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HERALDSBURG JAZZ FESTiVAL |
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Google "Healdsburg" and youll get more than 3.5 million hits, many related to the Northern California communitys phenomenal growth and popularity as a visitor destination. The Healdsburg Jazz Festival, now in its tenth year, has been a partner in that growth. The festival would not be as successful without the rise of the towns prominence, and the town relies on independent efforts like the jazz festival to introduce new people to its small town charm. As each grows, so does the other.
About the Town 25 years ago, Healdsburg was the quintessential sleepy farm town, known for its quiet taverns and busy hardware stores. Now, the historic Downtown Plaza is surrounded by hip hotels, boutiques, bakeries and coffee shops. The Healdsburg area is also home to more than 100 wineries, from family-owned boutique wineries to internationally recognized brands.
About the Festival The Healdsburg Jazz Festival is one of the premier cultural events in Northern California. The festival truly inhabits the town for ten days every year. Instead of a parade of musicians on a massive stage, the Healdsburg Jazz Festival performances are held in wineries, theaters, ballparks, hotel lobbies, cafs and restaurants, giving jazz fans a chance to see musicians in an intimate setting. The festival has always focused on jazz as an authentic American art form no smooth jazz allowed.
About the Connection The jazz artists become immersed in the community, making downtown Healdsburg feel like the "backstage" of the festival. The Musicians conduct workshops and perform in the schools. They have coffee in downtown coffee shops, and stay in volunteers' homes. Don't be surprised if you see a few while dining at a local restaurant or browsing in one of the bookstores.
About the Area In addition to outstanding jazz, great food, award-winning wineries, and the magnificent weather of Sonoma County, within an hour of Healdsburg are redwood forests, the Pacific Ocean, antique stores, farms, galleries and golf.
The Healdsburg Jazz Festival, one of Northern Californias premier cultural events, celebrates its ten-year anniversary by presenting an all-star lineup of world-class musicians performing in intimate wine country venues this June.
Performers, including artists new to the festival and returning alumni, range from Fred Hersch to Bobby Hutcherson, from Eddie Palmieri to Charlie Haden, from Pete Escovedo to Zakir Hussain and much more.
Every year we try to make the jazz festival better, but this will definitely be our biggest and best yet, said Jessica Felix, founder and Artistic Director for the festival.
I am really excited about the outstanding lineup for this year and to once again bring a diverse and accomplished group of musicians to Healdsburg.
The jazz festival kicks off on Friday, May 30, with the Fred Hersch Trio and special guest Kurt Elling playing at the beautiful Jackson Theater, located a few minutes south of Healdsburg. The festival stays at the Jackson Theater the next evening for a concert featuring a beloved and internationally-acclaimed saxophonist (name withheld until April 1 due to contractual obligations).
As the festival progresses, it will traverse the jazz spectrum. Special event highlights include: Latin Jazz on the Green, an outdoor afternoon with the Eddie Palmieri and Pete Escovedo bands; Jazz Night at the Movies, with rare archival films from jazz film historian Mark Cantor; and Come Sunday, a Sunday morning performance of spirituals and sacred jazz music, with mezzo-soprano Ruth Naomi Floyd, a world-renowned vocalist who interprets traditional spirituals with impeccable jazz chops.
The concerts this year will be phenomenal, said Felix, with performances that include an evening with Charlie Haden, Kenny Barron and Joshua Redman, The Music of Eric Dolphy with Bennie Maupin and James Newton, the Cedar Walton Trio, the Bobby Hutcherson Quartet, the Julian Lage Trio, the John Heard Trio, and an All-Star Alumni Band on the last day at Rodney Strong Vineyards, featuring many of the great players from 10 years of the festival. Theyll all be coming on stage for a grand finale to help us close out the festival in grand style.
Veteran jazz fans and newcomers to the genre will find plenty to appreciate at the Healdsburg Jazz Festival, with intimate performances held in theaters, hotel lobbies, cafs, restaurants, wineries, ballparks, and the town square.
