Sonoma Jazz Society

Sonoma Valley Jazz Society kicks off Saturday with a trio of Bay Area musicians. Submitted photo

Another season of jazz in Sonoma—A Valley staple since 1989—kicks off Saturday with a trio of Bay Area musicians who will play jazz standards at the Sonoma Valley Woman’s Club, 574 First St. East, beginning at 6 p.m.
It is entitled “A Night with Jazz Masters” and features Bill Bell on piano; Jeff Chambers on bass, and Omar Clay on drums
Each musician has played with some of the most accomplished jazz performers, Bell with Carmen McRae, Joe Williams and Dianne Reeves; Chambers with Dizzy Gillespie, Joe Henderson and McCoy Tyner; and Clay with Sarah Vaughan, Roy Brooks and Joe Chambers.
Back in 1989 a group of fans decided to fill a void by bringing quality jazz to the community. David Watson, Beverly Prevost, Rocco Lucero, Norm Anderson and Wanda McAleese were among the founders of the Sonoma Valley Jazz Society. At first, the group didn’t present music on a regular schedule. Some concerts were in people’s houses, some at the Gundlach Bundschu Winery, according to Lucero, whose father, Don, knew trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and boxed with Miles Davis at Newman’s Gym in San Francisco’s Tenderloin.
The all-volunteer society began free summer concerts at the Tuesday farmers’ market in 1991. Janice King, society president since 1996, calls them “the best community event, with few tourists, and people of all ages enjoying the music.” Even teens stick around for the music, she says.
The society wants the music to have broad appeal and expose listeners to something different by “mixing it up” every summer—Latin jazz, vocalists, big bands and straight-ahead jazz groups. It also wants “to support the musicians” by paying them fairly and treating them well, King says. Many musicians who play in Sonoma also play at well-known Bay Area clubs like Yoshi’s in Oakland and Jazz at Pearl’s North Beach in San Francisco.
King enjoys “turning on people who haven’t heard the music before” and grow to love it.
“It’s almost like red wine,” she says, “it expands as you get into it.”
The musicians, in turn, enjoy playing in the amphitheater, because of the large, enthusiastic turnout. Bass player Marcus Shelby, who played here in June, told King how impressed he was by this.
Musicians also like performing at The Lodge on Broadway, where the society presents free jazz on Friday and Saturday nights, because the audience listens and doesn’t consider the music a backdrop for talking and drinking.
Cuban piano player Omar Sosa, who lives in Barcelona, made his fourth appearance here in March when he played at a benefit for Kelly Corliss, who suffered a massive stroke in 2005.
All this music is presented on “a shoe string,” says board member Bonnie Thomas. The society’s $12,000 annual budget comes from member dues, business sponsors, passing the hat at concerts and occasional grants from the city. In addition to paying the musicians, the society spends over $700 to rent the amphitheater and a sound system for each concert.
The society is educating the next generation, too, with scholarships to the Jazz Camp at the Sonoma Community Center. This summer the society sponsored two boys from the Hanna Boys Center. Board member Ann Hollister provided transportation every day to the two-week camp.
Tickets for “A Night with Jazz Masters” are $25, which includes hors d’oeuvres and no-host beer and wine. For reservations and further information, please contact Janice King at 707.373.0700 or visit www.sonomavalleysociety.org.