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
More Posts: album,CALIFORNIA JAZZ FOUNDATION | VOYAGER | CALENDAR | MARCH | SEPTEMBER adventure,concert,genius,jazz,music,piano,preserving,travel
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.
More Posts: adventure,concert,genius,jazz,music,preserving,travel,vocal
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.
More Posts: adventure,club,genius,jazz,music,piano,preserving,travel
The Jazz Voyager
The Jazz Voyager is on his way to the Midwest to Chicago, Illinois for a stroll around Lakeshore Drive or taking the El across town. This is my town in the summertime and I’ll be arriving a day early to renew memories of Lakeshore Drive, the Field Museum, Millennium Park or take an afternoon cruise down the Chicago River.
However, this trip will be another first time visit to a new venue for this traveler but not for those patrons who have appreciated jazz since 1935 when they first opened their doors. Whether considered famous or infamous the Green Mill Jazz Club was a favorite haunt for mobster Al Capone who turned it into a speakeasy, had his own booth and had some of the most noted musicians of the era to perform. Today it still swings with notable local, national and international acts.
Not only is this a new venue for me but a new musician I’ve never heard before. Pianist and harmonic player Harold Levy will be on stage from 8:00pm to midnight with his trio of players Chris Siebold on guitar, Joshua Ramos on bass, and drummer Luis Ewerling.
The venue is located at 4802 N. Broadway Avenue, 60640. For tickets and more info go to https://notoriousjazz.com/event/howard-levy-4.
More Posts: adventure,club,drums,genius,jazz,music,preserving,travel,vocal
The Jazz Voyager
From the Big Apple to the Carolinas is the next sojourn this Jazz Voyager is taking for a first time visit to the Joseph M. Bryan, Jr. Amphitheater. The 500 seat outdoor venue has lawn seating for 2,800 and is located in Museum Park situated at the heart of the North Carolina Museum of Art campus amid gardens, meadows, woodlands, and site-specific art installations and sculpture.
This week is a two-fer on this voyage with singer-songwriter Gregory Porter is taking the stage as the headliner. Coming out of Bakersfield, California, he cites the Bakersfield Southern Gospel sound and his mother’s Nat King Cole record collection as fundamental influences on his own sound. Opening for him is The Baylor Project, the Grammy nominated duo of Jean and Marcus Baylor, who have built their career on love, family, faith, culture, and community.
The venue is located at 2110 Blue Ridge Road in Raleigh, NC 27607. For tickets and more info go to https://notoriousjazz.com/event/gregory-porter-the-baylor-project.
More Posts: adventure,club,drums,ensemble,genius,jazz,music,preserving,travel,vocal