Press Release from the Board of Directors

The Healdsburg Jazz Festival Announces
Hiatus of Jazz Festival for 2011 Season and
Renewed Focus on Music Education Program

July 29, 2010

Today the Healdsburg Jazz Festival Board of Directors announced that the organization will focus the resources of the organization on its signature music education program, Operation Jazz Band for the 2011 season. Pat Templin the Board Chair said, “Operation Jazz Band has been a highly successful music education program in the community. Our mission is all about stimulating interest in jazz and educating young people about the important role of jazz as an indigenous American art form.”

Operation Jazz Band has been offered to local area schools by The Healdsburg Jazz Festival for the past 10 years. The annual spring program that is led by musician Babatunde Lea introduces 5th grade students in six different area schools to jazz through an innovative week-long program that brings professional musicians into the classroom. The week ends with more than 500 students attending a concert where the musicians perform music that they have introduced to the students over the course of the week.”

The board also announced that it intends to pause the jazz festival for the coming year and to study alternatives to the current jazz festival. These explorations will include the overall length of the jazz festival and the variety and genres of the music that are presented, with the core still being exceptional jazz. The board also intends to continue a dialogue with local community members and businesses that began this year to help the festival explore ways to create a successful organization.

Pat Templin, the Board Chair, cited 3 years of operating deficits and the need to find a model that can be sustainable for the non-profit 501 (c) (3) organization as the primary reason for the need to pause the festival and return to its primary mission of music education in the schools. “We have worked very hard as a board to involve the Healdsburg community and local businesses in the festival. The downturn in the economy was certainly a factor in our decision to take the next year to study our options. We have lost financial support from a number of sponsors and community members over the last 3 years. There also seems to be a more limited audience for pure jazz in the community as evidenced by lower ticket sales. There may be an opportunity to broaden the offering in the future. We need to find a winning model that will interest more people and businesses in the community to get involved, provide financial support and to attend a revised music festival,” said Templin.

Jessica Felix who is the founder and artistic director of The Healdsburg Jazz Festival for the past 12 years, will be leaving the organization. Templin said, “The board would like to thank Jessica Felix for her passion and tireless efforts on behalf of the festival since its inception.” Templin also said, “The board will be working together over the next year to continue advancing the reach of Operation Jazz Band in the local schools and to examine our options. We will retain minimal support staff to handle administrative tasks that may be required over the coming year. Our main goal through this process is to continue bringing music education to our local students while keeping jazz as a core component of our programming for future successful festivals.

The Healdsburg Jazz Festival, Inc., is a non-profit corporation. Among its other projects are jazz education programs held in area elementary and secondary schools to teach area youth about jazz music and its role in American heritage.

The release (full release PDF available at this link) addresses changes in direction, priorities and staffing of the organization. Comments are welcome below.

The time is right for rescheduled event, Sunday July 25

There are still a few places at the table for this Sunday’s Jazz in the Chef’s Kitchen, the long-delayed annual Jazz Festival Benefit Concert & Dinner. Originally scheduled for May 22, the unseasonable spring weather caused the rescheduling of the event, and it’s a good thing they pulled the plug when they did.

“It actually hailed here on that day,” said Bruce Aidells, co-host of this year’s benefit for the Healdsburg Jazz Festival. “Then the wind picked up – we would have had to serve dinner in the garage. It would have been an absolute disaster.”

Well, maybe. Considering that the garage, like the rest of the custom-built home on Sweetwater Springs Road, is an aesthetic and practical showcase, an Arts and Crafts celebration in the style of Greene & Greene. The brother architects of the early 20^th century created many memorable homes in Pasadena, Carmel, Berkeley and other California neighborhoods, and the couple count architecture and jazz among their top three loves. “Food is actually our first love,” Aidells clarifies, “’way more than the others!”

Aidells (yes, the sausage guy) and his wife, chef Nancy Oakes of Boulevard and L’Avenue, will make good on their commitment to the Healdsburg Jazz Festival this Sunday, July 25, with a multi-faceted celebration of the arts. The event, held at the Aidells-Oakes custom built home on Sweetwater Springs Road, starts at 4:30 with a reception and music from a top-flight jazz quartet, the David Udolf Trio. The pianist is joined by drummer Lorca Hart and bassist Jeff Chambers, and they’ll treat the 50-plus attendees to jazz in the garden while appetizers — oysters, pizza, caviar and truffles — are served.  

