This week, we here at the Stanford Jazz office were looking at the results of the annual DownBeat Readers Poll, which we enjoy reading as much as you do.
It’s fun to see the names of artists who have performed at the Festival and taught at the Workshop (Josh Redman, #5, Eric Alexander, #8, tenor sax; Wycliffe Gordon, #2, trombone; Terence Blanchard, #4, Nicholas Payton, #7 & Terell Stafford, #11, trumpet; Kenny Barron, #8 piano, amongst many others). Read the rest of this entry »
Thank you to all the Bay Area jazz fans who’ve come out for the first two weeks of the San Francisco Jazz Festival! We’ve shared some beautiful musical moments, none more exciting as the shows over the past week. Ravi Shankar’s performance at Davies Symphony Hall on Thursday, 10/29, was sublime and emotional. At the end of a gloriously extended set, he movingly thanked the audience for the warm reception that San Francisco has provided since he first visited the city in 1932! Nicholas Payton and Don Byron combined for an only-in-San Francisco tour de force at Grace Cathedral, while John Handy received the SFJAZZ Beacon Award for lifetime achievement in a loving celebration featuring his many friends and colleagues at the Herbst Theatre on Sunday, 11/1. Read the rest of this entry »
We’re beginning to look ahead to our next fund drive, and are finding ourselves at a loss. Simply put, jazz CD’s are getting harder and harder to find, and once found, harder to obtain.
We make it a point to check with our distributors before a drive to ensure that we’ll be able to get our hands on enough copies to fulfill our pledges. And increasingly, we’ve been getting to the end of a drive only to hear, “Sorry, but we ran out – we’ll get a reissue in a month or two.” Read the rest of this entry »
Hello Bay Area jazz lovers! David Hargis from SFJAZZ here writing to you about the amazing concerts coming up in the next few weeks.
As you may know, the 27th Annual San Francisco Jazz Festival is already in full swing. We just completed our first week, capped off by two exquisite, sold out shows over the weekend by jazz-pop chanteuse Melody Gardot and legendary Brazilian songstress Gal Costa. Read the rest of this entry »
Hi everyone in the KCSM Jazz 91 online community! Laura G Thorne from Stanford Jazz Workshop writing to let you know that we now have six video clips featuring Stanford Jazz Workshop faculty Andrew Speight, Ndugu Chancler, Yosvany Terry and Victor Lin on our website’s media page.
Filmed at our Jazz Camp and Jazz Residency summer education programs in 2007 and 2008, these brief segments cover subjects such as Afro-Cuban Rhythm, Woodwind Theory and Musicianship.
Yesterday afternoon I dropped in on Alisa Clancy’s “Jazz from the Hill” class in downtown San Mateo. It’s part of the San Mateo County Community Education Emeritus Institute, and Alisa has been presenting it for a dozen years or more, apparently without repetition, and still with some of the original “students”.
Read the rest of this entry »
What a great day we had last weekend at the ART & SOUL FESTIVAL in Oaktown! Thanks to all of you who stopped by our KCSM booth and chatted with us and our wonderful volunteers.
Your time, company and financial and verbal support make a HUGE difference in our struggle to keep Jazz on the radio at 91.1FM and www.kcsm.org.
With much gratitude and appreciation, Melanie.
Took a few weeks staycation and of course we’re all swamped here–but, I wanted to invite you to our jazz class that starts up on Tuesday Aug 25th through the San Mateo County Community Ed “Emeritus Institute”.
It’s a great bunch of folks, meets from 1:30-3:30 in the Penthouse of The Peninsula Regent, #1 Baldwin at El Camino in San Mateo. You can just come to the first class to register (I think it’s 40 bucks) or register on line at http://communityed.smccd.edu — come one come all!
Alisa
As you are probably aware, the new California state budget means drastic cuts to our community colleges; cuts that affect our students, our local communities, and…KCSM, Jazz 91. Because of your past support, we’ve been able to keep the jazz flowing strong, but this year we are going to have to raise more money than ever before to keep the station in the black. Our license holder, the San Mateo County Community College District, can no longer afford to subsidize any part of our operations. We must become completely financially independent.
We are not cutting programs, we are not altering our format or switching our announcers. We are simply going to have to raise more money than ever before in order to continue bringing you the best in jazz. And that’s where you come in.
Member Challenge grants are simply the best way to get listeners to pledge their support during our on-air fund drives. And there’s one coming up soon: September 8-22. We’ll have 14 days to raise about $350,000 from our listeners and members – and challenge grants will be the key to our success.
The time to act is now. Whether you’re a long-time “challenger” or a newbie with a passion for jazz, please consider making a challenge grant to encourage others to do their part. Help us serve our jazz community and spread the jazz love far and wide. Email me at sinclair@kcsm.net with your challenge grant of $250 or more.
Thanks for your support!
Sinclair Crockett
KCSM Business and Fundraising Manager
On Monday, Chris C let me borrow “Kind of Blue” from the studio. I was advised to go home, sit back, relax and soak it in. After tea time at about 8pm, I started to play the album. Wonderful advice from Chris. It certainly was an experience into the unknown!
It didn’t stop there though, I’ve been listening all week at work with my headphones on, enjoying the sounds of cool modal jazz. Note that Mr Cortez did not give me the legacy edition, but I will be purchasing that today and listening over the weekend. Read the rest of this entry »