“Jazz Masters” another reason to come to Healdsburg

It’s a term that’s kicked around a lot, “jazz masters” – one thinks of Carnegie Hall, the Village Vanguard, the Blue Note label. Louis, Bird, Miles, Dizzy, Trane, Ella. The names are few but everyone knows them. These legendary jazz artists are just that, legends – and few and far between. But there’s another class of “jazz master” whose repeated listening brings greater reward. They are technically expert, creatively inspirational, mentors and magicians. And you’ll find them in Healdsburg during the next few days.

Wednesday, June 9 brings one of our favorite masters back to town – George Cables, a poet of the piano whose impeccable sense of melody suffuses his improvisations with brilliance. A versatile and wide-ranging artist, Cables began playing professionally in the 1960s, sitting at the bench for Art Blakey, Max Roach, Sonny Rollins, Joe Henderson and Bobby Hutcherson before touring with the Dexter Gordon Quartet. When artists of this caliber are your biggest fans – Art Pepper called him “Mr. Beautiful” – you hardly need a shelf full of Grammys to earn bragging rights.

Ticket-holders will have a chance to hear the George Cables Trio at the Raven Theater on Wednesday, June 9, with Peter Barshay on bass and Jaz Sawyer on drums. A special added attraction is the vocal presence of the enchanting Shea Breaux Wells, whose first album was recorded following her 2008 HJF appearance – and which featured George Cables on piano.

Opening the concert is local guitarist Christian Foley-Beining with a quartet featuring Paul McCandless (of the world-jazz ensemble Oregon) on reeds. This is probably the best concert deal of the Festival – only $15, $10 for students or seniors, at the historic Raven Theater.

You can also hear the George Cables Trio the very next night, with special guest Craig Handy on saxophone, on Thursday June 10, at the Benefactors Dinner and Concert. It’s not too late to become a Patron and attend this exceptional event, for jazz lovers who are really in love with jazz, at the new Francis Ford Coppola winery. (For more information please contact us at info@healdsburgjazzfestival.org, or call our office at 707 433-4633 immediately! Time is running out for reservations.)

Saturday, June 12 gives you a chance to see a trio of jazz masters, headed by a bass player who might himself deserve the sobriquet “legendary.” Charlie Haden returns to the Raven and once again brings a constellation of achievement and influence to the boards, both as a bassist and a composer, an apostle of jazz today. Haden’s own roots reach back over 50 years, when he was a founding member of Ornette Coleman’s radical quartet. Later, he anchored Keith Jarrett’s sound, created moody film music and radical “liberation” music, his explorations never ceasing to this day. He last appeared at HJF two years ago, playing the Raven with Kenny Barron and Joshua Redmond. This time his guests are no less remarkable.

Some 20 years ago Haden found a brilliant young pianist in Detroit named Geri Allen. Since that time Allen has recorded more than a dozen albums and toured with artists as diverse as Charles Lloyd, Lee Konitz, Me’Shell Ndegelocello, Dewey Redman, and Bill Cosby(!). She’s also a composer, arranger and professor of music, making her a true “master” to a new generation of talent. Her Festival debut came in 2004, and we welcome her back with enthusiasm.

Haden’s trio is rounded out by a relative newcomer to master status, but one whose lineage is true jazz royalty: Ravi Coltrane. Often sons of artists the significance of John Coltrane won’t even try to follow in their father’s footsteps, and even less frequently do they succeed. But Ravi’s own star has been steadily rising in the 2000s, and his CDs “In Flux” and “Blending Times” earned raves from the jazz illuminati. His recording of “For Turiya”—written for his mother Alice Coltrane by none other than Charlie Haden – is already a classic, and its inevitable performance at the Raven on Saturday night is sure to be one of the highlights of this year’s remarkable – and masterful – Healdsburg Jazz Festival.

See our past Reasons to Attend the Healdsburg Jazz Festival.

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