OPENING NIGHT OF SAN FRANCISCO JAZZ FESTIVAL WITH ABBEY LINCOLN WILL BENEFIT THE NEW ORLEANS MUSICIANS’ CLINIC
LAVAY SMITH, REALISTIC ORCHESTRA ON SEPTEMBER 29 WILL BENEFIT THE RED CROSS
SAN FRANCISCO, September 22, 2005 — SFJAZZ Executive Director Randall Kline today announced that the Opening Night concert of the 23rd Annual San Francisco Jazz Festival with legendary vocalist Abbey Lincoln will become a fundraiser for Hurricane Katrina relief. As an organization committed to furthering the art of jazz and supporting the artists who make the music, SFJAZZ feels both a strong connection to this tragedy and a duty to contribute our organizational efforts to helping assuage the suffering in the hurricane’s wake.
Kline commented, “Hurricane Katrina has had a profound and disastrous impact upon the country’s Gulf Coast region — including, of course, the city of New Orleans, the birthplace of jazz and one of the music’s centers of ongoing vitality. As someone who has been involved with jazz, both personally and professionally, for over a quarter of a century, I knew that it was imperative that SFJAZZ make a contribution that directly benefited the jazz community in New Orleans as well as the larger humanitarian effort.”
The concert, which was previously planned as an SFJAZZ members-only performance, will take place on Wednesday, October 19, 7:30pm at Herbst Theatre. All net proceeds from this concert will be donated to the New Orleans Musicians’ Clinic, which is providing direct relief to displaced New Orleans musicians and their families.
In addition to the Opening Night Abbey Lincoln concert, SFJAZZ is also collaborating with Stanford Shopping Center on a fundraising concert in Palo Alto with Lavay Smith and Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers & The Realistic Orchestra. That concert will take place Thursday, September 29, 6-7:30pm at Stanford Shopping Center. Admission will be free, but a representative from the American Red Cross will be on-site to collect audience donations toward hurricane relief.
SFJAZZ is optimistic that the jazz community will support these efforts and raise much-needed relief funds to express the Bay Area’s united concern. In addition to providing relief through the purchase of tickets to the Abbey Lincoln event, there will be an opportunity to donate additional funds to hurricane relief on-site.
SFJAZZ HURRICANE RELIEF CONCERTS
Lavay Smith and Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers & The Realistic Orchestra
Thursday, September 29, 6-7:30pm
Stanford Shopping Center, 180 El Camino Real, Palo Alto
FREE – donations encouraged
Abbey Lincoln Wednesday, October 19, 7:30 pm
Herbst Theatre, Van Ness and McAllister, San Francisco
Tickets: $26 - $52
TICKETS AND INFORMATION
· Visit SFJAZZ web site, www.sfjazz.org, service charge applied
· Go to SFJAZZ Store, 3 Embarcadero Center, Lobby Level, no service charge
· Call SFJAZZ at 415.776.1999 or outside CA 800.225.2277, service charge applied
ABOUT SFJAZZ
SFJAZZ, now in its 23rd year, is the largest non-profit presenter of jazz in the western United States. SFJAZZ presents over 100 concerts a year to over 100,000 fans and is dedicated to advancing the art form of jazz and cultivating new jazz audiences through artistic and education programming, including: The San Francisco Jazz Festival, SFJAZZ Spring Season, SFJAZZ Collective, SFJAZZ Summerfest, SFJAZZ Education and SFJAZZ Membership.
SFJAZZ receives funding from the following corporations, foundations and government agencies: American Express Company, Amgen Foundation, Bank of America Foundation, Cisco Systems Foundation, Chamber Music America, Confidence Foundation BMI Foundation, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, David B. Gold Foundation, Bill Graham Civic Foundation, Grants for the Arts/San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund, Walter and Elise Haas Fund, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, The J.P. Morgan Chase Foundation, The James Irvine Foundation, Koret Foundation, Stanley S. Langendorf Foundation, Louis R. Lurie Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Nonprofit Finance Fund, Potrero Nuevo Fund, Louise and Claude Rosenberg Family Foundation, Surdna Foundation, Inc., The San Francisco Foundation.
For more information contact All About Jazz.