Circe Sher, a jazz festival board member and the marketing director for Hotel Healdsburg, a festival sponsor, is enthusiastic about how the festival fits with the Healdsburg community. The Healdsburg Jazz Festival combines great classic jazz with beautiful venues and the charm of Healdsburg. Both visitors and locals pack the venues and the town is abuzz with music. Its a great time to be in Healdsburg.
The festival has a dedicated corps of volunteers. Im so grateful to the community of Healdsburg for making this festival work, said Felix. People open their homes to musicians, restaurants help keep them fed, and local businesses support us as well.
Lynn Woznicki, the former CEO of the Healdsburg Chamber of Commerce, was an early supporter of the festival. Its proven to be a tremendous gift to our community, said Woznicki. Driven by a group of passionate volunteers, its been rewarding to watch their dreams of a world-class festival come true.
The Healdsburg Jazz Festival mission includes more than just great performances. According to Felix, the real heart of the festival is our Jazz Education Program. The program this year is the biggest ever, with performing and learning opportunities for every child in our community.
From classes in dance and drumming for the youngest, to hands-on tutoring for high school jazz players, the festival brings professional musicians and educators into area classrooms throughout the spring. Our festival is about so much more than ticket sales, said Felix. We are as dedicated to teaching young musicians to play and to building an audience of jazz aficionados, as we are to filling seats at the performances. Our experience with this festival is that it has helped build a stronger community as much as it has fostered appreciation for this great American art form.
The Healdsburg Jazz Festival will sponsor several free concerts, including in one in the Healdsburg Plaza on Tuesday, June 3, as part of the Tuesday Picnic and Concert Series. Other events range in price from $10 to $60, including a variety of events for students and their families. For ticket and venue information, call 707-433-4644 or visit www.healdsburgjazzfestival.org
Imagine a small town with more than 100 wineries nearby, gourmet restaurants and bakeries, galleries on every street, and live jazz three or more nights a week. A genuine American small town, Healdsburg is at a comfortable juncture of hip and historic. Its the perfect place for a great jazz festival. Healdsburg is awash in creativity, drawing the most innovative chefs, the best winemakers, and fine artists in every medium. Its a living metaphor for jazz.
Like the town it inhabits, the Healdsburg Jazz Festival is more interested in quality than quantity, more focused on high standards and fresh ideas. Founded 10 years ago, the jazz festival started small, with an unusual purpose. Something called smooth jazz was taking over the radio airwaves, and there was talk about a smooth jazz festival coming to Healdsburg.
Fans of the authentic jazz art form knew that jazz impresario Jessica Felix had recently moved to Healdsburg from the Bay Area. Jessica had already booked a few concerts in local venues, and was easily persuaded to start a hometown festival that celebrated real jazz.
Jessica insisted on booking quality musicians, treating them well, and introducing them to the community. Jazz bassist Charlie Haden calls Jessica a jazz angel for the way she treats musicians and for her unswerving dedication to music. Jessica doesnt do it alone. An orchestra of volunteers works all year, planning publicity, logistics, fund-raising, and events.
The festival has grown from a three-day event in a local movie house to a ten-day jazz experience. For a week-and-a-half at the beginning of June each year, Healdsburg maybe the hippest small town in California is the center of the jazz world.
In 2008, the Healdsburg Jazz Festival will celebrate its tenth year in grand style, bringing back a decades worth of exceptional musicians for its biggest festival yet. For ten days, the festival will take over the town, with concerts in theaters, restaurants, ballparks, wineries, hotel lobbies, and a free concert in the town square.
In addition to performances, the festival sponsors films, lectures, and workshops. The community has also embraced the festival. Local businesses sponsor events, families open their homes to musicians, and restaurants offer special menu items, often named after jazz tunes. San Francisco jazz musicians say Healdsburg has better, more respectful listeners than the Bay Area.
The musicians at this years Healdsburg Jazz Festival include Fred Hersch, Cedar Walton, Eddie Palmieri, Bobby Hutcherson, Zakir Hussain, Kenny Barron, Charlie Haden, James Newton, Kurt Elling, Joshua Redman, Jason Moran, Renee Rosnes, Julian Lage, Don Byron, George Cables, Pete Escovedo, and many more. Other programs include an evening of jazz films, a Sunday morning performance of spirituals, a day of Latin Jazz on the lawn, and special concerts that will educate and involve the children of the community.
