Stanford Jazz festival lineup an eclectic brew
Trumpeter Brian Lynch will perform at 8 p.m. Monday, August 2, at Kresge Auditorium. His quartet will feature pianist Geoffrey Keezer, bassist John Webber, and drummer Joseph Farnsworth.
Pianist Harold Mabern will perform with his trio July 31 in a concert featuring saxophonist Andrew Speight. Mabern also will perform with Jimmy CobbÂ’s Mob Aug. 3 and with the Eric Alexander Quintet Aug. 7.
Pianist Junior Mance traces his roots back to the late 1940s bands of Gene Ammons and Lester Young. He'll perform with Bay Area musicians Akira Tana on drums and bassist Michael Zisman at 8 p.m. July 10, in Campbell Recital Hall.
Kim Nalley, an opera-trained jazz and blues vocalist, will perform at 8 p.m. Friday, July 16, in Campbell Recital Hall. She lists Bessie Smith and Darla from Little Rascals among her influences.
The Stanford Jazz Festival continues through Aug. 7, with a lineup notable for its mix of musical styles and cultural influences, from Organic!, a Brooklyn-based electrified funk jazz band, to Japanese tenor saxophonist Satoro Oda to legendary drummer Jimmy Cobb, the last surviving member of the group that recorded Miles Davis' Kind of Blue. The festival will feature an all-star jam with 30 festival artists and a performance, "A Context for Peace," which brings jazz musicians and spoken word together.
Tickets and festival passes can be purchased at the Stanford Ticket Office in Tresidder Union or by calling the ticket office at 725-2787. Tickets also can be ordered online at http://www.ticketweb.com. If available, tickets also will be sold at the door beginning one hour before concerts.
Unless otherwise noted, members of the Palo Alto Jazz Alliance, students with a valid ID and seniors 65 and older receive $2 off general admission prices. A full schedule of festival events is available by calling the Jazz Workshop at 736-0324 or online at http://www.stanfordjazz.org.
Concerts scheduled in July and August include:
Ron Stallings: A Context For Peace. Friday, July 9, 8 p.m. Campbell Recital Hall. $20. Bay Area jazz musicians and spoken word artists join together in a performance conceived by saxophonist Ron Stallings and dedicated to creating a vision for peace.
Junior Mance Trio. Saturday, July 10, 8 p.m. Campbell Recital Hall. $25. Pianist Junior Mance traces his roots back to the late 1940s bands of Gene Ammons and Lester Young. He has toured with Dinah Washington, Cannonball Adderley and Dizzy Gillespie. He'll perform with Bay Area musicians Akira Tana on drums and bassist Michael Zisman.
Youth Jazz Showcase with the Le Boeuf Brothers Quartet and the Yuma Sung Trio. Sunday, July 11, 3 p.m. Campbell Recital Hall. $18. Pascal Le Boeuf recently was the youngest musician ever awarded a Quincy Jones emerging artists composer's commission; his twin brother, Remy, was voted outstanding soloist at the national Essentially Ellington High School Big Band Competition. Fifteen-year-old pianist Yuma Sung won the 2000 San Jose Youth Jazz Competition and first place in a Down Beat magazine original composition contest.
Kim Nalley. Friday, July 16, 8 p.m. Campbell Recital Hall. $22. Opera-trained jazz and blues vocalist Kim Nalley lists such diverse influences as Bessie Smith and Darla from Little Rascals. Nalley is "like Jessica Rabbit and Louis Armstrong at the same time," writer Giorgio Santeria said of her performance at the Umbria Jazz Festival in Perugia, Italy.
Satoro Oda and the Vince Lateano Trio. Saturday, July 17, 8 p.m. Campbell Recital Hall. $22. West Coast swing meets Far East bop in this collaboration between Japanese tenor saxophonist Satoro Oda and San Francisco drummer Vince Lateano.
Marsh, Vincent and Lage. Sunday, July 18, 7:30 p.m. Campbell Recital Hall. $16. Guitarist George Marsh, drummer Randy Vincent and 16-year-old prodigy Julian Lage, also on guitar, use an unusual two-guitar-and-drums format to create shifting melodies and rhythms and instrumental role reversals.
Dee Spencer: The Great American Songbook. Monday, July 19, 7:30 p.m. Campbell Recital Hall. $16. Backed by members of the Stanford Jazz Workshop faculty, pianist Dee Spencer plays romantic jazz standards from the 1940s through the 1960s.
The Loren Stillman Group. Tuesday, July 20, 7:30 p.m. Campbell Recital Hall. $16. Twenty-three-year-old Loren Stillman began playing the saxophone at age 7 and studied on a full artistic merit scholarship at the Manhattan School of Music. Stillman is "destined to drop countless jaws," a JazzBeat writer predicted.
