Gualala Arts Promoting public interest and participation in the arts since 1961
Gualala Arts and Fred Adler present a 2022 Whale & Jazz Festival Series event, “Sing A September Song”, with the Larry Vuckovich All Star Jazz & Latin Quintet featuring vocalist Alvon Johnson. Saturday, September 3, 2:00 p.m. at the Gualala Arts JAMI Amphitheater. Advance tickets are $29, $5 more the day of.
‘El Vucko’ and Alvon: two seasoned and globally acclaimed musicians. Pianist/composer/jazz historian Larry Vuckovich, winner of The Buddy Montgomery Jazz Legacy award – 2018 Jazz Pioneer Award; and multiple award winning vocalist/blues guitarist Alvon Johnson, will perform jazz and blues in the JAMI Amphitheater at Gualala Arts. Fred Adler, Festival Music Coordinator will emcee.
This concert will have an historic theme, immersing the audience into highlights of our dual American musical heritage, jazz and blues.
Alvon Johnson, formerly of the famous R&B group the Coasters, cuts a mean B. B. King guitar style, and sings up a sublime storm on both standards and classic Chicago-style blues. Johnson was the Recipient of the Best Male Blues Artist from the Black Music Association & Academy Of America in 2015.
Songs associated with Billy Eckstine (Mr. B), Joe Williams, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole and others, will build an historic vocal mosaic. Larry Vuckovich’s pianistic soulful warmth will both accompany Alvon and, as soloist, take the audience through memorable seminal piano stylists (Ellington, Basie, Erroll Garner, McCoy Tyner). Vuckovich adores the essential past masters of jazz, and can take you there through both commentary and music.
Top rated tenor man, Steve Heckman, will ‘blow your blues away’ through his admiration for revered seminal saxophonists such as Lester Young (‘Pres’), the ‘Saxophone Colossus’ Sonny Rollins, and John Coltrane (‘Trane’). Heckman will be accompanied by the impeccable rhythm section of Vuckovich, piano, Belgrade-born Buca Necak, acoustic bass, and Jeff Miniweather, drums. The captivating conga player/vocalist, Hector Lugo, will bring Larry’s love and passion for Afro Cuban jazz to pinnacle heights on Dizzy Gillespie’s spirited “Manteca”.
“September Song”, “September in the Rain”, “Stairway to the Stars”, “Sweet Lorraine”, “Blue & Sentimental” among other standards will be interwoven throughout the concert.
“An embarrassment of riches!” Fred Adler
Tickets are available at Gualala Arts, Dolphin Gallery and EventBrite.com.