After the hour-long reception vocalist Kenny Washington joins the trio, and his set of jazz, blues and classics from the Great American Songbook as well as other surprises promises to delight the guests. “He’s great, you’ll love him,” promises Jessica Felix, and we believe her. You can visit this page to hear some clips of Kenny’s music.

Nancy’s the head chef for the dinner, prepared with the assistance of Franco Dunn, and the carte looks appetizing indeed: Beef Steak Florentine, Wood Oven Roasted Lobster Tails, and Grilled Quail with Balsamic Cherries, are the entrées, and sides include Roasted Asparagus, Wild Mushrooms, Toasted Ancient Grains and Eva’s Tomatoes & Mozzarella among many other choices. (To see the complete menu, visit this page.)

Yes, there’s a dessert table too, but the wine list alone makes the expected donation a sound investment: there’s the Roederer Estate Brut from Anderson Valley, the ’07 Alysian Chardonnay, the Miner Family ’06 Oracle – half bottles run $50 of this Napa Valley Burgundy blend – the 92-point Helena Montana cabernet from Anakota, and many other wines well worth the price of admission.

It may sound like an extravagance for the well-to-do. But consider all you get – a Michelin-worthy dinner from one of Northern California’s most decorated chefs, live jazz music from the Top of the Mark, a living museum of architectural innovation, and your choice from a custom wine list that no connoisseur could resist. Indulgence or bargain? It’s all in how you look at it. If you look at it as worth every cent,  click this link to purchase your admission to the benefit event of the summer.

Over the past 12 years the Healdsburg Jazz Festival has become one of the largest cultural events in Sonoma County. Supporting our mission of “preserving the indigenous art form of music known as jazz,” the Festival is now heralded as being one of the best boutique jazz festivals in the world. Help support the Festival, and enjoy an unforgettable evening in the bargain, by joining us at the Benefit Dinner and Concert this Sunday.

Yet Another Reason to Attend the Jazz Festival

Just a week to go before the Festival begins! And already we’re halfway through our series of Ten Reasons to attend events in this year’s 12th Annual Healdsburg Jazz Festival.

Reason No. 5: Intimate Settings

One of the core tenets of the Healdsburg Jazz Festival is personal contact – that jazz artists and their audience need to meet each other, to know each other, in order to understand one another – and the music that results. Sure, we have concerts in the 500-seat Raven Theater, and “on the green” at  Rec Park and Rodney Strong, but it’s in the small restaurants, hotel lobbies and tasting rooms that the spirit of jazz really comes into its own.

Saturday, June 5: The second day of the festival finds live music within a few steps of the downtown plaza at two non-traditional but very intimate venues – a winery tasting room and an espresso café. Hardly the sort of places you’d expect to find a festival!

Saturday afternoon, 3 – 5 pm: The first of three Jazz & Wine Pairings at local tasting rooms finds vocalist and vibraphonist Herb Gibson (right) playing at Murphy-Goode, 20 Matheson St. (just half a block west of the Plaza). Murphy-Goode moved into town a couple years ago from their original Alexander Valley location, and have become a mainstay of the weekend downtown scene with their commitment to “the tradition of all things Goode — friendship, hard work, a wicked sense of humor, a great bottle of wine.” And of course, jazz. See this page for all our Jazz & Wine Pairings.

Saturday evening, 7 pm and 9 pm: Flying Goat Coffee is where we go for that morning lift – espresso and a muffin – and we’re not alone. The place is hoppin’ for half the day, but that’s nothing like how it will be boppin’ when the Bennett Friedman Quartet plays two shows here the first Saturday of the festival. Saxophonist Friedman has been a mentor to local jazz students for over 30 years, and he hews true to the hard bop tradition. He’ll be joined by a rhythm section featuring drummer Lorca Hart and ace bassist Chris Amberger, with guitarist Randy Vincent adding his fluid licks to the saxophone-led quartet. You’ll find the close proximity to this great music will open your eyes and ears to things you never heard before!

Monday, June 7: If wine and coffee only whet your appetites, how about a Michelin-rated sit-down dinner at one of Healdsburg’s signature restaurants, the Dry Creek Kitchen? Celebrity chef Charlie Palmer was early in the rush to “discover” Healdsburg, opening his restaurant in the Hotel Healdsburg almost ten years ago. “I was drawn here by Sonoma’s pioneering food and wine spirit,” Palmer said then, and we’re sure he’s added jazz to that short list.

