June 16th, 2008
SF Jazz Festival Lineup Anounced
Archie Shepp! Cecil Taylor! Charlie Haden! Mavis Staples!
The fine folks at SFJAZZ have released the schedule for the 26th annual San Francisco Jazz Festival, running October 15 - November 9 at the usual concert halls throughout the city. Tickets go on sale to members on June 28, and open up to the general public July 13.
This year’s festival has a “transformation” theme, focusing on artists who have embodied the spirit of “social change and cultural upheaval.” That’s a very San Franciscan sentiment, of course, but it’s also one hell of a good theme for a mainstream jazz festival to take on.
It’s not all fire and revolution, however. SFJAZZ has broken down the festival into four parallel tracks: “Legends and Innovators,” including Shepp, Taylor, Dave Brubeck, Randy Newman, Jimmy Scott and the latest incarnation of Haden’s Liberation Orchestra; a gospel and blues-based “Roots and Grooves” series; “Global Sounds”—ranging from Arturo Sandoval‘s Cuban jazz to Toumani Diabate‘s virtuosic Malian groove; and “The Next Generation,” an eclectic grouping of young (or not-so-young but still underappreciated) artists, including several rising stars from the Bay Area.
SFJAZZ has been undergoing a transformation itself, morphing gradually from an annual festival to a year-round concert presenter. Less than three months separate the final outliers of SFJAZZ’s 2008 Spring Season from the first Festival warm-up events in early October (and if you count the free concert series SFJAZZ presents at Stanford, Levi’s Plaza and Union Square, there’s no break at all). Miles From India—the supergroup combining Miles Davis alumni and top Indian classical artists—returns to SF to get things started at Davies Symphony Hall on October 3, and the mighty a cappella ensemble Sweet Honey in the Rock visits the same venue on October 4. Staples kicks off the festival proper in what is sure to be a rocking show at the Palace of Fine Arts Theatre on October 15, beginning an intense schedule of 30 concerts over three and a half weeks. The whole thing wraps up with ukelele phenom Jake Shimabukuro on November 9, by which time SFJAZZ will probably have announced some holiday concerts.
If that isn’t enough to keep you busy this fall, SFJAZZ is also putting on a 5-week lecture/demonstration course in the History of Jazz Piano, Thursdays beginning September 4 at the Jewish Community Center of SF.
Get the full schedule at sfjazz.org »
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What? No John Tesh? Screw that.
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