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

Brazilian jazz great Toninho Horta

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.

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.

Discounts for Festival guests

Horizon Air provides daily non-stop flights between Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Portland, and Seattle to Santa Rosa/Sonoma County.  As a proud sponsor of the Healdsburg Jazz Festival, we’re offering a special 10% discount.  Simply click this  link and enter discount code EC031409 in the discount code box when booking a flight.

» Go to Horizon Air

» Back to Sponsors

Discount Code Terms and Conditions:

Discount: Valid for one discount of 10% off round-trip base fares published at horizonair.com, excluding Hot Deals. Not applicable to Mileage Plan Award Reservations, Alaska Airlines Vacations packages, tour or contract fares. Reservations & Ticketing: Valid for new tickets purchased only through horizonair.com. Itineraries with Discount Code applied cannot be held with a discount. Discount Code can be reapplied to a held reservation at time of purchase. Discount Code cannot be applied to tickets that have already been purchased and issued. Discount Code is relinquished at time of ticketing and void for future changes or purchases. Credit card required for purchase. Passengers: Up to seven people per Discount Code, traveling together and booked and ticketed at the same time in the same reservation and at the same fare. Routes: Discount valid between all U.S. Cities, excluding Hawaii, served by Alaska Airlines/Horizon Air and Santa Rosa/Sonoma County, on flights operated by Alaska Airlines or Horizon Air.   Based on published fare routings and some cities may not be available.

Advance Purchase: Per applicable fare rules. Purchase By: June 8, 2009. Travel Valid From: May 27, 2009. Travel Complete: June 9, 2009. Minimum & Maximum Stay: Per applicable fare rules. Flights: Valid only on flights operated by Alaska Airlines or Horizon Air. Not valid on codeshare flights. Taxes, Fees & Surcharges: Passenger is responsible for all applicable taxes, fees, and surcharges, including checked baggage fees.

Combinability: Not valid with any other discounts, including Discount Codes, coupons, discount programs, MyAccount online discount, or other promotions. Changes and Refunds: Changes and refunds are allowed per the applicable fare rule and may result in the forfeiture of the Discount Code. Any changes for International itineraries must be made by contacting the Change and Reissue desk through Alaska Airlines Reservations. Once issued, wholly unused tickets are transferable. A $100 fee per ticket applies. Mileage Plan: Mileage Plan credit applies and upgrades are allowed.

Additional Terms: All rules of Alaska Airlines, Horizon Air, horizonair.com, alaskaair.com, and the applicable fare rules not mentioned within these terms and conditions apply. Other: Discount Codes have no cash value and are not valid for travel. Alaska/Horizon has the final authority regarding Discount Code redemption. Travel is subject to the applicable Alaska Airlines or Horizon Air contract of carriage. Terms and conditions as written herein are final and cannot be changed or waived by any statement or representation of any unauthorized person, including employees of Alaska Airlines or Horizon Air or issuing organization. Other restrictions may apply and Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air reserve the right to suspend or change this offer without notice.