Though DCK usually hosts “Jazz and Wine Dinners” December through March only, they revive the event for the Jazz Festival, and this year local guitar talent Kai Devitt-Lee (left) will bring his trio to play for diners. Make your reservation early (now is a good time –  call 707 431-0330) and enjoy a special three-course menu with accompanying wine for a fan-friendly price. Yes, the music is free – and it’s close enough to see the peach fuzz on the ruddy cheeks of our 16-year old guitarist!

Friday and Saturday, June 11 – 12: Yes, it’s Jazz Festival weekend – but there’s live jazz almost every Friday and Saturday of the year at the Hotel Healdsburg Lobby. Lounge by the fireplace, share a table with friends, keep an eye on the crowd and tune in to the finest jazz in town, week after week.

For the Festival it’s a double-bill of jazz raw talent, drummer Lorca Hart bringing a tight quartet to deck on Friday, featuring Bay Area sax titan Craig Handy (right). And on Saturday night Handy takes the helm and leads an ensemble of surprise guests and in a Mingus-infused, Afro-Cuban jam. The music runs from 9 to midnight, but show up early if you can – there are shows at the Raven both nights, and when the curtain goes down the chairs become scarce.

Remember, again on Saturday, June 12 there will be Jazz & Wine Pairings at two local tasting rooms. From 3 to 5 pm look for Topel, at 125 Matheson just around the corner from the lingerie shop (eyes front, gentlemen) and across from the Oakville Grocery. You’ll find the Gary Johnson Trio playing real live jazz for free, with appetizers and wines by the glass. The Hopland-based winery is gaining gold for their Meritage, known as “Le Mariage,” and we can think of no better marriage than wine and jazz.

At almost the same time, from 4 to 6 pm, check out  Seasons of the Vineyard (113 Plaza St.) — it’s that red awning on the north side of the square. They promise delectable bites to go with their Ferarri-Carano wines, and home décor gifts to browse while the music plays. But do listen to the music: it’s Mad and Eddie Duran (left), that rare jazz couple who still make beautiful music together through marriage. Saxophone and guitar music, of course, that’s what we’re talking about.

If all that’s not enough, on Sunday mornings you can have a jazz brunch at Affronti, a wine and dining bar just south of the plaza, behind the tasting room at 235 Healdsburg Ave.  It’s usually a duo or solo artist, with an emphasis on Brazilian flavors. They do this all year around, not just on Festival weekends.

So you see there are plenty of chances to rub shoulders with fellow jazz fans, with some of the artists you see on stage, with newfound neighbors who love the music too. If that’s not a good Reason to come to Healdsburg, you’ll just have to see them all to choose your favorite.

Welcome to Healdsburg, the small town capital of big time jazz!

Another Reason to Attend the Jazz Festival

Less than two weeks left before the Festival! As what the San Francisco Chronicle calls “probably the best small jazz festival in the country” nears, we continue in our series of Ten Reasons why you will want to attend events in this year’s lineup, along with updates and offers to get you as excited as the 12th Annual Healdsburg Jazz Festival as we are.

Reason No. 6: Historic Venues

The Raven Theater is Healdsburg’s own cinema palace, a 443-seat theater just a block from the Plaza, which opened for business in 1949 — 61 years ago. At first it was known as the Aven, the original owner’s wife’s name spelled backwards; the “R” was later added to the front of the name in the early 1990s when the theater was remodeled by new ownership. Under the direction of Don Hyde the Raven became a community center offering first-run and art house films, concerts, and a venue for local performance groups.

Since 2001, it’s been known as the Raven Performing Arts Theater, presenting over 80 performances annual of locally-produced plays, school performances, national and local musical acts, and the yearly Mr. Healdsburg Pageant. And of course, it’s been the stage for some of our biggest and best jazz talent over the years, and this year is no exception.

Friday, June 6 is Opening Night of the Festival, your first chance to get that jazzy feeling going. You’ll meet old friends, see familiar faces, and best of all enjoy a glimpse back into another era — the Jazz Era, through the magic of motion pictures, with Jazz Night at the Movies. Archivist Mark Cantor digs through his reels and tapes and throws the best stuff in a box, bringing it all up to Healdsburg’s Raven Theater to share with an always-appreciative audience. (What can you expect to see? Check out the video on this page for a tease of the sort of film Cantor likes to bring!)

