• Season Schedule
• Venue Information
• Summerfest 2006
• Summerfest 2007

Beginning in June, join award-winning emcee and radio personality Clifford Brown Jr. each Thursday
night at the Clock Tower Plaza at Stanford Shopping Center for Summer Jazz 22. Owned and operated by
Simon Corporation, the Center, located at 180 El Camino Real in Palo Alto, occupies 70 acres of land on
the Stanford campus and includes more that 140 shops and restaurants in an open-air atmosphere noted
for its spectacular floral landscaping. Produced by SFJAZZ in association with Stanford Shopping Center.

June 5 • 6-7:30PM Wayne Wallace Latin Jazz Quintet Whether leading his own groups, helping to realize other bandleaders' musical concepts, or nurturing the artists on his Patois Records label, trombonist-composer-arranger Wayne Wallace “has been at the center of the Bay Area music scene for more than a quarter century” (JazzWest). He kicks off the 2008 SFJAZZ Summerfest mixing jazz, funk, and Afro-Cuban grooves with his stellar trio.

June 12 • 6-7:30PM Ed Reed “A brilliant, idiosyncratic song stylist who turns each piece into an emotionally taut tale” (San Jose Mercury News), Ed Reed emerged from a rough-and-tumble life with his talents intact and his love of jazz undimmed. His sublime Ed Reed Sings Love Stories—released at age 78—shines as one of the brightest debut albums, followed up by the equally impressive 2008 release, The Song is You

June 19 • 6-7:30PM Anton Schwartz Quartet It is an unofficial homecoming for saxophonist Anton Schwartz, who studied computer science mere blocks away as a graduate student at Stanford University. Since devoting himself to jazz full time, he's released three albums an EP and established himself as an intuitive player, a smart composer and a deft bandleader.

June 26 • 6-7:30PM Pyeng Threadgill Singer-composer Pyeng Threadgill combines the tradition of the acoustic blues and jazz with today's modern sensibilities and sounds. The daughter of multi-instrumentalist and composer Henry Threadgill and choreographer Christina Jones, Threadgill makes music that is “risk-taking, soulful [and] transcendent” (All About Jazz).

July 3 • 6-7:30PM María Volonté Trio “An artist celebrated for the intense emotional universe that fires her music” (All About Jazz), vocalist and guitarist María Volonté brings the passion of her native Argentina to life on stage with a trio featuring harmonica and percussion. Her latest album, Yo Soy Maria, is an effortless fusion of tango and jazz with the Brazilian bossa nova.

July 10 • 6-7:30PM Jane Getter Trio with Special Guest Mimi Fox A spectacular pairing of astounding technical prowess and limitless imagination: New York-based guitarist Jane Getter “may be the fieriest fretboarding female to ever strap on a Stratocaster” (Guitar Player). Her electrically charged trio is joined by Mimi Fox, a prodigious six-stringer who now calls the Bay Area home.

July 17 • 6-7:30PM Mads Tolling Trio Danish native and Turtle String Quartet member Mads Tolling manages to manifest both taste and fire in his seemingly telepathic trio with double bassist George Ban-Weiss and guitarist Mike Abraham. Bassist Stanley Clarke calls Tolling “the most exciting musician I have come across in the past ten years.”

July 24 • 6-7:30PM 8-Legged Monster featuring Noel Jewkes Guitarist-arranger Mike Irwin's nonet (trumpet, clarinet, trombone, alto and bass saxophones, bass, drums and Noel Jewkes' tenor saxophone) combines the deftness of a small modern combo with the majesty of a traditional larger group. Their distinct sound encompasses all the musical styles that the jazz lineage has passed through, from Swing to free-jazz, and all points in between.

July 31• 6-7:30PM Harvey Wainapel The Bay Area has been lucky to call saxophonist-clarinetist Harvey Wainapel one of its own for the past quarter century. A modern jazz warrior while at the Berklee College of Music, of late Harvey has been exploring Brazil's many musical treasures, to which he brings a fierce sense of swing and immeasurable pathos.

August 7 • 6-7:30PM Tanaóra Take a trip across North America and down through Latin America to Brazil—all without leaving the Peninsula! All-star sextet Tanaóra, featuring vocalist-songwriter Cecilia Engelhart, pianist Bob Karty, percussionist Michael Spiro, saxophonist Ron Stallings, bassist Dave Belove and drummer Paul Van Wageningen, explores a world of music with an adventurous sense of swing.

Enjoy live jazz every Thursday evening in August in the heart of San Francisco's premier shopping, dining, and people-watching district. Union Square, a San Francisco landmark, is bordered by Geary, Stockton, Post and Powell streets and features a large outdoor stage, plentiful outdoor seating, and—exclusively on concert evenings—a wine garden. Parking is conveniently located underground in the Union Square garage. Produced in association with Union Square Association, Macy's, and U.S. Bank.

