Bessie Smith, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and the Blues

The Marcus Shelby Quintet
featuring Kim Nalley
and the HJF Freedom Jazz Choir

When: Friday, March 1, 7 p.m. 

What: Healdsburg Jazz presents a concert honoring
Bessie Smith, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and the Blues
Who: The Marcus Shelby Quintet featuring Kim Nalley
and the HJF Freedom Jazz Choir
Where: Raven Performing Arts Theater, 115 North Street, Healdsburg
Cost: $15 available here and at the door

Join the Marcus Shelby Quintet and the Freedom Jazz Choir, celebrating the pioneers of jazz who came to artistic maturity in the 1920s – singer Bessie Smith, cornetist Louis Armstrong, bandleader Duke Ellington and their shared roots in the blues.

Featured vocalist will be Kim Nalley, known for her powerful, three-octave range and scatting. Awarded “Most Influential African American in the Bay Area in 2005, she is already being called “legendary” and a “San Francisco institution.”

With an international reputation as one of world’s best jazz & blues vocalists, she has graced concert halls from Moscow to Lincoln Center. A true Renaissance woman, Kim Nalley has also been a featured writer for JazzWest, a produced playwright, a former jazz club owner, an accomplished stage actress, and an avid Lindy Hop and blues dancer.

The Marcus Shelby Quintet – featuring Kim Nalley on vocals, Bill Ortiz on trumpet, Gaea Schell on piano and Sly Randolph on drums, with Tomoko Funaki playing bass while Shelby conducts the choir – will provide the score for this evening of blues musical history in performance, also featuring the 100-voice strong community ensemble the Freedom Jazz Choir, under the direction of Shelby and Tiffany Austin. Learn more about the 2019 Freedom Jazz Choir.