Latest news with #SFJazz
San Francisco Chronicle
14-06-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Jazz Festival makes bold debut with expanded format, big ambitions
With a New Orleans style brass band blasting out a second line over the traffic roaring down Franklin Street, the revamped San Francisco Jazz Festival introduced itself to Hayes Valley as a trial run for bigger parties to come. Friday the 13 th isn't an auspicious date to launch a new, three-day festival, particularly when a wave of national protests coincides with the next day's programming. But SFJazz offered a glimpse of what the future might look like in the venue-rich neighborhood given a little luck and a lot of great music. With three shows in the SFJazz Center's Robert N. Miner Auditorium, four sets in the intimate Joe Henderson Lab, and another four performances in a tent covering a parking lot on Oak Street, Friday's roster offered a successful proof of concept. The cars zooming through the intersection of Franklin and Fell streets didn't seem to faze festivalgoers, many of whom moved back and forth between the building and the nearby tent throughout the day. Playing the opening Minor Auditorium set with the SFJazz Collective, Grammy Award-winning vocalist Kurt Elling greeted the half-filled room by welcoming 'everyone playing hooky from something.' Premiering newly minted arrangements by SFJazz Collective Music Director Chris Potter, Elling delivered a bravura program of his lyrics set to tunes by the great fusion band Weather Report. Most of the venue's seats were full by the time he concluded. At the same time in the Joe Henderson Lab, velvet-smooth jazz crooner Sachal Vasandani performed in a stripped down trio with guitarist Charles Altura and Dayna Stephens on tenor sax and bass-line-supplying Electronic Wind Instrument. Whether interpreting Sade or his confessional originals, he offered a fascinating counterpoint to Elling's fine-grit tone and thickly orchestrated, percussion-driven charts. Don Was, the recipient of the SFJazz Lifetime Achievement Award at the organization's gala on Thursday, June 12, led his powerhouse Pan Detroit Orchestra through a torrid set of originals and extravagantly reimagined Motor City material. He's not a flashy bassist, but he powered the ship with authority. SFJazz Executive Artistic Director Terence Blanchard has made it clear that his vision for the festival extends far beyond the current footprint. The festival tent on Oak Street — closed to make room for several food trucks, a merchandise table, a beer garden and a dining area — was reimagined with a different programming focus. It featured acts aimed at broader and possibly younger audiences, including a quartet led by Snarky Puppy guitarist Mark Lettieri and a hip-hop-inflected quintet led by drummer and emcee Kassa Overall. The strategy seemed to work. Among those drawn in were 17-year-olds Keira Kennedy of Oakland and her friend Michael Norris, who said he'd never been to an SFJazz event before. Standing near the back of the festival tent during Overall's set, the two teens lit up as the drummer gave a shoutout to Bay Area legend E-40. 'It's been amazing,' said Michael, a hip-hop fan eager to check out related musical styles throughout the festival, which wraps up Sunday, June 15. Burkhard Hopper, SFJazz's director of artistic programming, was strolling the Oak Street midway with his wife, Australian pianist and jazz vocalist Sarah McKenzie, and their toddler son. Friday's ticket sales were the lightest of the weekend, while day two might stretch the Miner Auditorium's capacity, 'particularly for the Stanley Clarke and Gonzalo Rubalcaba show,' he said. There were a few first-day hiccups, starting with an understaffed check-in table. At 2 p.m. Friday, the line was slowly creeping along, but by mid-afternoon the bottleneck had been resolved. As the evening turned chilly, heat lamps by the dining tables would have been welcome. Miner Auditorium was nearly full by the time tenor sax legend Charles Lloyd took the stage with his Sky Quartet, featuring pianist Jason Moran, bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Eric Harland. Nearly six decades after his landmark 1966 Monterey Jazz Festival set, which yielded the million-selling 'Forest Flower,' Lloyd's presence felt like a benediction for the newly reimagined festival. After dropping out of the jazz scene in the 1970s Lloyd toured with the Beach Boys and recorded in Brian Wilson 's home studio. Much as he'd beautifully evoked the spirit of his former Sangam bandmate Zakir Hussain at the SFJazz Gala the night before, he mourned the recent loss of another singular creative force by opening the set with a prayer-like rendition of 'God Only Knows.'
