The 222, the newest and some might say most sophisticated performance venue in the North Bay, is about to begin its fourth year of programming with a National Endowment for the Arts-supported premiere performance of “Misterioso,” an exploration of the music of Thelonious Monk.
The Aug. 10-11 concert will be the first of over 100 events scheduled over the next 10 months at The 222, ranging from literary readings to dance classes, classic movies to classical music, choral recitals to stage dramas.
“I’m interested in building community,” said Paul Mahder, in whose gallery The 222 performances are held. “Doing events is about that, and I had a space that could handle it—it was actually the ideal space.” The Paul Mahder Gallery opened 10 years ago (there’s a 10th anniversary celebration on Aug. 17), and the concept of The 222 developed over time as Mahder realized the depth of interest and programming talent that he could find in Healdsburg.
“So I just decided to go full-on four years ago,” Mahder said. He cited classical musician Gary McLaughlin, literary arts programmer Denise Low, cinema teacher Eleanor Nichols, drama impresario Aldo Billingslea and of course jazz producer Jessica Felix—whose first of nine offerings is The 222’s season premiere.
The season opener, performed both Saturday and Sunday next weekend, Aug. 10-11, consists of a collaboration between pianist Vijay Iyer and cornetist Graham Haynes. Each a composer in their own right, their combined effort is amplified by multimedia elements including film and video to create “a fantasia of electroacoustic music and images influenced by the spirit of Monk,” according to the program notes.
Sphere
Monk should need no introduction to anyone with an awareness of music in the last 100 years. “Misterioso” is the name of just one of his many elliptical, surprising compositions that have become part of the “songbook” of jazz musicians today. Others include “Round Midnight,” “Blue Monk,” “Straight, No Chaser,” “Ruby, My Dear,” “Well, You Needn’t” and more.
The unconventional talent (whose middle name was Sphere, to give one an idea of his eccentricity) created music well suited to an imaginative sonic environment that Iyer and Haynes have shaped.
The two musicians appeared in Healdsburg at the 2012 Healdsburg Jazz Festival that was a tribute to drummer Roy Haynes (Graham Haynes’ father). The elder Haynes (now 99 years old, then only 87) led a band that included his son Craig on percussion, while Graham played with the Vijay Iyer Trio.
Felix, who founded Healdsburg Jazz Festival and ran it until 2021, said she first met Vijay Iyer when he was a student at UC Berkeley 30 years ago. “I thought he was very talented then, but he’s very driven and he just built an amazing career with great music and great recordings,” she said. “He is really high up there in the masters of the music now.”
Haynes is a New York-based cornetist and composer known for his work fusing jazz with elements of hip-hop and electronic music, a genre called “nu jazz.” The push-the-envelope techniques used by Haynes and the high level of talent demonstrated by Iyer make the Healdsburg premiere a noteworthy event.
The blending of jazz talents that the “Misterioso” concert will showcase proved so difficult to coordinate it took an NEA (National Endowment for the Arts) grant to make it happen. “For me to be able to present Vijay is really amazing; I just had to have a grant to do it,” Felix said.
She applied early in 2023, and found out in November that the $20,000 matching grant had been awarded, which necessitated finding local supporters to help underwrite the concerts. “We could not present them without this approach,” Felix said. Mahder said they are still open to co-sponsorships for the concert.
The Saturday, Aug. 10, event is a world premiere, complete with champagne, hors d’oeuvres and ice cream; it begins at 6pm. Sundays’ program begins at 7pm. Tickets are still available at the222.org.
A full-color, 60-page program of this year’s The 222 schedule came with last week’s issue of The Healdsburg Tribune for subscribers; others can pick up a copy of this booklet at the venue, the Paul Mahder Gallery at 222 Healdsburg Ave.
