News from the Heart & Soul of San Francisco
By KEITH HOWELL Rhonel Roberts’ first love was music. But painting is his passion. The two came together for the Fillmore resident in a series of artworks he created celebrating great jazz musicians — Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, John Lee Hooker, Ray Charles and South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela. His career took off when…
By JASON OLAINE Summer of Love Revisited. That’s the theme of this year’s Fillmore Jazz Festival on July 1 and 2, in honor of the 50th anniversary of that impactful, inspired time in 1967 — its epicenter in San Francisco, with the Fillmore being ground zero. Seminal albums were released by Jefferson Airplane, The Doors, Jimi…
FIRST PERSON | KIM NALLEY Being a musician is kind of like being a foodie. If you grew up poor, you’re really excited just to have food. Then, after you get accustomed to having food and are exposed to good food, you want something better. You eat at great restaurants and become able to distinguish the…
By JASON OLAINE Artistic Director, Fillmore Jazz Festival In Tribute. That’s the theme of this year’s Fillmore Jazz Festival, coming on July 2 and 3. Perhaps it would be fitting to hold a tribute festival every year. Invariably, some artist who changed the game or played with unbelievable virtuosity or defied genres or created timeless art…
NOTED SAN FRANCISCO graphic artist John Mattos has been selected to create the poster for the 2016 Fillmore Jazz Festival, coming on July 2 and 3, and this week he revealed his design. “Like good jazz, it’s unexpected,” said Mattos. “There isn’t a guy with a horn in this, so it’s not replicating the experience of…
By JASON OLAINE Artistic Director, Fillmore Jazz Festival While 1992 might have been tagged the “Year of the Woman” in politics, this year’s Fillmore Jazz Festival might well be dubbed the same, as we raise our flags up and down the street to salute talented “Women in Jazz and Beyond.” Here in the Bay Area…
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR | JASON OLAINE When artistic director Jason Olaine began planning this year’s lineup for the Fillmore Jazz Festival, he found himself booking so many women performers he had a theme. “There are so many great women jazz artists in the Bay Area,” he says, “and not just vocalists.” Olaine’s day job as director…
POSTER ARTIST | MICHAEL SCHWAB You’ve seen them all across San Francisco in recent weeks — striking posters featuring a wavy-haired female vocalist silhouetted against a fiery orange background. The image for this year’s Fillmore Jazz Festival poster and street banners was created by Marin artist Michael Schwab, one of the country’s leading graphic artists.…
Q & A | JASON OLAINE Last year you left Yoshi’s on Fillmore to join Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York. How’s the new gig going? The job is great — challenging and rewarding. Maybe that’s why it’s great. We just wrapped our 25th anniversary season and it was a home run, so there is some…
IT’S THAT TIME of year again — Fourth of July weekend — and the Fillmore Jazz Festival is back and will take over the street for the 29th year in a row. With more than 100,000 people expected for the two-day street party, the Fillmore Jazz Festival means different things to different people. For artists,…