What: Marcus Shelby Orchestra and the
HJF Freedom Jazz Choir
Where: Raven Performing Arts Theater, 115 North Street
Time: 7 pm | Tickets: $20

When San Francisco composer and bassist Marcus Shelby recorded a much-celebrated jazz suite called Soul of the Movement: Meditations on Dr. Martin Luther King, it featured a 15-piece jazz orchestra. For a series of performances, including this one at the Healdsburg Jazz Festival, Shelby’s opus serves as vehicle for a James Irvine Foundation grant that specifies the creation of a choir whose singers will come from the diverse communities of Sonoma County.

The Healdsburg Jazz Festival Freedom Jazz Choir‘s purpose is to engage the public in the arts using music as a unifying force. Over 100 people showed up for the first rehearsal of the Healdsburg Jazz Festival Freedom Jazz Choir.

The choir, under the tutelage of Shelby and Adam Ivey, director of Santa Rosa’s Joyous Noise Ensemble, will sing a variety of songs backed by the Marcus Shelby Orchestra. The dynamic Ms. Faye Carol will be lead vocalist.  The shows will feature original compositions from Soul of the Movement, plus spirituals and freedom songs that Shelby has arranged for the chorus.