Healdsburg Jazz Festival: Sweet Honey in the Rock and Azar Lawrence Quartet at Healdsburg Jazz Festival at Rodney Strong Vineyards

Get your tickets now and join us for the 15th Anniversary of the Healdsburg Jazz Festival, May 31 – June 9. Click Ticket Price (above) to order or to learn more about this specific event.

Click Healdsburg Jazz Festival (above) to see a complete listing of events including a two day all-star Tribute to Charlie Haden including the Liberation Music Orchestra with Carla Bley, Quartet West with Ravi Coltrane plus Bill Frisell, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Lee Konitz, Geri Allen, Chris Potter. Other concerts include an exclusive engagement of the Charles Lloyd–Jason Moran duo, Sweet Honey in the Rock®, The Fred Hersch Trio, plus groups led by Azar Lawrence, Marcus Shelby, Will Bernard, Sylvia Cuenca and John Heard."...

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Get your tickets now and join us for the 15th Anniversary of the Healdsburg Jazz Festival, May 31 – June 9. Click Ticket Price (above) to order or to learn more about this specific event.

Click Healdsburg Jazz Festival (above) to see a complete listing of events including a two day all-star Tribute to Charlie Haden including the Liberation Music Orchestra with Carla Bley, Quartet West with Ravi Coltrane plus Bill Frisell, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Lee Konitz, Geri Allen, Chris Potter. Other concerts include an exclusive engagement of the Charles Lloyd–Jason Moran duo, Sweet Honey in the Rock®, The Fred Hersch Trio, plus groups led by Azar Lawrence, Marcus Shelby, Will Bernard, Sylvia Cuenca and John Heard."

Sweet Honey in the Rock® and the Azar Lawrence Quartet
Outdoors at Rodney Strong Vineyards
Children 10 and under free. For lawn seating, low chairs only, no umbrellas

In 1973, a group of women heard the message of singers Nina Simone, Abby Lincoln, Betty Carter, Miriam Makeba and Odetta and came together to form an a-cappella vocal group. They drew material from African chanting and African American gospel, spirituals, jazz, blues and folk to sing songs about justice, tragedy, greed, life and love. Now 40 years on, Sweet Honey in the Rock is a living repository of American history, interpreted by women, imprinted in black. The six women in the group combine their powerful voices to celebrate change, creating joy in the process. They sing of water and earth and the human beings connected to those elements – the stuff of life. Sweet Honey in the Rock will make the festival finale a day of exultation in Healdsburg.

When John Coltrane's classic quartet split up around 1966, pianist McCoy Tyner and drummer Elvin Jones sought to assemble their own groups. The challenge for them was finding horn players who could deal with the kind of energy they were used to putting out - and receiving. Luckily they found Azar Lawrence. The saxophonist, who is leading a quartet with legendary drummer Billy Hart, bassist Henry Franklin and pianist Theo Saunders on Healdsburg's final Sunday, grew up in Los Angeles, getting an early education in fiery pianist Horace Tapscott's Arkestra, then working with muscular players like pianist George Cables and trumpeter Woody Shaw. Hart, a highly versatile player who could go from swinging subtly in Shirley Horn's group to laying down the funk in Herbie Hancock's landmark Mwandishi Sextet, also played with Tyner in the '70s. Franklin and Saunders are mainstays of the L.A. scene who have worked with dozens of jazz greats. The two have been playing regular weekend gigs with Lawrence at Venice's RG Club, so expect rapid combustion at Healdsburg.

For lawn seating, low chairs only and no umbrellas, please.

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