San Francisco Chronicle
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
How the revamped San Francisco Jazz Festival aims to rival New Orleans' Jazz Fest
Brainstorming to reinvent the San Francisco Jazz Festival, SFJazz Executive Artistic Director Terence Blanchard didn't have to search far for an organizing concept. 'Look where I'm from, bro,' the New Orleans native told the Chronicle. 'I just played Jazz Fest, and one thing I've always loved about it is that I see people from around the world coming to New Orleans. The city comes alive. The entire area is lit up. San Francisco deserves that.' To that end — albeit on a much smaller scale — San Francisco is getting a shot of Crescent City mojo with a revamped event that packs all of the action into one weekend, a major shift from its former concert-series format. Running Friday, June 13, through Sunday, June 15, San Francisco Jazz Festival features some three-dozen performances across multiple stages at SFJazz Center and an adjacent tent covering the parking lot at Franklin and Oak streets. The sheer density of programming offers an immersive festival experience in the heart of Civic Center. In the two decades before the jazz center opened in 2013, the SFJazz organization was known as the San Francisco Jazz Festival and its flagship three-week fall concert series presented shows at venues around the city, with no real center of gravity. Once SFJazz built its own facility at 201 Franklin St., the festival became a vestige of its origins and largely blended into its year-round calendar. Now, Blanchard sees the reimagined San Francisco Jazz Festival as the spearhead of a major expansion. While starting with 'a trial run' of a single weekend, he 'envisions this thing becoming a two-week festival where we engage the whole Civic Center,' Blanchard said. 'We have a whole bunch of ideas.' With Oak Street closed for a block between Franklin Street and Van Ness Avenue, there's a free-access midway that will feature DJs, wine and beer vendors, Off the Grid food trucks, and art and vinyl merchants. Then there's its eye-catching lineup, a multigenerational musical roster that encompasses mid-career virtuosos including pianist Orrin Evans, trumpeter Nicholas Payton and saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin; and rising stars like pianist Jahari Stampley, trumpeter Tatiana Tate and vocalist Tyreek McDole. Los Angeles pianist/keyboardist Patrice Rushen, a force in jazz, R&B and pop since the early 1970s, is also making her SFJazz debut as a bandleader, headlining Sunday's program. Meanwhile, hip-hop steeped drummer and DJ Kassa Overall and trumpet star Theo Croker, a pillar of programming at the Tenderloin jazz club Black Cat, are artists geared to connect with both jazz heads and younger jazz-adjacent audiences. But SFJazz isn't just embracing diverse new styles — it's also honoring its roots. Revered veterans saxophonist Charles Lloyd and bassists Stanley Clarke and Dave Holland (all National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters) are featured on the bill and speaks to the institution's commitment to its titular tradition. As for Blanchard, the acclaimed trumpeter himself is providing the festival's secret sauce as 'artist at large,' roaming the various stages to sit in with different acts. 'He's not playing with his own band, so he's got the freedom to run around with his trumpet,' said Burkhard Hopper, who came on as SFJazz's director of artistic programming last October. 'A festival is supposed to have a spontaneous element.' Working closely with the German-born Hopper, a veteran music agent and concert producer who spent years bringing American jazz artists to Europe, Blanchard is looking to extend the organization's reach far beyond the city. As part of that effort, SFJazz is partnering with San Jose Jazz this summer for the first time, taking over the Montgomery Theater for the San Jose Jazz Summer Fest from Aug. 8-10. It also plans to present a concert series at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek this fall. But first things first, and that's the upcoming festival — which has one notable omission from this trial run: Bay Area jazz artists. Aside from Berkeley trumpet star Ambrose Akinmusire, who's performing duo with the superlative New Orleans pianist Sullivan Fortner, and San Francisco Afro-futurist Idris Ackamoor and Ankhestra, the program is dominated by out-of-town acts. Blanchard, however, urges patience, noting that SFJazz presents local artists year-round. 'The New Orleans Jazz Fest got the same reaction,' he said about complaints from resident artists. 'I'm trying to build an international jazz festival, not disregarding local artists,' he went on. 'We want to build something that people come to from all over, and we need international artists that people recognize. When we get that going, we'll have other stages where more local artists play, but we don't have that yet.'
