“Lift Every Voice” — the jazzfest returns

By JASON OLAINE
Artistic Director, Fillmore Jazz Festival 

It was on! Then it was off. And it’s back on again! The Fillmore Jazz Festival is here! And so on the Fourth of July weekend we “Lift Every Voice,” the theme of this year’s festival, to rejoice in its resurrection, and to unite as a community as we rise against the ignorance, hatred and tribalism our world is suffering.

If we’re lifting our voices, we should feature vocalists — and what a way to kick off the first day of the festival on Saturday, July 5, with three vocal-led groups on the California Street Stage. The glorious Glide Ensemble from San Francisco’s heartbeat Glide Memorial Church is a joyous way to start the festival, with its eight-piece Change Band featuring Destani Wolf and 15 to 30 person choir. San Francisco’s Project Pimento with vocalist Lori Carsillo will turn the Sutter Street Stage into a space-agey hipster lounge, replete with electronic theremin, while the soulful Charronda G and her All N2 Muzik Band kicks off the Eddy Street Stage. 

Last year we dedicated our stages to a couple of Fillmore legends: vocalists Mary Stallings (California Street) and Sugar Pie DeSanto (Sutter Street). This year, we honor the 92-year-old saxophonist, educator and longtime local John Handy on Saturday at 2:15 p.m. on the California Stage. He was here when Fillmore Street was known as the “Harlem of the West.” His years in the ’50s with Charles Mingus, and his famous 1965 Grammy-nominated “Live at the Monterey Jazz Festival” album with his own quintet, are just a few moments in his illustrious career we’ll be celebrating. 

On Saturday afternoon, after Sugar Pie’s brother Domingo DeSanto and Friends featuring Lorraine play the Sutter Street Stage, we will be naming the stage after the one and only 90-year-old blues singer and guitarist Fillmore Slim. The local legend will be honored at 4:15 p.m., then go on to electrify the audience for two hours.

And on Sunday, on the Eddy Street Stage at 4:15 p.m., we pay tribute to Fillmore’s rock and roll impresario Bill Graham and the Trinidad-born Hugh “Sweetfoot” Maynard. Maynard is leader of the Caribbean All-Stars, who have been playing in San Francisco since the ’70s, and who will perform at 4:30 p.m. 

So many great bands will be spread up and down Fillmore on stages, in churches, in alcoves and on side streets — even “marching” around with the boisterous movable brass band Mission Delirium on Sunday afternoon — there’s something for everyone. 

Celebrate humanity and support your local artists and vendors. Give them a smile, a hug, buy something. Or simply show up and enjoy the music and show the community you want to see another Fillmore Jazz Festival next year, and the year after that. We need your support — and we all need to support each other. 

MORE: Read Jason Olaine’s tribute to Yoshi’s Kaz Kajimura

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