Healdsburg Jazz and The Marcus Shelby Orchestra collaborated for the 2013 HJF Freedom Jazz Choir, and again this year, 2014 for our second successful series of concerts. Do you like swing, blues, gospel music, improvisation, hand clapping, foot stomping, freedom songs, and relish the opportunity to perform at this year’s Healdsburg Jazz Festival? Then the HJF Freedom Jazz Choir is for you! The cho
ir is a true community ensemble. Participation is open to all regardless of age, background or musical ability and will bring diverse communities together for a rich musical experience. Led by composer, bassist, educator, and activist Marcus Shelby, the goal of the choir is to create a group, building on the diverse demographics of Sonoma County, to come together in song, using music as a unifying force. The Freedom Jazz Choir will offer direct performance opportunities for participants to work alongside professional musicians, creating a profound cultural experience fostering cooperation and understanding while expanding awareness of and access to jazz and American culture. Joyous Noise Community Baptist Church Ensemble under Adam Ivey’s direction will also participate and contribute music from its gospel repertoire. In 2014, this project will showcase the music from “Harriet Tubman: Bound for the Promised Land," a musical suite for big band and choir The music and lyrics will include Shelby’s arrangements and orchestrations of spirituals and freedom songs, plus music from the Joyous Noise Community Baptist Church Ensemble,. Concerts are in Santa Rosa on Saturday, May 17, Saturday, May 24, and on Thursday, June 5 at the Healdsburg Jazz Festival. More information online at http://www.healdsburgjazzfestival.org/wordpress/?p=11180, by email to [email protected] or by calling our office 707 433-4633.