San Francisco Chronicle
02-05-2025
- Business
- San Francisco Chronicle
‘The music is in good hands': SFJazz names new CEO following yearlong search
After a year under interim leadership and a nationwide search, SFJazz has appointed Gabrielle Armand as its new chief executive officer. A seasoned arts executive and longtime leader at New York's Jazz at Lincoln Center, Armand will officially assume the position on July 1, guiding the Bay Area's premier nonprofit jazz institution through a pivotal moment of both challenge and opportunity. 'It's the right time for me to make a big move like this and come into a city so deeply rooted in the arts, creativity and vibrancy,' Armand said. 'San Francisco is in a moment of regeneration, and there's so much excitement about its next chapter. It felt like a natural fit.' Armand has nearly two decades of experience in arts marketing and strategic partnerships, most recently serving as chief marketing officer and vice president of brand, sales and marketing at Jazz at Lincoln Center. There, she led transformative initiatives in media, corporate sponsorships and audience development that significantly elevated the organization's national and international presence. She now brings that expertise west, joining SFJazz as it contends with financial pressures, changing demographics and the lingering effects of a pandemic that disrupted the live performance landscape. 'The richness of her experience at Jazz at Lincoln Center combined with her lifelong passion for the art form makes her the perfect leader for us,' said Coye, the board's president. 'We are excited for the opportunities ahead as Gabrielle helps expand the reach of jazz regionally and nationally, while deepening our commitment to education and artist support.' Armand steps into her new role at a critical juncture. SFJazz, widely recognized as one of the most influential jazz presenters in the country, faces growing questions about its long-term sustainability, community engagement and strategic direction, like many local arts institutions. She replaces Susie Medak, the former managing director of Berkeley Repertory Theatre, who served as interim CEO following Greg Stern 's decision to step down at the end of December after 4 ½ years with the nonprofit. Armand will work in close partnership with Blanchard, an Emmy-winning trumpeter and twice Oscar-nominated film composer known as a leading figure in contemporary jazz. 'I see myself being on a listening tour for at least the first few months and spending real time with Terence to understand all the things that he wants to do,' Armand said, 'and then work together to kind of put together the priority list and the action plan.' Their collaboration pairs Blanchard's artistic vision with Armand's strategic leadership. 'We're both keenly aware of our responsibilities in our respective lanes,' Armand noted. 'We see opportunities to cross-pollinate where it makes sense, but most importantly, we're committed to supporting one another. Terence is such a versatile and accomplished musician, I have enormous admiration for his artistry.' Blanchard echoed her sentiment, calling Armand 'an outstanding leader with a deep understanding of the jazz world.' 'I'm excited to partner with her in advancing the vision and impact of SFJazz,' Blanchard said in a statement. During her time at Jazz at Lincoln Center, Armand spearheaded a bold expansion into digital media, launching an in-house record label, a dedicated streaming channel and award-winning broadcast content. 'Both of our organizations have been intertwined in many ways over the past decades and this is a sign of our maturation,' said Wynton Marsalis, managing and artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. 'Gaby's leadership will reflect a deep understanding of the civic, cultural and mythological significance of jazz. She will make ethical, fiscally responsible, and intelligent decisions that will bring new energy to our ecosystem. The music is in good hands.' Armand sees similar opportunities at SFJazz, which has already experimented with online concerts and expanding its educational programming. 'SFJazz has an incredible foundation,' she said. 'My goal is to build on that and elevate the organization to new heights. It already has the essential ingredients every arts institution needs in times of transition: strong artistic leadership, an amazing staff and a supportive board. Those are the key elements you need whenever you're trying to turn things around, start a new chapter, or go in a different direction.' With more than 30 years of experience across music, media and nonprofit sectors, Armand is no stranger to leading complex organizations. Still, she acknowledges the unique significance of this role — and this moment. 'SFJazz has long been a beacon in both the San Francisco and national arts communities,' she said. 'It's a place where diverse voices and ideas are nurtured and celebrated. As we approach the country's semi-quincentennial, it feels especially meaningful to lead an institution rooted in jazz, a uniquely American art form that has always taken a lot of different cultures within this country, integrated them and made space and been a place to support all kinds of different artists.'
