A Press Democrat Blog

Arts

Dan Taylor on the fine arts scene.

Healdsburg Jazz Festival announces summer lineup

Wednesday, at 4:17 by

The 15th annual Healdsburg Jazz Festival will feature the vocal ensemble Sweet Honey in the Rock, a two-day tribute to bassist Charlie Haden and the premiere of the Healdsburg Jazz Festival Freedom Jazz Choir. The festival, scheduled to run May 31 through June 9 at various venues in the Healdsburg area, also includes an exclusive appearance by the duo of saxophonist Charles Lloyd and pianist Jason Moran. Sweet Honey in the Rock, an a cappella group that combines African chanting,… Read More »

Healdsburg schedules ‘Jazz on the Menu’ for Feb. 7

Monday, at 2:34 by

Healdsburg mixes wine, food and music with the third annual Jazz on the Menu event, coming up Thursday, Feb. 7. Small jazz ensembles will entertain diners at a dozen different restaurants around town from 6 to 9 p.m. that evening. To participate in the event, a benefit for the Healdsburg Jazz Festival’s “Jazz in the Schools” program, just make dinner reservations at any of the participating eating places and then show up to eat and listen. Participating restaurants in Healdsburg… Read More »

Petaluma Music Fest donates $30,000 to school music programs

Monday, at 10:03 by

Petaluma High School band instructor Cliff Eveland started the Petaluma Music Festival back in 2008 to raise money for  school music programs. It hasn’t always been easy, but he has made good on his promise. After a slow start, the festival has grown over the years, and last August at the Sonoma-Marin Fairgrounds, it raised $30,000. In December, the Petaluma Music Festival made donation presentations at two dozen Petaluma area public school winter concerts and assemblies. Last summer’s festival drew… Read More »

Healdsburg Jazz Festival line-up announced

Friday, at 10:30 by

This summer’s Healdsburg Jazz Festival includes a two-day tribute to jazz bassist Charlie Haden and other headliner performances by Charles Lloyd with Jason Moran, and the Fred Hersch Trio. The 15th annual festival will run from May 31 through June 9 at various indoor and outdoor venues around Healdsburg. On the first weekend, a two-day tribute June 1-2 will honor Charlie Haden with the 12-piece Liberation Music Orchestra featuring Carla Bley, Quartet West with Ravi Coltrane, plus Bill Frisell, Geri… Read More »

Boz Scaggs, Michael McDonald to star at Stern Grove Festival

Friday, at 9:58 by

Summer may seem a long way off, but the organizers of the annual Stern Grove Festival in San Francisco already have their plans in place. This year’s series of free concerts kicks off on Sunday, June 16, with “The Big Picnic,” co-starring Boz Scaggs and Michael McDonald. The ticketed benefit party will take place prior to the concert, which starts at 2 p.m. The season continues through Aug. 18. The complete line-up for the 76th season, held outdoors at Stern… Read More »

Healdsburg Jazz Fest gets $65,000 grant to start jazz choir

Friday, at 7:51 by

The Healdsburg Jazz Festival is getting a two-year, $65,000 grant from the James Irvine Foundation to create a jazz choir representing the cultural diversity of Sonoma County. The project will be led by Marcus Shelby, noted Bay Area jazz composer, educator and musician. Shelby and the Healdsburg Jazz Festival will assemble the new jazz choir to perform at a series of concerts featuring Shelby’s musical compositions based on the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, and his new arrangements of… Read More »

Healdsburg Jazz Festival wins $20,000 grant

Tuesday, at 12:52 by

The National Endowment for the Arts announced today (Tuesday, Nov. 27) that it is awarding a $20,000 grant to next summer’s Healdsburg Jazz Festival. The grant will support a two-day tribute, June 1 and 2,  to Southern California bassist, composer and bandleader Charlie Haden. More than 20 performers representing the various phases of Haden’s musical career, including the 12-piece Liberation Music Orchestra, will perform, said Jessica Felix, the festival’s founder and artistic director. “This is the largest grant we’ve ever… Read More »

Healdsburg Jazz Fest sets next year’s dates for May 31-June 9

Wednesday, at 10:06 by

The Healdsburg Jazz Festival is gearing up for its 15th season and next summer’s festival with the election of a full board of directors and officers. “We are coming off another outstanding festival year and are just about at full-gear in putting our 2013 festival venues and musical lineups together,” said new chairman Rollie Atkinson in a statement released this week. The 2013 festival is scheduled for May 31 through June 9 at various venues in and around Healdsburg. At… Read More »

Santa Rosa celebrates ’100 Thousand Poets for Change’

Monday, at 8:25 by

Last year, Guerneville poet and web site editor Michael Rothenberg had an idea. He wanted to use the Web to instigate a loose aggregation of poetry readings all over the world, all devoted to fostering peace and protecting the planet. That idea became the first “100 Thousand Poets for Change” last September, with some 700 events held all on one day, in 550 cities in 95 countries. Now he’s staging the second annual “100 Thousand Poets for Change.” The local… Read More »

Toad in the Hole hosts Mostly Python 4

Friday, at 7:00 by

It’s time to start practicing your silly walk. The Toad in the Hole Pub in Santa Rosa’s Railroad Square district will stage its free “Mostly Python 4” outdoor block party from noon to 6 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 5. This popular little grassroots festival includes wine, ales, cider, food and — of course — live Monty Python skits. This year, Paul Stokeld of the Toad in the Hole has new partner in wackiness: The 6th Street Playhouse. “The fact that we… Read More »