It Just Heals Me
Janice King is the long-time President of the Society, and sat down with the Sun’s Larry Barnett to talk about her interest in Jazz and the Society’s plans for the future.
How did you first get interested in jazz?
My parents were into jazz, a lot of big band but some of the bebop stuff after that. I grew up outside of Flint, Michigan. There was a lot of music, Detroit was just an hour away, Motown was happening then and all kinds of rockers.
We were eight kids, and my parents would go out every Saturday and put on jazz when they were getting ready. I had all these older brothers and sisters who listened to all kinds of music. At eighteen, I took my mom and dad to go see Dizzy Gillespie. Even as a teenager, I knew what cool was.
Music gives you moments when you have no worries. When you’re listening to music, when you come out, you realize ‘I’ve not been worrying for an hour.’ It just heals me.
What do you listen to?
I’ve just been listening to Oliver Nelson’s Blues and the Abstract Truth. There was a bunch of great players; Bill Evans, Roy Haynes, Paul Chambers, Freddie Hubbard, Eric Dolphy.
What clicked for you about jazz?
The quality and the intricacy; there’s something about Jazz that just speaks to me. I love rock, and I love folk and I love the blues, but those are simpler forms of music. I can hear the complications of the music, of jazz, and I appreciate that. It’s hard to explain. It’s like a dream. With improv, you don’t know where it’s going. They take you on a journey, and they don’t bring you back until they’re damn good and ready, and you don’t know when that’s going to be. It’s a spiritual journey.
Who did you like when you discovered jazz?
Coltrane and Miles, and Glenn Miller’s big band early on. Ben Webster is fabulous. They seemed cool and it hit my little rebel thing I had as a teenager. I never was the one to follow what everybody else was doing. I would go sneak into the jazz clubs before I was old enough to drink in downtown Flint, in the African American area, where they would let little white girls in because they’re cute and everything. The music I heard was just amazing. I loved it. The cool clubs where you heard great jazz and blues spoke to me.
When did you get involved in the Sonoma Valley Jazz Society?
I volunteered. That was a long time ago, like 1990. We are funded by local members and sponsors. All the money goes to providing the free concerts in the community, which we think is very important to keep jazz going and to educate people and get turned on to jazz. Once tasted, like good red wine, you keep going back. Ticketed concerts always break even. We do a lot of revenue sharing with other nonprofits. We don’t do big fundraising. We’re kind of, in a way, like a social group.
Tell me more about that.
You don’t have to be wealthy to be part of this amazing group of people. Our goal is to keep Jazz alive and help young jazz artists through scholarships and booking them at clubs.
I’ve noticed some young players at the Parkside.
Sonoma State has a great jazz program. For the last five or six years we’ve been going to the faculty there and saying, ‘Give us a list of people that you think deserve a scholarship.’ We give them scholarships and have them come play at our annual concert. This past year, we’re booking more of the kids, and giving them three or four gigs to give them the thrill. We’re a great audience, a listening audience. People are there for the music. We’re not a wallpaper gig, as Dick Conte says.
You’ve lost some venues lately.
We do our four free concerts in the Plaza, which will continue, and once a month ticketed events. We had a sponsor for the Parkside. We are looking at three locations that should be a “yes.” Some are near the Plaza, and others somewhat farther away. We’ll see which one works. Our sponsor is leaving the area, so we are thinking about doing a cover charge, $10 or something. All that money would go directly to the band. I don’t think that’s asking too much. I just want to make sure that the music keeps going.
How do people find out about what you’ve planned?
We put out a monthly newsletter. Every month we have a ticketed event to see people you’d normally have to go to San Francisco to hear. We feature jazz musicians with multiple Grammy’s. Really, really great people. We have the best of the Bay Area and beyond, right here in our little town. We are doing something all year long. Our website is SonomaValleyJazzSociety.org. It’s updated to the end of the year.
Be First to Comment