Stars of Brazil

Bossa Nova on the Green
Oscar Castro-Neves & Friends

Leny Andrade and
Romero Lubambo Duo

Claudia Villela Band

and Brasilia

Location: Recreation Park
Address: Piper at University, Healdsburg
Time: 12:30 – 6:30 pm (one show)
Tickets: $30 General, $20 Students or Seniors (65+), Children 10 and under free

In the five decades since bossa nova burst onto the international music scene, Brazil has enriched the world with a glorious torrent of musical talent. Featuring some of the most revered Brazilian musicians on the planet, this festival within a festival showcases the South American nation’s mind-boggling array of rhythms, infinite trove of seductive melodies and affinity for modern jazz harmonies.

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, and Brazil’s most beloved jazz singer, samba jazz queen Leny Andrade, on stage with the superlative guitarist Romero Lubambo. [more...]

The afternoon begins 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. [more...]

 And Brasilia is an acclaimed quartet led by drummer Ted Moore and singer Pamela Driggs, with her husband Romero Lubambo appearing as special guest. [more...]

Once again our Sunday on the Green is being held at the city’s Recreation Park, a well-maintained open field that we turn into Rio de Janiero in the Wine Country, with locally-produced foods, wine and beer, and souvenirs offered for sale, a nearby children’s park for the younger set, and plenty of room for dancing to the infectious rhythms that always seem to come from southern climes.

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!”

Want to receive this newsletter monthly by email? Join our Email list! (Right column)