Sunday, June 19
Juneteenth
Juneteenth Celebration in the Healdsburg Plaza
11 am – 4 pm
With Willie Jones III Quintet (pictured above), MJ’s Brass Boppers, the Curtis Family C-notes, poets Enid Pickett and Kamau Daáood, KCSM’s Greg Bridges, educational areas, vendors and more.
Presented in partnership with Healdsburg Community Services Department
FREE EVENT
11:00 am-11:10 am: Poet Enid Pickett
11:10 am-11:20 am: KCSM’s Greg Bridges
11:20 am-12:00 pm: The Curtis Family C-notes
12:30 pm-1:30 pm: MJs Brass Boppers
2:15 pm-2:45 pm: Poet Kamau Daaood
3:00 pm-4:00 pm: Willie Jones III Quintet featuring Ralph Moore, Jeremy Pelt, Jeremy Manasia, and David Williams
11 am-4 pm: Juneteenth Activities, Flag making, painting, exhibits, and more for Young People in the Gazebo across from the main stage led by teaching artist Andi Wong
Juneteenth is the African American celebration of liberation 2 years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed. Soon after the end of the Civil War, black communities throughout the nation celebrated independence every June 19th with gatherings, delicious food, and of course good music. Healdsburg Jazz is proud to present a diverse range of music, art, culture and education in honor of this holiday, free to the public, in the Healdsburg Plaza. Our Juneteenth performances celebrate the wide range of black music and art including gospel, early blues, New Orleans jazz, funk, R&B, spoken word, and straight ahead modern swing. Our Juneteenth Celebration will also have an arts and crafts area in the plaza for young people led by one of our esteemed teaching artists.
Thank you MAJOR SPONSOR Foley Family Charitable Foundation for making Juneteenth possible and for all your support!
Willie Jones III Quintet
Drummer, composer, producer Willie Jones III has been one of jazz’s most recognized and celebrated drummers since the late 1990s. For his 2022 Healdsburg Jazz Festival performance, he’s put together a program titled Our Man Higgins and has assembled an all-star group of musicians to pay homage to his mentor, the late, legendary drummer Billy Higgins. Growing up in Los Angeles Jones not only studied with Higgins as a young musician, he recorded his first CD on the drummer’s World Stage label in 1990. Jones has proudly carried on Higgins’ legacy through his work on the bandstand and in the studio as a record producer, running his own label called WJ3 Records. He’s recorded and performed with a long list of artists including Arturo Sandoval, Roy Hargrove, Herbie Hancock, Wynton Marsalis, and Cedar Walton. With a talent-packed cast featuring Jeremy Pelt (trumpet), Ralph Moore (tenor sax), David Williams (bass), and Jeremy Manasia (piano), Our Man Higgins promises to deliver an enthralling, hard swinging set of both originals and re-imagined standards.
Kamau Daáood
Co-founder of The World Stage in Los Angeles, Daaood is a mythic figure in the Southern California art scene as a performance poet, educator, and community arts activist who is widely acknowledged as a major driving force behind Los Angeles’ black cultural renaissance. The festival is fortunate to have him participate in this Juneteenth celebration!
Greg Bridges
The MC: Greg Bridges was born and raised in Oakland and he has been in radio for nearly 30 years. In addition to his hosting duties for KCSM in San Francisco and the WFMT Radio Network’s jazz service, he hosts the soul-sonic rhapsody of word, sound and power show Transitions On Traditions on KPFA Radio in Berkeley. He’s a seasoned Jazz writer, emcee and presenter.
Curtis Family C-notes Band
The Curtis Family C-notes Band is a seven-piece family band led by veteran jazz and pop multi-instrumentalist and producer Brian “Stro” Curtis, his wife vocalist Nola Curtis, and their five children. They are also community champions who focus on helping seniors, youth, and people dealing with homelessness. The Curtis Family C-notes have performed for the Golden State Warriors, the San Francisco Giants, America’s Got Talent and many others in and around the San Francisco Bay Area.
MJ’s Brass Boppers
MJ’s Brass Boppers Brass Band is an authentic New Orleans singing and swinging brass band fusing traditional NOLA standards, funk, jazz, modern pop and more with a second line twist. They’ve opened for a variety of acts, including George Clinton & Funkadelic, The O’Jays, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Ave, the Funky Meters, George Porter Jr., Zigaboo Modeliste, Kermit Ruffins, and many more.
Enid Pickett
Former Healdsburg Jazz Poet Laureate, Enid Pickett’s work reflects the ancestral voices that move through her in her writing and her performance. She credits her exposure to artists like Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, June Jordan, Nicki Giovanni, Terri McMillan, and James Baldwin, who have all shaped her work.
Billy Higgins performing in the Healdsburg Plaza