SFJAZZ, the Bay Area’s largest non-profit jazz presenter, has announced the lineup for its 22nd annual San Francisco Jazz Festival, which includes Michael Brecker, Jason Moran (pictured), Gary Burton, Jim Hall, Caetano Veloso, Ruth Brown, Dianne Reeves, Etta James, and Don Byron. The festival will run from October 15 through November 7 and will also feature a tribute to Lester Young, as well as a new Jazz+Art series to be held at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
Kicking off the festival at Grace Cathedral will be tenor saxophonist Michael Brecker with soprano saxophonist Jane Ira Bloom. This will be the first of two festival concerts to be held in this venue, the second will be a performance by British classical violinist Tasmin Little, who will play Bach and Bartók at Grace on November 5.
For Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughn fans, the San Francisco Jazz Festival offers four women jazz vocalists: Dianne Reeves, pianist and chanteuse Dena DeRose, the Queen of R&B Etta James, and San Francisco’s Mary Stallings-a onetime protégé of Count Basie, Billy Eckstine and Dizzy Gillespie. These women will give audiences a glimpse into the tradition of women jazz vocalists.
SFJAZZ has also included a prodigious amount of international flavor to this year’s lineup, which includes Brazilian star Caetano Veloso, Portuguese fado singer Mariza, Latin pianists Gonzalo Rubalcaba and Michel Camilo, Malian singer Rokia Traoré, Norwegian jazztronica band Jaga Jazzist and Japanese pianist Yosuke Yamashita, whose past collaborators include Max Roach, Elvin Jones and Bill Laswell.
Another SFJAZZ Festival tradition continuing into 2004 is the tribute concert. This year the festival will pay tribute to saxophonist Lester Young, and singer-pianist Fats Waller. The Lester Young tribute features clarinetist Don Byron, who will play with pianist Jason Moran and drummer Jack DeJohnette. The trio will pay homage to Lester Young’s legendary ensemble of the ’40s with Nat “King” Cole and Buddy Rich. The Fats Waller 100th Birthday Celebration will pay honor to the fun-loving composer of “Ain’t Misbehavin'” and “Honeysuckle Rose” with an all-star lineup including vocalist Ruth Brown, pianists Jay McShann, Mike Lipskin and Dick Hyman and guitarist-singer Marty Grosz. The event will also include a screening of rare Waller footage and a re-creation of classic Waller duets on Davies Symphony Hall’s colossal pipe organ.
In an effort to expand the breadth of the Festival and create new traditions, this year SFJAZZ will introduce “Jazz+Art,” a new series to be held Thursday evenings at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art through the run of the festival. Launching this series is drummer Scott Amendola, a familiar face in San Francisco’s eclectic jazz scene who has collaborated with guitarists Charlie Hunter and Bill Frisell. The Jazz+Art series will also feature drummer and bandleader Eddie Marshall and the downtown New York City quartet Sex Mob.
A few special jazz events will pepper the three week, four weekend Festival, including a multi-media Halloween event featuring the Jazz Passengers playing a live soundtrack for a 3-D version of Creature From the Black Lagoon, a cruise on the Bay with singer Lavay Smith and her Red Hot Skillet-Lickers, and the SFJAZZ Beacon Award concert honoring Bay Area jazz treasure Allen Smith.
A full festival schedule follows. Tickets for all events go on sale Sunday, July 18 and cost $15 to $80. Tickets are available in person (without service charge) at the SFJAZZ Store at 3 Embarcadero Center, Lobby Level; at www.sfjazz.org (service charge applied); by phone (service charge applied) at 415-776-1999 (if you’re outside of California call 800-225-2277). Tickets for Herbst Theatre concerts only are available by calling City Box Office at 415-392-4400. Tickets can only be purchased at Masonic and Palace of Fine Arts Theater night of show.
For more information call 415-788-7353 (or toll free 800-850-7353) or visit www.sfjazz.org
Full schedule of concerts and events:
Friday, October 15 @ 8pm
Michael Brecker, Jane Ira Bloom
Grace Cathedral
Saturday, October 16 @ 8pm
Caetano Veloso
Masonic Auditorium
Sunday, October 17 @ 7pm
Tribute to Lester Young
Don Byron, Jason Moran & Jack DeJohnette
Herbst Theatre
Wednesday, October 20 @ 7:30pm
Vijay Iyer & Mike Ladd
Herbst Theatre
Thursday, October 21 @ 7pm
Jazz+Art Series
Plays Monk; Scott Amendola, Ben Goldberg, Devin Hoff
SFMOMA
Thursday, October 21 @ 7:30pm
Yosuke Yamashita
Herbst Theatre
Friday, October 22 @ 8pm
Mariza
Calvin Simmons Theatre, Oakland
Friday, October 22 @ 8pm
Brad Mehldau
Palace of Fine Arts Theatre
Friday, October 22 @ 8pm
Al Di Meola, Stanley Clarke, Jean-Luc Ponty
Masonic Auditorium
Saturday, October 23 @ 8pm
Mary Stallings
Herbst Theatre
Saturday, October 23 @ 8pm
Rokia Traoré
Palace of Fine Arts Theatre
Sunday, October 24 @ 11am
Jazz Cruise
Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers;
San Francisco Spirit Yacht
Sunday, October 24 @ 7pm
Kurt Elling, Stacey Kent
Herbst Theatre
Wednesday, October 27 @ 7:30pm
The SFJAZZ Beacon Award Concert
Allen Smith & Friends
Jazz at Pearl’s
Thursday, October 28 @ 7pm
Jazz+Art Series
Sex Mob
SFMOMA
Friday, October 29 @ 8pm
Mark O’Connor’s Hot Swing Trio
Herbst Theatre
Friday, October 29 @ 8pm
Michel Camilo Trio and Solo
Palace of Fine Arts Theatre
Saturday, October 29 @ 8 and 10:30pm
Jimmy McGriff; Masters of Groove with Reuben Wilson, Grant Green Jr., Clyde Stubblefield
Great American Music Hall
Saturday, October 30 @ 3pm and 8pm
Film Screening
Creature from the Black Lagoon (3-D) and the Jazz Passengers
Palace of Fine Arts Theatre
Sunday, October 31 @ 2pm
Dena DeRose
Florence Gould Theatre
Sunday, October 31 @ 2pm
Dmitri Matheny Group
Palace of Fine Arts Theatre
Sunday, October 31 @ 7pm
Dianne Reeves
Palace of Fine Arts Theatre
Wednesday, November 3 @ 7:30pm
Hermeto Pascoal, Mônica Salmaso
Palace of Fine Arts Theatre
Thursday, November 4 @ 7pm
Jazz+Art Series
Eddie Marshall
SFMOMA
Thursday, November 4 @ 7:30pm
Jim Hall Trio
Herbst Theatre
Thursday, November 4 @ 8pm
Supersilent, Jaga Jazzist
Great American Music Hall
Friday, November 5 @ 8pm
Tasmin Little
Grace Cathedral
Friday, November 5 @ 8p
Gonzalo Rubalcaba Trio
Herbst Theatre
Saturday, November 6 @ 8pm
Etta James and The Roots Band
Masonic Auditorium
Saturday, November 6 @ 8pm
Gary Burton Quartet with Julian Lage and Makoto Ozone
Herbst Theatre
Sunday, November 7 @ 7pm
The Conga Kings
Calvin Simmons Theatre, Oakland
Sunday, November 7 @ 7pm
A Fats Waller 100th Birthday Celebration
Ruth Brown, Dick Hyman, Jay McShann, Marty Grosz, Mike Lipskin & more
Davies Symphony Hall
