in expressing our thanks to the many volunteers, supporters and sponsors who gave us another great Healdsburg Jazz Festival this year. Their endless hours of work and support helps keep real jazz alive in the wine country!

The Festival’s support staff is made up of a number of committees, from Hospitality, Transportation and Venue Management among others — up to and including our Board of Directors. We’ve listed their names  in the special Thank You flier you can download below, and on our page of 2009 Committees.

We also want to give special attention to the members of the community who offer their homes, restaurants, professional services and energy during the Festival and the days and weeks leading up to it. We call this our Community Connection, and you can read their names — or yours! — by following this link.

Finally, we owe a debt of gratitude to our Sponsors, without whom we’d all standing around listing to out-of-work musicians playing for dimes and dollars. Please visit and support our Sponsors.

» Download the Thank You brochure. (2.4 MB pdf)

It’s here, at last: the place to order CDs by the many artists performing at the 11th annual Healdsburg Jazz Festival. Just add the music you want to enjoy at home, in your car or at a party with this secure Amazon e-store. Shop on, brothers and sisters!

Just follow this link to launch in a new window.

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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Wine that makes an impression

We’re proud to be the best jazz festival in the wine country – some might say the only real jazz festival in the wine country, untainted by commercial cross-over headliners. But we’re not complaining. In fact, we’re celebrating with our own wine!

Thanks to the creative juices (sic) flowing at Artiste Winery, you can now enjoy the first ever Healdsburg Jazz Festival wine, a 2007 Russian River Syrah, and 50% of the net profits  benefit our organization. The wine is a classic Rhone blend of 75% Syrah and 25% Grenache, from the Russian River estate vineyards of Frank Carrubba and Phillip Staley.

Familiar names? Frank Carrubba is our loyal chairman of the Healdsburg Jazz Festival organization, and is often seen at the Festival events helping perfect the sound system. Phillip  Staley has been growing and making wines in Sonoma County for over 25 years, focusing on Rhone grapes grown in the Russian River appellation.

Artiste Winery is a relative newcomer to the Healdsburg scene, with its winery and tasting studio at 439 Healdsburg Ave., just north from Cousteau Bakery. But the winery has been around for years, getting its start in Santa Barbara county with a location in Historic Old Town Santa Inez.

Why ‘tasting studio’? Each of Artiste’s wines are labeled with expressionist paintings, many by contemporary artists who have been commissioned or licensed to create a new work of art for each bottling.

The winemaker of Artiste is Bion Rice, whose family opened the Provençal-style winery Sunstone in Santa Inez 25 years ago. Bion’s own obsession is with blending wines from different vineyards to create what he calls “impressionist” wines —  ”infinitely beautiful cuvees that are much more than merely the sum of their parts,” as he puts it. For the 2007 Russian River Syrah, both Phillip Staley and Bion Rice share winemaker credit.

Only two barrels were bottled to 48 cases by Artiste Winery exclusively for the festival. 50% of the net profits from the sale of this limited edition wine will go directly to the Healdsburg Jazz Festival, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

Adorning the first annual label is local artist Robin Escher’s painting found on this year’s program and poster, “The Song That Is #2″.

And here’s the best news of all. The retail price tag on the wine is a modest $24, but with the coupon and discount code on this page you can get 10% off. Somehow this makes a good wine even better, yes?

To learn more about the special wine that Artiste has created for the Healdsburg Jazz Festival, visit this page online.

And remember that Artiste Winery is the scene of one of this year’s Jazz & Wine Pairings during the Healdsburg Jazz Festival, from 4 – 6 pm on June 6. For more information on the pairings, visit this page.

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.

Useful information about the
2009 Healdsburg Jazz Festival

The answers to many Frequently Asked Questions can be found on the handy FAQ sheet you can download here. It’s a tiny 99 KB small, sized to print out.

If you have questions not covered, please use the Comments feature (at the bottom of this web page). Maybe someone else in our jazz community had an answer to your question.

Getting Around Town

Not so long ago, Healdsburg was a small agricultural town surrounded by fruit tree farms and pasture. Now it’s a center of the Sonoma wine country, with Michelin-starred restaurants next to cozy eateries, colorful Victorian houses and gardens, and some of the world’s best wine. » More About Healdsburg

You can download the FAQ above, or  take a closer look at a map of our venues by clicking here or on the image. You can also visit the Healdsburg Jazz Festival Google map by clicking here.

Directions to Healdsburg

The simple version is, drive north on 101 a dozen miles past Santa Rosa and keep your eye out for the signs. If you want more detailed directions, read on.

From San Francisco International Airport (SFO):
Start going towards the Airport Exit. Take US-101 North towards San Francisco. Take the I-380 West exit towards San Bruno I-280). Go 2 miles. Take the I-280 North exit towards San Francisco. I-280 North becomes CA-1 North (19th Avenue). Stay on CA-1 and drive through Golden Gate Park. CA-1 North then becomes Park Presidio Drive.