Jeb Patton with "Tootie" Heath. Wednesday, July 21, 7:30 p.m. Campbell Recital Hall. $16. Pianist Jeb Patton has toured with the Heath Brothers and the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band; in New York City, he plays top jazz clubs including the Village Vanguard, Birdland and the Iridium. Here, he is backed by an all-star band, including Albert "Tootie" Heath on drums.
Jazz and the Music of Brazil. Thursday, July 22, 7:30 p.m. Campbell Recital Hall. $14. Guitarist Ray Scott and Stanford Jazz Workshop faculty team up with vocalist Liza Silva to merge Brazilian rhythms with jazz.
The Heath Brothers. Saturday, July 24, 8 p.m. Campbell Recital Hall. $38. Brothers and master musicians Albert, Jimmy and Percy Heath Jr. have performed together and individually since the 1940s and have been called the "First Family of Jazz." All three have played with Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Charlie Parker and the Modern Jazz Quartet.
Bennett Paster's Organic! Sunday, July 25, 7:30 p.m. Campbell Recital Hall. $16. Brooklyn-based Organic! performs electrified, funk-based jazz. Keyboardist Bennett Paster and guitarist Chris Rossback will be joined by Stanford Jazz Workshop faculty.
Jim Cullum Jazz Band. Monday, July 26, 7:30 p.m. Campbell Recital Hall. $25. The Jim Cullum Jazz Band plays vintage instruments while performing a historic jazz repertoire, including tunes from the early 19th century to the 1930s.
Ruth Davies' Blues Night. Tuesday, July 27, 7:30 p.m. Campbell Recital Hall. $16. A performance by bassist and vocalist Ruth Davies is a Stanford Jazz Workshop tradition. During her 30-year career, Davies has performed with artists including Charles Brown, John Lee Hooker and Joe Henderson.
The Dayna Stephens Group. Wednesday, July 28, 7:30 p.m. Campbell Recital Hall. $16. Bay Area tenor saxophonist Dayna Stephens, a former Stanford Jazz Workshop student, won a full scholarship to the Berklee School of Music in Boston. He'll perform with Stanford Jazz Workshop faculty.
Victor Lin's SJW Faculty Variety Show. Thursday, July 29, 7:30 p.m. Campbell Recital Hall. $16. A who's-who of Stanford Jazz Workshop faculty will perform with violin and piano virtuoso and fellow workshop faculty member Victor Lin.
Andrew Speight with the Harold Mabern Trio. Saturday, July 31, 8 p.m. Campbell Recital Hall. $26. Sydney, Australia-born saxophonist Andrew Speight began touring with jazz greats like Jimmy Heath right out of high school. Speight now is on the faculty of the School of Music and Dance at San Francisco State University.
Phineas Newborn Piano Tribute. Sunday, Aug. 1, 8 p.m. Kresge Auditorium. $28. Three of jazz's greatest living pianists  James Williams, Geoffrey Keezer and Harold Mabern  gather to pay tribute to a brilliant but mostly unsung jazz hero, Memphis pianist Phineas Newborn Jr. Bassist Ray Drummond and master drummer Jimmy Cobb also perform.
Brian Lynch Quartet. Monday, Aug. 2, 8 p.m. Kresge Auditorium. $24. Trumpeter Brian Lynch has toured with the Horace Silver Quintet, Eddie Palmieri's Afro-Caribbean Jazz Octet and the Toshiko Akiyoshi Jazz Orchestra. Pianist Geoffrey Keezer, bassist John Webber and drummer Joseph Farnsworth also will perform.
Jimmy Cobb's Mob. Tuesday, Aug. 3, 8 p.m. Kresge Auditorium. $24. In 1958, drummer Jimmy Cobb joined Miles Davis' group in time to record Kind of Blue, the most popular jazz album of all time. He will perform with bassist John Webber, pianist Harold Mabern and guitarist Peter Bernstein.
Dave Liebman Quartet Wednesday, Aug. 4, 8 p.m. Kresge Auditorium. $24. For three decades, Dave Liebman has been considered one of the most influential soprano saxophonists in progressive jazz. Liebman will perform with pianist Geoffrey Keezer, drummer Akira Tana and bassist Ray Drummond.
Stanford Jazz Workshop All-Star Jam Session. Friday, Aug. 6, 8 p.m. Kresge Auditorium. $30. More than 30 artists-in-residence and guest performers, including sax stars Dave Liebman, Eric Alexander and Andrew Speight, pianists Harold Mabern and Geoffrey Keezer, and drummer Jimmy Cobb, will take the stage.
Eric Alexander Quintet. Saturday, Aug. 7, 8 p.m. Campbell Recital Hall. $28. Named "Artist of the Year" in 2003 by JazzWeek, tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander will be joined by pianist Harold Mabern, bassist John Webber, drummer Joseph Farnsworth and trumpeter Jim Rotondi.
Share This Story