OMAR SOSA & QUARTETO AMERICANOS

Cuban piano maestro Omar Sosa, a longtime Healdsburg favorite, returns to town with his Quarteto Americanos featuring Cuban bassist Ernesto Mazar Kindelán, Berkeley drummer Josh Jones, and Oakland multi-reed player Sheldon Brown, who’s spent much of the past two years touring with the Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir. Though long based in Barcelona, Sosa gained fame while living in Oakland, and his musical journey from Camagüey and Havana to Ecuador and eventually the East Bay is detailed in the new documentary Omar Sosa’s 88 Well-Tuned Drums, which screens as part of this program. An omnivorously creative figure whose music encompasses Afro-Cuban folkloric chants and European Romanticism, post-bop and hip hop, West African grooves and ambient moods, he’s released more than three dozen albums documenting collaborations with an international cast of fellow sound explorers.

5:00 PM | Documentary Screening

7:30 PM | Concert

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GREGORY PORTER & NAJEE

Gregory Porter is a singer, songwriter and musician. He moved to the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, New York in 2004, along with his brother Lloyd and worked as a chef at Lloyd’s restaurant Bread-Stuy (now defunct), where he also performed. Porter performed at other neighborhood venues including Sista’s Place and Solomon’s Porch, and moved on to Harlem club St. Nick’s Pub, where he maintained a weekly residency. Out of this residency evolved what would become Porter’s touring band.He has twice won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album: first in 2014 for Liquid Spirit and then again in 2017 for Take Me to the Alley. 

Najee, is a smooth jazz saxophonist and flautist. After his studies at the New England Conservatory, Najee returned to New York City in the early 1980s. In 1983, he and his brother Fareed toured with Chaka Khan for the Ain’t Nobody Tour. His albums okyo Blue and Day by Day led to Najee winning two Soul Train Awards for Best Jazz Artist in 1991 and 1993.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Mick Goodrick was born on June 9, 1945 in Sharon, Pennsylvania and began studying guitar in his pre-teens and was performing professionally a few years later. At sixteen he became interested in jazz at a Stan Kenton Band Camp. He moved to Boston, Massachusetts and attended the Berklee School of Music from 1963 to 1967, eventually teaching at Berklee,

After spending a few years touring with Gary Burton, he returned to Boston, he settled into a career largely as an educator. Goodrick’s notable students include Bill Frisell, Julian Lage, John Scofield, Lage Lund, Mike Stern, Avner Strauss, and Rale Micic.

During the 1980s to the late 1990s,Mick worked with Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra, Jack DeJohnette and with Steve Swallow. He performed in a duo with Pat Metheny at the Montreal Jazz Festival in 2005 and with Wolfgang Muthspiel at the Jazz Standard in 2008.

Guitarist Mick Goodrick died November 16, 2022 from the long-term effects of Parkinson’s disease at the age of 77.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Eugene Porter was born in Pocahontas, Mississippi on June 7, 1910 and began on cornet, but when his instrument was stolen he picked up saxophone and clarinet, studying the latter under Omer Simeon. His family moved to Chicago while still in high school, but left school early to start a career in music

Moving to New Orleans, Louisiana in the Thirties he worked in and around town as well as on riverboats, with Papa Celestin, Joe Robichaux, and Sidney Desvigne. He was with the Jeter-Pillars Orchestra from 1935 to 1937, then played with Don Redman briefly before returning to Jeter-Pillars until 1942. Following this Gene worked with Jimmie Lunceford and then with Benny Carter until 1944, working as assistant bandleader under him. He appeared in several films, including with Fats Waller.

Porterer was in the Army in 1944-45 as a member of an Army band, then played with Carter again and recorded with Dinah Washington during this period. For the next two years he performed with Charles Mingus and Lloyd Glenn.

After moving to San Diego, California in 1948 he played with Walter Fuller until 1960. Gene led his own ensemble at the Bronze Room in La Mesa, California beginning in 1967.

Saxophonist and clarinetist Gene Porter, who was named a member of the St. Louis Jazz Hall of Fame in the 1980s, died in San Diego County, California, on February 24, 1993.

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The Jazz Voyager

From Chi-town, the Jazz Voyager is making tracks south to Hotlanta once again to sit in the ambience of the environs of City Winery at Ponce City Market. A laid back atmosphere welcomes the audience to settle in and enjoy an evening of music, food and wine, for which this venue is noted.

This Thursday I will be a member of one of his sold out audiences to witness the talents of Robert Glasper. He is the leader of a new sonic paradigm with a career that bridges musical and artistic genres. He has 5 Grammy awards, 11 nominations across 11 categories, an Emmy Award for his song for Ava Duvernay’s critically hailed documentary “13th” with Common and Karriem Riggins, and a Peabody Award for his Composition of “Mr. Soul!”.

The venue is located at 650 North Avenue NE, Atlanta, GA 30308. For tickets and more information visit  https://notoriousjazz.com/event/robert-glasper.

CALIFORNIA JAZZ FOUNDATION

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