Go over Golden Gate Bridge. CA-1 North becomes US-HWY. 101 North. Stay on US-HWY. 101 North for approximately 65 miles. Take the Central Healdsburg exit straight onto Healdsburg Avenue. Continue on Healdsburg Avenue to the center of town – the downtown Plaza, at Healdsburg Avenue and Matheson Street. Welcome!

Google Directions: San Francisco (SFO) –> Healdsburg

From Oakland International Airport (OAK):
Start going towards the Airport Exit on Airport Drive. Continue on Airport Access Rd. Turn on Hegenberger Rd. Take I-880 North towards Downtown Oakland. I-880 North becomes I-980 East. Take the I-580 West exit towards Richmond San Rafael Bridge. Cross over Richmond/San Rafael Bridge. Take the ramp onto US-101 North.

Stay on US-HWY. 101 North for approximately 52 miles. Take the Central Healdsburg exit straight onto Healdsburg Avenue. Continue on Healdsburg Avenue to the center of town – the Downtown Plaza, at Healdsburg Avenue and Matheson Street. Enjoy!

Google Directions: Oakland (OAK) –> Healdsburg

From Sacramento International Airport (SMF):

Google Directions: Sacramento (SMF) –> Healdsburg

Saturday Afternoons at the Jazz Festival

Four local tasting rooms host great local jazz to pair with their wines. Only in Healdsburg!

First Weekend
Saturday, May 30

Bottle Barn / Wine Annex

Time: 3-5 pm | No cover
Location: 340 Center Street, Healdsburg 707-433.6488

Featuring The Greg Hester Piano Trio, with Rob Wright and Lee Charlton
We are proud to introduce a relatively new member of the Bottle Barn family, The Wine Annex, a tasting bar and retail shop located in Healdsburg. The Wine Annex offers the same great pricing as “The Barn,” as well as an opportunity to sample a variety of wines at the tasting bar.

Topel Tasting Room

Time: 4-6 pm | No cover
Location: 125 Matheson Street, Healdsburg 707-433.4116

Featuring The Christian Foley-Beining and Gary Johnson Duo (guitar and flute/sax)
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 just steps off Healdsburg Plaza, and enjoy melodic jazz as you sniff, swirl and sip.

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Second Weekend
Saturday, June 6

Murphy-Goode Tasting Room

Time: 3 – 5 pm | No cover
Location: 20 Matheson Street, Healdsburg, 707-431-7644

Featuring vibraphone master, Yancie Taylor and his Jazztet
Join us at our brand–spanking-new 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 Murphy-Goode’s traditions based upon all things Goode – friendship, hard work, a wicked sense of humor, a great bottle of wine and, of course, jazz.

Artiste Winery & Tasting Studio

Time: 4 – 6 pm | No cover
Location: 439 Healdsburg Avenue, Healdsburg, 707-433-1920

Featuring The Susan Sutton Piano Trio, with Bill Fouty and Michael Aragon
Combining a reverence for tradition and a philosophy of winemaking as an artistic expression, Artiste wines are highly sought-after. These limited productions of fewer than 300 cases of each blend are available exclusively through Artiste Tasting Studio.

» Return to Complete Schedule

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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

Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir

Under the direction of Terrance Kelly

Location: Raven Performing Arts Theater
115 North Street

Date: Sunday, June 7
Time: 10 am to noon
Tickets: $25

“These people love to sing and it shows” — San Francisco Chronicle

Since time immemorial, humans have raised their voices in praise and song. The Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir (OIGC) brings a bracing jolt of energy to age-old spirituals and gospel standards, creating music that’s steeped in tradition but utterly contemporary.

Some 50 voices strong, the OIGC is a beloved Bay Area institution that has been raising roofs, stirring souls and inspiring uninhibited hand clapping for more than two decades. Founded in 1986, the OIGC boasts an impressive book of arrangements by Emmy-winning artistic director Terrance Kelly, son of the late, beloved jazz pianist Ed Kelly.

Multi-racial and multicultural, the Choir expresses the power and spirit of African-American gospel music through its soaring vocal harmonies and rousing rhythms. The Choir’s timeless message of faith, hope, love and joy has attracted some of the world’s greatest artists, leading to collaborations with Five Blind Boys of Alabama, the Duke Ellington Orchestra, Stan Getz, Jeffrey Osborne, Peter Gabriel and Carlos Santana. The Choir has spread the g ood news through international performances, while also appearing on Grammy-winning albums by Linda Ronstadt, MC Hammer and Tramaine Hawkins. Join us for a very special and moving morning in the historic Raven Theater with the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir.

» Return to Complete Schedule