23rd SF Jazz Festival

The 23rd annual San Francisco Jazz Festival begins this Wednesday evening. This is not a weekend event but a series of top of the line concerts that last through November 6.

The first 2 shows are of particular note. The opening night concert with Abbey Lincoln on Wednesday October 19 is typically a private party for patrons and members but this year is open to the public as a Katrina Relief Benefit with proceeds going to directly to the in need New Orleans Musician's Clinic.

This fund goes directly to sustain our NOMC-in-Exile operations until January 2006 and to provide direct assistance to musicians ( from purchasing gasoline to school uniforms for their children and everything in between.)

The New Orleans Musicians' Clinic (NOMC) is an innovative not-for-profit occupational medicine and wellness partnership offering comprehensive health care to our community's most precious resource: our musicians. Our sponsors are the Daughters of Charity Services of New Orleans, The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation, and the LSU Health Care Network. Dedicated on May 2, 1998, NOMC became the first such health initiative in the United States, addressing the health care needs of musicians and their families, an under-served segment of the population. To date our dedicated consortium of service providers has treated more than 1000 local musicians.

On Thursday at the Great American Music Hall, the World Saxophone Quartet (with rhythm section) plays Jimi Hendrix. I have always loved the WSQ and their themed works.

This fall, as heard on the group's acclaimed 2004 CD, Experience, the ever-vital WSQ breathes new fire into the repertoire of rock icon Jimi Hendrix...

The group takes the stage in San Francisco as a supercharged septet, with its namesake saxmen founding members David Murray, Oliver Lake, and Hamiet Bluiett plus newcomer Bruce Williams joined by trombonist Craig Harris, bassist Matthew Garrison, and drummer Lee Pearson.

There is lots more with Montara's own Bobby Hutcherson sitting in with George Cables, the Denny Zeitlin Trio and Ornette Coleman too. Check them out at sfjazz.org