We draw your attention to two jazz festivals this weekend. See also Foreshadowing of other upcoming events, and Reminders …
Two For Road
July 7 & 8
- Fillmore Street Jazz Festival, S.F.
Rain or Shine. 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sat. and Sun.
Best Bet: Kim Nalley (California Street stage: Sat., 4:30–6 p.m.; Sun., 4–6 p.m.)
Noted for: dramatic presence, stylistic breadth, and an absolutely fabulous voice
The Fillmore St. Jazz Festival is the premier summer street festival in San Francisco. The street between Eddy and Jackson is closed off and on every block you come across a stage with somebody that you’d pay arms and legs to hear in a club.
And there’s so much more to it. If you know the city well, and if you can feel it’s erratic pulse, the festival is both lament and celebration. On the one hand, an unintended lament for all that the Fillmore District once was, for the African American culture that once thrived here. In that sense, the festival is a sad reminder that San Francisco has lost much of its black middle class, and whether you realize it or not, pays a huge price for gentrification and its increasing boutiqueness.
So, yes, lament, but, on the other hand, of course, the festival is a celebration — of what is and what will be, and all those fabulous jazz artists who are here and whom we treasure.
One of those is Kim Nalley, who, to stretch a myth, got her start, or one of her starts on this very street, at a restaurant/bar called The Alta Plaza. Now gone, it was across from the Clay Theater and in the mid-90s was the go-to club in this part of town.
We caught up with Nalley the other day for an interview.
“It was this amazing gay bar,” she told us, talking about The Alta Plaza, “although I’m not sure many people realized that. It was also upper crust, old school, and perfect for the acoustic singing I wanted to do .”
Several singers appeared at the Alta Plaza but over time it became the province of Nalley whose shows suggested Hollywood in the 1940s, but also the South: “Where Bessie Smith meets Rita Heyworth.” One night during a set Kim noticed a man in the back waving his arms. “What’s with that guy?” she thought. He went right on waving his arms, in a very flamboyant way, and eventually she asked the pianist if he knew who the man was.
“Dude,” the pianist told her, “That’s MTT.”
Oh, the conductor, she thought, well no wonder he’s waving his arms.
Some people tell Nalley that she has yet to be discovered, but among the times she has been discovered this was very special, and lead to a series of performances with the San Francisco Symphony in which she sang Gershwin. MTT also invited her to perform at private parties, and even tried to help save the Alta Plaza when the club began to collapse. When it finally did, he recorded her last night there for her Tuesday Live at the Alta Plaza album.
“He knew so well how to record acoustic recordings. It’s still one of my favorite albums. Not the best singing, I’m a more seasoned vocalist now, but there was so much love that night, and whenever I feel down or depressed I remember that album. And people still come up to me and ask about it. It’s a piece of our lives.”
We asked Ms. Nalley about her own life lately. She can sometimes be found singing at the Rrazz Room at the Hotel Nikko. She’s also working on a PhD from UC Berkeley on the globalization of jazz. But more important she has a 3-month-old daughter and for the moment is content to focus on her family. “I’ve done everything I wanted to do, I’ve sung in every place I want to sing. My drive for fame and glory has long since waned. I’ll always make music but …” she paused. “I’m moving inward.”
As for the festival, “I do a lot of festivals and this is one of the very few where there’s all kinds of jazz and all at no charge.”
June 22 — Aug. 4
- Stanford Jazz Festival, Stanford University campus
Best Bet: The VNote Ensemble, Early Bird Jazz for Kids (July 7, 10 a.m. and 11 a.m.)
Noted for: fusion of North American Jazz and Venezuelan folk music
The VNote ensemble is a four-member jazz band composed of bassist Sam Bevan, percussionist Michaelle Goerlitz; Jackeline Rago, playing the cuatro, a stringed instrument; and Donna Viscuso on flute, and you could add, 'on passion.' Percussionist Omar Ledezma will join the group.
Which is the signature of this blend of music from the plains of Venezuela, a kind of cowboy music, and North American jazz.
“This music should make you feel really happy,” says Viscuso, whose background is all in jazz. She was in an all-female band in the 90s called Wild Mango. ‘It goes from one theme to another, each in a different key, we do improvisation off the theme but we also use a lot of jazz harmony.”
Viscuso writes much of the music, often with her neighbor, Rago. They pass it back and forth, along with others in the group, on Garage Band. “It’s very convenient program because it allows you to work on something by yourself rather than all together.”
The two writers have just completed a “suite” that premiered on June 9, and will be played again at the Stanford festival.
Viscuso is also a music teacher, whose students include both kids and older adults. Among her adult students, one is a paraplegic and plays the saxophone; another is deaf, without hearing aids, and plays the clarinet.
“My whole approach is to get students excited. I’ve always felt that bad music teachers focus solely on technique or else they spend the lesson playing and all the student does is listen. I also believe that forcing kids to do solos all the time doesn’t generate much excitement. When I teach I try to get kids involved in ensembles and I pick music that’s fun …”
Selections include some Mozart pieces but also pop, including the music from Scooby Doo, Mission Impossible and The Lion Sleeps Tonight.
“One woman told me, ‘this is the one thing I can’t wait to come and do every week’. For the most part these are not people interested in being symphony players, although some get good enough to participate in chamber music groups. But my point is that music should be social. We’ve gotten so isolated. And so I’m always encouraging my students to create little groups among themselves. Really, music is about being social, it’s about relating to another human being.”
Foreshadowing
July 27, 28 , 29
This year, at the end of July and for five consecutive weekends — each in a different city around the Bay Area — the company is putting on The Mikado with adult actors, including F. Lawrence Ewing, William Neil, and Sonia Gariaeff, among others.
“We’re known to stay with tradition but not to do things that are museum pieces,” says stage director Jane Hammett, who also performs in the Lamplighters herself. “Beyond the enormous appeal of the music and humor what makes The Mikado interesting, and relevant, is the way it explores the concern we have with self image and the way we use the guise of civility to guard that image.”
Hammett recommends The Mikado for children as young as 7 or 8. “It’s a terrific introduction to opera.” Go to lamplighters.org.
Reminders
July 6
The San Francisco Symphony, in collaboration with Cirque Musica, explores the intersection of circus gymnastics and classical music, including Copland, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Tchaikovsky mixed with music written by the Cirque’s own, Marcello Zavros. “Everywhere we’ve run this show, people love it,” says producer Steve Cook. “It’s a way to draw people to classical music, and we do it through a story. It’s partly a love story, and there’s a host to guide the audience along. I would say the high point is when one of the violinists is raised 20 feet in the air and doesn’t miss a beat …” (Davies Symphony Hall, 7:30 p.m.).
July 7—July 21
Mendocino Music Festival: This is Allan Pollack and Susan Waterfall’s show and he delivers. Highlights include Waterfall’s presentation, The Turtle Island Quartet, Sierra Hull and Highway 111, and the Celtic band Solas. And of course there is the place itself. The Mendocino coast where the big white tent that houses these concerts is one of the three or four most gorgeous places between San Diego and Seattle. Plus, there's the charm of the town itself. Unmatched. If you’ve never been, this is a must see.