July 31• 6-7:30PM Linda Tillery and the Cultural Heritage Choir The San Francisco segment of the 2008 Summerfest kicks off with S. F. native Linda Tillery. A veteran of such groups as Zasu Pitts Memorial Orchestra and Bobby McFerrin’s Voicestra, vocalist and percussionist Tillery leads the Cultural Heritage Choir exploring a treasure trove of African American spirituals and work songs that are the roots of folk, jazz and the blues.

August 7 • 6-7:30PM Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers With a powerful and “lush vocal style recalling both Bessie Smith and Dinah Washington” (Los Angeles Times), Lavay Smith is the grande dame of Bay Area Swing. Backed by the Red Hot Skillet Lickers, an airtight band that lays down irresistible jump blues, R&B, big band, and salsa grooves, Smith kicks off this years’ Union Square series in footloose fashion.

August 28 • 6-7:30PM Nobody from Ipanema Nobody from Ipanema mixes hip-hop and funk with samba, forró and samba-reggae for an infectious sound inspired by Brazilian superstars Caetano Veloso, Marisa Monte and more. With dual male and female lead vocalists in addition to percussion, drums, bass, guitar and keyboard this international group has garnered multiple nominations for Best International Band in the SF Weekly’s WAMMIE awards.

August 21 • 6-7:30PM Le Jazz Hot & Friends The format of the Bay Area’s Le Jazz Hot is a standard “hot club” one — Evan Price on violin, guitarists Paul Mehling and Jason Vanderford, and Clint Baker on double bass. But Mehling might play violin and bass, and Baker might play guitar or even trumpet. When special guest Dave Miotke joins in with his accordion and Isabelle Fontaine sings, a swinging time is a sure bet.

August 14 • 6-7:30PM Claudia Villela Vocalist and Rio de Janeiro native Claudia Villela has been living in the Bay Area for almost 25 years. She incorporates the foundations of jazz, bossa nova, and African and European elements into music of extraordinary variety and depth. As adept in engaging in total improvisation as realizing through-composition, Villela is a stunningly complete musician.

For six weeks every Wednesday at noon, a panoply of jazz riffs, Latin rhythms, and more will fill the air at Levi's Plaza. Set amid the peaceful surroundings of rolling lawns, shade trees, and a running creek, this series presents the perfect opportunity for a mid-week picnic on the grass. Levi's Plaza is located between Battery and Bay Streets off the Embarcadero. Produced in association with Interland-Jalson Property Management.

Sept 3 • 12-1:30PM San Francisco Guitar Quartet In the European classical tradition, the concept of the quartet evokes a gentile liveliness. In jazz, the quartet can signify the sound (and fury) of unlimited potential. The four fretmen of the San Francisco Guitar Quartet have been bringing both characteristics of the quartet format, plus global flavors, to their unique style of music since 1997.

Sept 10 • 12-1:30PM Kristen Strom “With a tone that’s lithe and lustrous, Kristen Strom embodies her musical philosophy in every note she plays” (San Jose Mercury News). A melodic master, saxophonist Strom shines brightest leading her own group, bringing together a group of like-minded musicians to expressing the stylistic diversity that has typified her entire career.

Sept 17 • 12-1:30PM Tango #9 San Francisco’s Tango #9 takes a reverent, yet modern, approach to the national music of Argentina. Violinist and bandleader Catharine Clune, trombonist Greg Stephens, pianist Joshua Raoul Brady and accordion & bandoneón player Isabel Douglass have also collaborated with local tango dancers to bring the music full circle back to its roots.

Sept 24 • 12-1:30PM Cory Combs Quintet Last year, bassist Cory Combs explored Brazilian choro music. This year, it’s all about the funk, as our esteemed SFJAZZ Director of Education teams up with a Bay Area supergroup including saxophonist Dave Ellis, organist Wil Blades, guitarist Dave McNab and drummer Jeff Mars to cook up a set of originals and classic soul chestnuts.

Oct 1 • 12-1:30PM The Royal We 3 Trio Saxophonist and composer Kasey Knudson leads a sextet, septet, and plays in the 12-piece Ganbare Spirits Ensemble. Yet it is when the Berkeley resident is at the head of her own Royal We Trio that she’s able to stretch out her playing the most in a challenging chordless setting with just double bass and drums.

Oct 8 • 12-1:30PM Nice Guys Trio If the race is for vibrant, creative music then nice guys—or at least the Nice Guys Trio—indeed finish first. Trumpeter Darren Johnston, accordionist Rob Reich and bassist Daniel Fabricant have a mission statement to explore the world’s folk musics. From Klezmer and Afro-beat to jazz and Balkan dance, the collective writes original compositions and explores old favorites.