Juneteenth performances are underwritten by Healdsburg Jazz Patrons Janet & Michael Verlander. This event is presented in Partnership with City of Healdsburg Community Services.

Celebrating Juneteenth with a jazz jubilee, the Festival brings a talent-packed triple bill to the Plaza, headlined by Orrin Evans, The Dynamic Miss Faye Carol with her trio and a String Quartet, and the Tyreek McDole Quintet. These three stellar bands exemplify the power of music as a liberational force.

The day will also feature poet Enid Pickett, KCSM’s Greg Bridges, hands-on art workshops with Andi Wong, Afro-Cuban Dance Pop-Up Workshops by Susana Arenas, a Pop-Up Art Gallery by Rena Charles, engaging vendors, and much more.

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.

Families are especially welcome! We’ll have free, interactive activities throughout the day designed for kids and parents to enjoy together.

Orrin Evans Trio
Tough and tender, soulful and acerbic, sincere and sardonic, Philadelphia pianist Orrin Evans has become one of the jazz scene’s most widely admired piano players over the past quarter century. Blazing a brilliant trail in a wide array of settings, from his Grammy-nominated Captain Black Big Band to The Bad Plus, he’s a mid-career master who keeps getting better. Performing with his trio, he turns every set into an emotionally taut adventure. His trio will feature Orrin Evans (piano), Eric Revis (bass), Tina Raymond (drums).

The Dynamic Miss Faye Carol
Whether you call her a jazzy blues singer or a bluesy jazz singer, the Dynamic Miss Faye Carol is a Bay Area icon who has nurtured and defined the scene since the 1960s. Ranging widely across the Black American music continuum from Duke Ellington and Ray Charles to Billie Holiday and Willie Dixon, she puts her own inimitable stamp on every sort of standard. Revered for her role as a mentor to jazz stars such as pianist Benny Green, saxophonist Howard Wiley and bassist Marcus Shelby, she’s joined by a combo featuring her latest protégé, pianist Joe Warner, who’s become a force in his own right over the past decade. In addition to her trio, she will be joined by a string quartet! The whole band will feature: The Dynamic Miss Faye Carol (vocals), Marvin ‘Smitty’ Smith (drums), Tarus Mateen (bass), Joe Warner (piano, musical director), and string quartet (Christina Walton – violin, Yeri Caesar – violin, Nansamba Ssensalo – viola, Byron Hogan – cello).

Tyreek McDole Quintet
After making his Healdsburg debut as a special guest with legendary pianist Kenny Barron, Haitian-American vocalist Tyreek McDole will return with his own band as part of the Juneteenth celebration. Only the second male singer to win the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition, he’s at the start of a hugely promising career. Wielding his rich baritone with supple authority, he possesses a warm, velvety sound that caresses each syllable he sings. The band features Tyreek McDole (vocals), Victor Gould (piano), Dylan Band (saxophone), Dan Finn (bass), Gary Jones (drums).

Howard Wiley returns to the Festival to light up a fire in the Healdsburg night with his quartet, a potent combo that blends soul, funk grooves, jazz, and gospel. A commanding improviser, Wiley has earned national and international renown, recording and performing with an array of heavyweights including Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, Miss Lauryn Hill, Kamasi Washington, Miles Mosley, Sheila E, Cory Henry, Christian McBride, Jason Moran, and Hammond B-3 organ greats Chester Thompson and Doug Carn. His quartet features organist LJ Holoman, a sought-after studio player with recording credits that include Mary J. Blige, 50 Cent, Busta Rhymes, Nas, The Game, and Fantastic Negrito; bassist/producer and multi- instrumentalist Clark Sims, also known as ‘The Funk Father’; and Grammy-winning drummer Dante “Taz” Roberson.