15th annual lineup spread over 10 days, multiple stages
Few people, if any, may have thought the Healdsburg Jazz Festival would still be happening 15 years after its humble beginnings as a two-day, three-act concert in 1999.
But alive it is, and the early summer event has evolved, matured and expanded to a 10-day, multiple venue festival, featuring all kinds of jazz music including Dixieland, Latin, bebop, classical, contemporary and original compositions.
Like the fine wines made here that go so well with this most-American form of authentic music, the Healdsburg Jazz Festival has aged very well.
Festival founder Jessica Felix is still at the helm, working each year with a non-profit board of directors and almost a hundred community volunteers. Fifteen years is a lot of years in jazz time. That’s longer than the musical careers of jazz greats such as Billie Holiday, John Coltrane and Charlie Parker. In festival years, the Healdsburg Jazz Festival is continuing when other local festivals like Health & Harmony, Sebastopol Celtic and others have faded into fond memories.
Some of the people helping Felix put together this year’s 15th annual event believe it might be the “best ever.”
“I really do (believe it),” said past Festival Chair Gloria Hersch who also worked on the very first festivals when she led the Healdsburg Arts Council before the jazz festival formed its own organization. “Jessica just keeps bringing the very best music and talent here. Her tastes and standards are so high.”
The 15th annual Healdsburg Jazz Festival will feature a two-day tribute to jazz master Charlie Haden, June 1-2 at the Sonoma Country Day School’s indoor Jackson Theater. Bassist Haden, 75, has led a long and versatile career dating back to 1957 with Ornette Coleman and later his own Liberation Music Orchestra. He continues to record new music in new musical ensembles and was awarded the National Endowment of the Arts Jazz Master award last year.
This year’s other festival headliners include Charles Lloyd with Jason Moran, Fred Hersch, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Ravi Coltrane, Geri Allen, Bill Frisell, Gonzalo Rubalcaba and others.
The Healdsburg Jazz Festival’s own Freedom Jazz Choir, a 100-voice group assembled with support of a Irvine Foundation Grant and the coordination of Felix will play with the Marcus Shelby Jazz Orchestra on Thursday, June 6 at Healdsburg’s Raven Theater.
Tickets are still available for almost all of the 18 individual performances, film screenings and special events. (Visit www.healdsburgjazz.org for ticket information and orders.)
The 15th annual Festival runs from May 31 through June 9. There is a free performance on June 4 by the Roger Glenn Latin Jazz Ensemble in the Healdsburg Plaza, also serving as part of the summer-long Tuesdays in the Plaza.
Other performance ticket prices range from $20 to $75, with most in the $45-$55 range. The festival concludes at its traditional final Sunday venue at the Rodney Strong Winery amphitheater, featuring added shade areas and seating this year. Headliners are Sweet Honey in the Rock, a women’s vocal group of legendary standing in many musical worlds including folk, gospel, jazz, African, blues and spoken word. Opening will be the Azar Lawrence Quartet.
New York-based jazz composer and pianist Fred Hersch is bringing his trio to town and will play at The Raven on Friday, June 7. His performance this year will be a family affair, as his father Henry, a Healdsburg resident is set to be honored along with his step-mother Gloria who is a past chair and current jazz festival board member.
The June 8 Saturday performance will be a North America exclusive treat when saxophonist/flautist Charles Lloyd pairs with piano wunderkind Jason Moran. The duo’s current recording “Hagar’s Song” was selected on most “Best of” lists for the year.
As always happens during “jazz week,” Healdsburg’s restaurants, galleries, wine tasting rooms and sidewalks will be filled with jazz sounds, good vibes and roaming crowds. After 15 years, it can certainly be declared an annual tradition and a community institution.
Rollie Atkinson is publisher for Sonoma West Publishers and is the current chair of the Healdsburg Jazz Festival board of directors.
