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| Tuesday, May 6 2008 10:56 AM
Last Updated: Tuesday, May 6 2008 10:37 AM
In the enormous candy box that is jazz, you have 13 flavors to choose from this weekend.
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What: 22nd annual Bakersfield Jazz Festival
When: Starts 7 p.m. Friday (gates at 6 p.m.) and 2 p.m. Saturday (gates at 1 p.m.)
Where: Cal State Bakersfield Amphitheater, 9001 Stockdale Highway.
Admission: Friday advance tickets $23 students and $32 general admission; at the gate $27 students and $36 general admission.
Saturday advance tickets $25 students and $35 general admission; at the gate $30 students and $40 general admission.
Two-day festival tickets $35 students and $55 general admission. Children 12 and under free.
Available through Vallitix at their locations, vallitix.com or 322-5200. Also available at Stockdale Music, California Keyboards, Russo’s Books at The Marketplace and Front Porch Music. Reserved tables of six available. Free parking.
Details: 322-5200 or bakersfieldjazz.com.
We picked the brain of jazz festival director Doug Davis to guide you through this year’s lineup.
FRIDAY
6 p.m. Gates open
7 p.m. Roy Hargrove: “A wonderful straight-ahead jazz set. He also has recordings that are hip-hop oriented.”
8:20 p.m. Roberta Gambarini: “She is generally understood to be one of the greatest jazz singers in the world and she’s extraordinary.”
9:45 p.m. Yellowjackets: “They’ve been around a couple decades and have won multiple Grammys, so that’s a more contemporary, creative jazz.”
Golden West Casino Stage:
Chesterfield King and the Sultans of Swing, 6 p.m., 8 p.m., 9:15 p.m.
SATURDAY
1 p.m. Gates open
2 p.m. Kern County Honor Jazz Band
3:05 p.m. The Jazz Messiahs: “Cutting-edge creation. Like a jolt to everyone’s system.”
4 p.m. Los Cuatro: “Cuban flavor. Local musician Dennis Hamm is in the group. We consider him Bakersfield’s finest, (though) he’s now down in L.A.”
5:20 p.m. Kristin Korb: “She plays acoustic bass, which is a behemoth of an instrument, but it's kinda stunning what she does ... playing the bass and singing the whole time.”
6:40 p.m. Tom Harrell Quintet: “A jazz legend. He’s one of the top three jazz trumpeters in the world. He’s coming with a classic jazz quintet. Generally thought of as one of the most creative jazz trumpeters alive.”
8 p.m. Conrad Herwig, Latin Side of Miles, ‘Trane and Wayne: “Based out of New York, this is a very powerful, creative representation of Latin jazz using the compositions of Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Wayne Shorter.”
9:25 p.m. Fireworks show
9:30 p.m. Everette Harp: “Everyone’s heard him as the saxophonist on Entertainment Tonight. He has a lot of gospel and certainly funk and R&B, so he will generally make everybody incredibly happy. I figure that’s a good way to end.”
Golden West Casino Stage:
Bakersfield Jazz Workshop Orchestra, 1 p.m., 2:40 p.m., 3:45 p.m., 5 p.m.
Believe, 6:20 p.m., 7:40 p.m., 9 p.m.
Photos:
Roberta Gambarini will perform at 8:20 Friday night. (Photo courtesy of Bakersfield Jazz Festival)
Roy Hargrove will perform at 7 on Friday night. (Photo courtesy of Bakersfield Jazz Festival)
The Yellowjackets will perform at 9:45 Friday night. (Photo courtesy of Bakersfield Jazz Festival)
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Cal State Bakersfield’s two-day 22nd annual Bakersfield Jazz Festival kicks off Friday with one for the saddle-shoed swing kids, Chesterfield King and the Sultans of Swing. For those with a taste for Cuban jazz, Los Cuatro will perform Saturday afternoon.
Of course, there’s barbecue, beer and wine, and a fireworks show to occupy those pesky other four senses.
This year’s headliners are trumpeter Roy Hargrove, chanteuse Roberta Gambarini (for the Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan fans) and jazz fusion group Yellowjackets.
The Yellowjackets are a Grammy-winning eclectic bunch whose members have worked with symphony orchestras and the likes of Joni Mitchell and Bruce Hornsby. The quartet (keyboard, tenor sax, drums and electric bass) draws from gospel, R&B, traditional jazz, and Afro-Caribbean sounds, said Yellowjackets tenor saxophonist Bob Mintzer. The result is “highly conversational and interactive,” he added.
“In any band of this nature, the way the elements are combined forms something that is an entity unto itself that really doesn’t sound like any of those influences,” he said.
In fact, universities such as the prestigious Berklee College of Music and the University of North Texas in Denton have courses devoted to analyzing the Yellowjackets.
For newbies who wonder if jazz is too cerebral, too exclusive, maybe a little too cool for school, Mintzer assured they’ll feel comfortable with his group. Their work has complexity, but the groove, the emotion and the attention to detail are the Yellowjackets’ strengths.
“It’s not a jazz elitist kind of band, it’s not overly intellectual,” he said. “You can tap your foot and hear some melodies, yet there’s some real surprises in the music and little twists and turns that might tweak the intellect as well as feed the soul.”
JAZZ 101
You don’t need a beret or an all-black wardrobe to appreciate this diverse genre.
We asked Bob Mintzer, tenor saxophonist for the Grammy-winning jazz group Yellowjackets, to recommend the top artists and albums that’ll kick-start your jazz education.
• John Coltrane
• Thelonious Monk
• Miles Davis
• Herbie Hancock
• Louis Armstrong
• Charlie Parker
• Dizzy Gillespie
• Coleman Hawkins
• Duke Ellington
• Sonny Rollins
• Weather Report
• Miles Davis, “Kind of Blue:” “A fantastic record, one of the biggest-selling albums in history.”
• Herbie Hancock, “Maiden Voyage:” “A beautiful album that is very forward-looking.”