Wednesday, June 9 the Raven again hosts live music for the Healdsburg Jazz Festival, featuring the George Cables Trio, with guest vocalist Shea Breaux Wells. Festival favorite Cables’ distinctive, classy touch should being out the best in Wells’ bright sound, and should make for a classic Raven concert. Opening will be local guitarist Christian Foley-Beining leading a quartet, featuring world jazz reedman Paul McCandless (of the band Oregon), with Chris Amberger on bass and Lorca Hart on drums.

Friday, June 11 we welcome back Esperanza Spalding, a big hit at last year’s Festival whose star has risen even higher in the jazz firmament — not only was she a hit on David Letterman’s show, she’s played the Village Vanguard, the White House and at the Nobel Peace Prize concert last year, at Pres. Obama’s invitation. A bassist and singer, she brings a breath of fresh air and a sexy flair to the stage, and tickets for this event are going fast. Tacuma King and the Children’s Percussion Workshop opens the show, demonstrating once again that youth thrives on music, just as the music itself needs youth for its future — pretty much the mission of our Jazz Education Programs.

Saturday, June 12 will find influential bassist Charlie Haden with pianist Geri Allen and saxophonist Ravi Coltrane, a world-class trio of jazz royalty. Haden’s record of outstanding performances and collaborations goes back Ornette Coleman, Keith Jarrett and work with the late Hank Jones, and he’s still producing some of the most challenging and rewarding jazz of the day. He discovered Detroit’s Geri Allen some 20 years ago, and by adding Trane’s son Ravi to this bill he’s encapsulated trends and traditions of modern jazz as only he can. The Healdsburg High School Jazz Band opens, again bringing the next generation of talent to the Raven stage.

The Raven Theater remains one of our favorite jazz venues, with its classy interior, comfortable seats and crystal-clear acoustics. If you can, don’t miss any of these memorable evenings at the Raven, key dates with the Healdsburg Jazz Festival 2010.

More information about the Festival:

• Complete Schedule
• Ticket Information
• About Healdsburg

Auction Ends Tomorrow! Going on right now is the special benefit auction of a 17-inch Ribbecke Halfling Archtop, with a retail value of $7500. Now ongoing at eBay, the auction ends Thursday, May 27, at 11:45 am, with the tax-deductible proceeds going to the Healdsburg Jazz Festival.

Bidding started at $2000, and it’s only $3,022 now – still a great deal on an amazing instrument, and a significant contribution to our efforts.
» Follow this link to learn more, bid or buy from eBay.

Free tickets for new members

Become a New Member at the $100 level and above, and receive 1 free ticket to either the June 6 Stars of Brazil concert at Rec Park, or the June 13 Keepers of the Flame finale at Rodney Strong. Become a $250 member and receive 2 free tickets for either event or one for each. Join today and get the most out of your love for this great music.

The Countdown Continues…
10 Reasons to Attend the Jazz Festival

The Healdsburg Jazz Festival is fast approaching — it all kicks off officially on Friday June 4  with Jazz Night at the Movies in Healdsburg’s historic Raven Theater. Host for this unusual evening of archival film is Mark Cantor, a Bay Area film historian who has joined us several times before, including at the second Healdsburg Jazz Festival in 2000. Which leads us to the next of 10 Reasons to Attend the Healdsburg Jazz Festival…

Reason No. 9:
Return of Old Friends

We appreciate the fact that once many of our favorite jazz artists have played at the Healdsburg Jazz Festival they want to come back. There’s nothing like the comfort and camaraderie of familiar faces, and once again we’re happy to welcome back these old friends — and some not so old! — for their return engagements as Festival performers.

Friday June 4: The traditions of jazz are broad and deep, like the roots and branches of a noble tree. Unlike the video-centric hip-hop generation, or even the television era of rock, jazz as an art form pre-dates trendy “music videos” back to the time of Moviolas and newsreels. This is the world that Mark Cantor explores in Jazz Night at the Movies, with his rare film clips of some of the giants of jazz in their explosive prime.