The concerts are sublime, the early summer weather is always wonderful, and the food and wine in Healdsburg are matchless, but its the Jazz Education Program that is truly the heart of the festival. Every student in the area can participate in programs in school and after school, including Operation Jazz Band, a week-long program for fifth-graders that communicates the joy of musical expression. Professional musicians work with local students on both fun and fundamentals. In the last decade, thousands of local students have become jazz fans while developing their own unique creativity and talent.
This year, the Jazz Education Program will include a return visit from a Healdsburg native, jazz composer and trumpeter Sarah Wilson, who will conduct workshops and perform an original composition with the Healdsburg High School Jazz Band. Latin Jazz performer and historian John Santos will highlight a series of innovative history lessons and performances on Latin Jazz at local secondary schools. Drum master and educator Tacuma King will bring his charismatic blend of dance, song, and drumming to local elementary schools.
The Jazz Education Program will also sponsor Don Byrons Bug Music for Juniors, an extraordinary exploration of the Swing Era that combines live jazz, classic cartoons, and historic film footage. Performed on Broadway, this performance is jazz education at its most exciting and entertaining.
The festival will also include Come Sunday, a Sunday morning performance of spirituals and sacred jazz compositions featuring James Newton, the George Cables Trio, and the mesmerizing mezzo-soprano Ruth Naomi Floyd.
The Healdsburg Jazz Festival is now on the radar of jazz fans from all over the world. When she founded the festival, Jessica wondered whether a rural community would support a jazz festival the way an urban city might, but it went together like a good jazz combo, thriving on the alchemy of talent, improvisation, and creative freedom.
THE HEART OF THE FESTIVAL
The Healdsburg Jazz Festival has made education a major part of its mission since its inception. In fact, festival founder and Artistic Director, Jessica Felix, calls education the real heart of the festival. According to Felix, the program this year is the biggest ever, with performing and learning opportunities for every child in the community.
From classes in dance and drumming for the youngest, to hands-on tutoring for high school jazz players, the festival brings professional musicians and educators into area classrooms. Elizabeth Haze Vega, a Healdsburg teacher, author and musician, is effusive in her praise for the festivals educational mission. I have taught music in five of our Healdsburg area schools, and I recognize that this wonderful program is unique to our town and is one of the finest cultural gifts Healdsburg offers to her children.
Our festival is about so much more than ticket sales, says Felix. This is as much about building an audience as it is about teaching young musicians to play.
FOUNDERS NOTES
Healdsburg Jazz Festival Founder and Artistic Director Jessica Felix moved to Healdsburg in 1994, and it wasnt long before she started looking for a jazz scene. She didnt find one, so she started her own. She booked her first concert at a local coffeehouse, with pianist George Cables. It sold out. Jessica continued to book concerts while pursuing a career as a jewelry designer and gallery owner. In 1999, she was approached by a group of jazz lovers and asked to launch a jazz festival.
The Healdsburg Jazz Festival has grown from three nights at a local movie house to a ten-day event that takes over the town of Healdsburg, already a well-known visitor destination. The potent mixture of good weather, great wine, fabulous food and transcendent music has made the Healdsburg Jazz Festival a favorite of musicians and fans. Flute player James Newton calls Jessica a keeper of the flame for her devotion to authentic jazz, and bassist Charlie Haden calls her a jazz angel in reference to how well she treats musicians.
Jessica has been producing concerts since 1980, and booked Gallery 552 in Oakland from 1981-1990. She is a charter member of Jazz in Flight, the founder of the Eddie Moore Festival, and in 1993, created Children in Flight, a free workshop series for young children in Oakland led by African drum master and educator Tacuma King.
Her dedication to education continues, and the Jazz Education Program is a major component of the Healdsburg Jazz Festival. Thousands of local students have met and played with professional musicians over the last decade, thanks in large part to Jessicas devotion to jazz.
The Healdsburg Jazz Festival takes place over a ten-day period, this year from May 30 to June 8, but its a year-round obsession for Jessica. She organizes educational programs at local schools, books off-season concerts, and is constantly raising funds to produce the next festival, which is always, she vows, the best one yet!
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