Festival Venues & Vendors

“Jazz like it’s meant to be heard…”

Jackson TheaterOne of the best halls for any kind of music is just outside of Healdsburg, a 774-seat auditorium called Jackson Theater. With its unimpeded sight lines, stacked balcony and terrific acoustics, it’s the perfect place for this high level of music. It’s on the campus of the private Sonoma Country Day School – one of the schools we take our Operation Jazz Band in the spring – near the Sonoma County Airport.

We’ve presented a number of local jazz fans’ favorite concerts here, including Charles Lloyd, the 2011 “rained out” Latin Jazz Fiesta, and the late Dave Brubeck, Charlie Musselwhite, the Joshua Redman Quartet and many more.

In 2015 we’ll find explosive talent like Eddie Palmieri, “Nuevo Tango” master Pablo Ziegler, Brazilian artists Luciana Souza in duo with Romero Lubambo, then Lubambo with Trio da Paz and guest pianist  Kenny Barron at the “Jazz and the Music of the Americas” weekend, May 30-31.

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Healdsburg’s Raven Theater is one of our long-standing venues, a 1940s movie theater converted to a stage and performance hall over the past decade. Many of our key artists have performed in this 433-seat theater, with its clean sightlines and intimate acoustics. The Raven has a small refreshment bar and usually has wine and snacks available before performances and during intermission. It’s located one block north of the Plaza on North St., with a distinctive neon bird atop its marquee.

Performances here this year include Benny Green Trio with David Wong and Rodney Green on Friday June 5, the explosive bebop jazz giants The Cookers featuring Billy Harper, Billy Hart, Cecil McBee, Eddie Henderson, Donald Harrison, David Weiss, and George Cables on Saturday night, June 6, and Cables leading his own trio on Sunday, June 7 with Essiet Essiet and Victor Lewis, with guest Craig Handy sitting in on sax.

“You won’t go hungry listening to jazz…”

With so much great music this year at the Healdsburg Jazz Festival, it’s going to be hard to fit in time for dinner. We’ve got you covered: at the Jackson Theater events food vendors will be on hand to serve healthy, tasty and local dishes. Several of our mid-week venues have food menus of their own, such as Healdsburg SHED and Partake by K-J. The Tuesday Night Concerts in the Healdsburg Plaza always feature several food booths from our favorite local restaurants, too.

Our wine sponsors will have Sonoma County’s best for purchase by the glass and many of sour shows, and other beverages will available as well. Plan to enjoy good food, good wine and great jazz!

Sorry, there are no arts, craft booths or other vendors at our events – it’s all about the music.