Among the artists who may be presented onscreen are Cannonball Adderley, Stan Getz, Dinah Washington, Louis Armstrong, Art Pepper, John Coltrane, Max Roach, and the crowd-pleasing “Hot Lips” Page. What better place to see these historic celluloid flights of fancy than the Raven Theater, itself a well-preserved historic cinema? We hope to see you there for the opening night of the Healdsburg Jazz Festival.

Wednesday, June 9: Other “old friends” on this year’s schedule includes George Cables, the brilliant yet soft-spoken poet of the piano. He will front a trio at the same Raven Theater on Wednesday, June 9, with solid sidemen bassist Peter Barshay and drummer Jaz Sawyer, plus the added attraction of a much newer friend, vocalist Shea Breaux Wells. She was a surprise hit at the 2008 festival, and her talents have only grown since.

Friday & Saturday, June 11-12: A good place to meet old friends (and new ones!) is the Hotel Healdsburg Lobby, where we sponsor jazz every weekend night year-round. If you’ve been with us before, during this year’s Festival you’re sure to see somebody familiar when drummer Lorca Hart leads a trio on Friday night, and Craig Handy brings his own band on Saturday. Lorca’s been with us just a couple years now, but his father Billy Hart has been another mainstay of the Healdsburg Jazz Festival through the years. And Craig Handy is a Bay Area stalwart who has performed in various guises during festivals past, including the 2007 “return” of the Cookers.

That’s not all, not by a long shot. You remember piano virtuoso Geri Allen from 2004, and she’s back again this year on Saturday, June 12 with Charlie Haden (another HJF veteran, Class of 2006) and Ravi Coltrane. And samba queen Leny Andrade returns for the third time in four years as part of the Bossa Nova on the Green lineup on Sunday, June 6 at Rec Park.

And we can’t forget the magnetic and magnanimous Tacuma King, who has done so much to keep music and the spirit of community alive in Healdsburg with his Children’s Percussion Workshops, year after year. This time the CPW opens the bill for Esperanza Spalding (whom we first saw last year!) at the Raven on Friday, June 11.

The Countdown Begins…

The Healdsburg Jazz Festival starts less than three weeks from today, on Friday June 4. (Keep an eye on our home page for the daily countdown!) As what the San Francisco Chronicle calls “probably the best small jazz festival in the country” nears, we’ll be sending out a series of reasons why you will want to attend one or more events in the this year’s lineup. Ten reasons, in fact, along with extra info and special promotions, all designed to get you as excited as the 12th Annual Festival as we are!

The Ten Reasons Countdown

Reason No. 10: Support Jazz Education The Healdsburg Jazz Festival was founded in large part to “educate young people and adults about the important role of jazz as an indigenous American art form,” according to our mission statement, and it’s a core belief that through education comes understanding and appreciation. At the annual Festival, we have several events that demonstrate, or benefit, this commitment to education.

Saturday, May 22 will see Jazz in the Chef’s Kitchen, with internationally acclaimed chef Nancy Oakes of Boulevard and L’Avenue restaurants, and her husband Bruce Aidells of Aidells Sausage Company, for our 2010 Education Fundraiser. They will open their legendary craftsman-style home for a memorable wine country evening of extraordinary food and jazz, including the soulful Kenny Washington. It’s a benefit for our Jazz Education programs, and your attendance will help area school-age children learn how to listen to, appreciate and play jazz and other musical forms. Make your donation and get your invitation before it’s too late!

Saturday, June 5 will be the first Jazz Festival weekend, and we’ve upped the ante with a special Art of the Solo Guitar presentation, including a morning workshop for young musicans and an afternoon concert featuring many of the guitar stars of the Festival lineup. It’s all a fundraiser for the Healdsburg Jazz Festival’s music education programs, co-presented by the Ribbecke Guitar Company. Get your tickets to the concert now.

Other Education events include the appearance of Tacuma King and the Children’s Percussion Workshop at the Friday, June 11 concert featuring the Esperanza Spalding Group, and two performances by the popular Healdsburg High School Jazz Band, one at the June 12 Charlie Haden-Geri Allen-Ravi Coltrane show at the Raven, and at the Benefactors Dinner and Concert on June 10 at the new Francis Ford Coppola Winery.

We will be in touch soon with the next of Ten Reasons to enjoy the Healdsburg Jazz Festival, and more special notes on the music we love. Remember tickets for all events in the Festival Schedule are available online, and more information and news is always available at healdsburgjazzfestival.org.

