Thunderin' Thursday

Some 3,000 music fans strolled, boogied, sipped and noshed their way around the grounds at the Field of Dreams Thursday during the opening night of Sonoma Jazz +. By 6:30, hundreds of them gathered inside the main tent for the evening’s big-name performers.
Right on schedule, crooner-guitarist-songwriter Robert Cray took the stage for an hour-long set of tunes ranging from the R&B numbers for which he is famous (“Smokin’ Gun” the best known of them all) to more recent, muted songs such as “20,” which will long be associated with the artist’s anti-war sentiments.
During the 90-minute intermission, other, not-so-famous musicians performed elsewhere on the grounds, while festival-goers bought beer or wine to accompany their ribs and other fair-like foods. In the Patrons Tent, high rollers sampled hors d’oeuvres like sushi and slices of truffled pizza before filling their plates with roast salmon, pastas and other buffet items, accompanied by wines from La Crema, Stonestreet, Gundlach Bundschu, Camelot and other Sonoma county wineries.
The night’s headliner was LeAnn Rimes, who started her career more than 10 years ago and shot to fame with her cover of Patsy Cline’s unforgettable “Blue.” Now nearly 25, Rimes wowed the crowd with her warmth (“this is one of my favorite places in the world”), chops, dance moves and new songs. She rocked the house until nearly 11, belting out the Jefferson Airplane’s “Somebody to Love” as if she were Grace Slick, an encore selection that raised goose bumps and sent the crowd to their collective feet.