2004 - First Annual Latin Jazz Festival in Yerba Buena Gardens
2004 Press Releases
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRESS CONTACT:
Barbara Webb
(415) 453-9678
FIRST ANNUAL LATIN JAZZ FESTIVAL
IN YERBA BUENA GARDENS
Sunday, October 17, 1-5 pm
San Francisco, CA. September 8, 2004. The 2004 Yerba Buena Gardens Festival presents a free afternoon concert of high-octane Latin Jazz in Yerba Buena Gardens, Sunday, October 17 from 1pm to 5 pm.
The Festival will feature John Santos and the Machete Ensemble and Special Guests including trumpeter Ray Vega and vocalist Destani Wolf; Mark Levine & The Latin Tinge; and the Latin Jazz Youth Ensemble with John Calloway.
John Santos and the Machete Ensemble represents Afro-Latin music and Afro-Caribbean music in its full range of excitement and expression from folklore through dance music and jazz. Machete has appeared at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco; The Concord Jazz Festival; The Russian River Jazz Festival; the Monterey Jazz Festival; The San Francisco Jazz Festival; The Discover Jazz Festival in Vermont, Carnaval San Francisco; and the Mellon Jazz Festival in Philadelphia. The group has performed in major jazz clubs throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.
Director John Santos (congas, percussion) has composed many of the group's arrangements. Members of the ensemble are: Orestes Vilató (timbales, bongos), Paul Van Wageningen (drumset), David Belove (bass), John Calloway (flute, percussion, piano, keys), Wayne Wallace (trombone), Melecio Magdaluyo (all saxes, clarinet, flute), Ron Stallings (all saxes, clarinet, flute) Orlando Torriente (vocals) and Murry Low (piano, keyboards).
The Oakland Tribune writes of Machete "Brilliant, revolutionary…they drive the temperature through the ceiling. One of the Bay Area's hottest discoveries."
Mark Levine & The Latin Tinge draws its rhythmic inspiration from both Afro-Cuban music and jazz - you might hear rumba, timba, songo, mambo, straight ahead, and 6/8 rhythms in a single tune. Latin Beat calls the group "…the preeminent Latin Jazz quartet found north of Havana." Mark Levine & The Latin Tinge recording Isla received a 2003 Grammy nomination for Best Latin Jazz Recording.
Among the many great musicians Mark Levine has played/recorded with are Woody Shaw, Mongo Santamaria, Cal Tjader, Tito Puente, Milt Jackson, Pete Escovedo, Art Farmer, Dizzy Gillespie, and Chet Baker.
The Latin Jazz Youth Ensemble with John Calloway, is a youth performance group whose ages range between 12 to 17. Directed by musician/composer/arranger John Calloway, the group was founded to motivate young people to play Latin Jazz and to act as role models for young musicians. The group has performed at Masonic Auditorium, Oakland's Day of the Dead Festival, San Jose Jazz Festival, Lafayette Jazz Festival, and San Francisco Carnaval. It was chosen as one of the top youth performance groups in Northern California in the 2004 Youthquake competition. The Ensemble was an audience favorite when it performed earlier this year for the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival.
The Latin Jazz Festival in Yerba Buena Gardens is presented in association with Latino Entertainment Partners, an organization that was formed by Bill Martinez, Arturo Riera and their families in 1999 to promote Afro-Cuban Music in the Bay Area. LEP has presented some of the most important Cuban and Puerto Rican groups of our day including Los Van Van, NG La Banda, Sierra Maestra, Vocal Sampling, Chucho Valdes, Eddie Palmieri, Cubanismo, Maraca y su Otra Vision, and Timbalaye.
Linda Lucero, Artistic Director of the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival said, "We are thrilled to work with Latino Entertainment Partners to present this first Annual Latin Jazz Festival in the Gardens."
Free Artistic and Cultural Programming in Yerba Buena Gardens is made possible through the generosity of The San Francisco Redevelopment Agency, The National Endowment for the Arts, MJM Management Group, The Zellerbach Family Foundation, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, The W.A. Gerbode Foundation, The San Francisco Foundation, The San Francisco Arts Commission, The Fleishhacker Foundation, The Bernard Osher Foundation, The Walter & Elise Haas Fund, and individual contributions. Media sponsors for the 2004 Festival are WB20, The San Francisco Bay Guardian, KDFC, JC Decaux, Laser.Com, and San Francisco Downtown Magazine. Yerba Buena Arts & Events, organizer of the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival, is located at 760 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA 94103. Phone (415) 543-1718; Fax (415) 543-1755; e-mail: ybgf@ybgf.org
http://ybgf.org
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Additional Information Links
Festival Calendar
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Destani Wolf |
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Artists Guild John Handy |
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Grind 4 the Green |
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TODCO Poets |
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Bayonics |
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Carne Cruda & Santero |
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Yerba Buena Gardens Festival
produced by Yerba Buena Arts & Events
760 Howard Street
San Francisco CA 94103
Phone: 415 543 1718
Fax: 415 543 1755
info@ybgf.org
www.myspace.com/ybgfestival