The Future Is Now! Jazz Visionaries Join Forces
in Wine Country

Rising stars and veteran masters to fill Healdsburg with
virtuoso performances in the Festival’s 12^th Season

Healdsburg, Calif.  – Jazz’s dizzying rate of evolution means that every five or six years a new generation takes root. Healdsburg presents a thrilling international cast of improvisers, from artists who defined their era half a century ago to today’s most innovative musicians, and every generation in between. Hailed as a rare gem of a jazz festival that focuses on quality and soul, the 12^th Annual Healdsburg Jazz Festival runs June 4 -13 at venues around the famously picturesque wine country community.

Family Ties

In a rare reunion, bassist Charlie Haden, a jazz revolutionary who exploded on the scene with Ornette Coleman in 1959, performs in an extraordinary trio with Geri Allen, the most audaciously creative pianist to emerge in the 1980s, and tenor saxophonist Ravi Coltrane, who grew up around Haden, a collaborator with both his parents, John and Alice Coltrane.

Rio de Janeiro North

Showcasing more Brazilian talent than can be found anywhere else in North America, this quadruple bill features guitarist bossa nova patriarch Oscar Castro-Neves with a stellar band, samba jazz queen Leny Andrade, Brazil’s most beloved jazz singer, with the superlative guitarist Romero Lubambo. The mini-festival opens with two captivating vocalists. Rio-born singer Claudia Villela performs her startlingly beautiful original works with her band, featuring fellow Carioca Ricardo Peixoto on guitar. And Brasilia is an acclaimed quartet led by drummer Ted Moore and singer Pamela Driggs, with her husband Romero Lubambo appearing as special guest.

Stars On the Rise

But this season the accent is on youth, with a bevy of brilliant young bandleaders including the charismatic bassist/vocalist Esperanza Spalding, who’s become one of jazz’s foremost ambassadors with her propulsive playing and lithe singing; iconoclastic pianist/composer Jason Moran, whose supremely resourceful trio The Bandwagon is joined by guitar star Bill Frisell; Thelonious Monk Competition winner and bossa nova-besotted vocalist Gretchen Parlato; and sensational Cuban drummer/composer Dafnis Prieto, the leader of the kinetic Si o Si Quartet with Berkeley-raised multi-instrumental magician Peter Apfelbaum.

Please visit this page for complete lineup, dates and times. Tickets available online soon and at healdsburgjazzbrownpapertickets.com.

Jessica Felix, artistic director

March 17, 2010

Dear Music Lovers,

During a recent trip to New York, I had the great fortune to experience a thriving and vibrant jazz scene.  The fuel for this scene was being generated by dozens of young artists, some of whom I’d never heard of.  I was amazed by the fresh sounds of such talent as Jason Moran, Gretchen Parlato, Dafnis Prieto and Peter Apfelbaum. Their performances were so impressive I made the decision, then and there, to showcase these artists at this year’s Healdsburg Jazz Festival.

The festival will blend these artists with more established cooking-hot musicians, such as Esperanza Spalding and Ravi Coltrane.  For our next ingredient in this year’s soul stew, we will be folding in a hefty dose of seasoned masters, such as Charlie Haden, Bill Frisell and Geri Allen.

For our al fresco appetizer, we have gone all the way to Brazil to bring in the best of the best of that county’s music offerings.  Master composer and guitarist Oscar Castro-Neves will occupy the Rec Park stage with Bossa Nova chanteuse Leny Andrade, Romero Lubambo and others.

In addition, we will feature several musicians who reside in Healdsburg, such as Christian Foley-Beining — playing this year with Paul McCandless of the group Oregon — and Kai Devitt-Lee, at just 16 a real jazz discovery. Finally, after a four year absence, movie archivist Mark Cantor returns with newly discovered jazz film clips.

We are thrilled to offer you these “keepers of the jazz flame!” We can rest assured that the future of this art form is in good hands.

Jazz musicians by definition have always taken risks; they experiment and explore, and enrich our lives through their music. I hope you, their audience, will do the same.

Buy tickets, tell your friends and please join us and witness the present and future of world-class jazz!

See you at the Festival,

Jessica Felix
Artistic Director,
Healdsburg Jazz Festival

Idris Ackamoor and Artistic Being
featuring Frederick Harris

(Photo: Lars and Lorraine Speyer)

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!”