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Gualala Arts
Promoting public interest and participation in the arts since 1961.
Archive of past events: 2004 through 2014
Phoenix has been offering Italian cuisine and country comfort food since 2004. The colorful dinner house appeals to locals and visitors and serves Wednesday through Sunday from 5:00 - 9:00 p.m. The restaurant is also available for private events. The restaurant has hosted other live music events and is pleased to be part of this year's Whale & Jazz Festival. Regular menu; no cover charge. Beer & wine bar. Dining reservations recommended. (707) 882-1619 Jazz ArtistsKai Devitt-Lee, guitarist
Kai was selected as one of fourteen high-school jazz musicians in the world for the Brubeck Institute Summer Jazz Colony at the University of the Pacific, the one guitarist in the country chosen for the Jazz Band of America at the Music for All festival in Indianapolis, the California Band Directors Association All-State Jazz Band, the California Association for Music Education Northern California Honors Jazz Band, as well as the SFJAZZ High-School All-Stars. He performs regularly around the bay area with different groups, and has participated in the Stanford Jazz Residency and Jazz Camp West. He was also awarded a Nor Bay award under "Best Jazz Band in the North Bay" by the Bohemian. He has studied jazz with Randy Vincent, Toninho Horta, Peter Bernstein, Jeff Burr, Bruce Forman, Steve Homan, and Julian Lage; flamenco with Alfredo Caceres and Mark Taylor; and classical with George Sakellariou and Robert Brown.
For three consecutive years, Kai has taught the Healdsburg High School Jazz Band, which included arranging, theory instruction, organizing, and overall management. He has also taught jazz workshops at Bishop O'Dowd School in Oakland and at Healdsburg Junior High, as well as guitar technique at Healdsburg High. Kai was the recipient of a grant from Flamenco Universal in 2009, and currently has an endorsement deal from Ribbecke Guitars.
Chris Doering, guitar
Keith Abrams, acoustic bass guitar
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Phoenix Restaurant's owner and chef, John Teel, works each evening to recreate the flavors he enjoyed at the neighborhood restaurants of his San Francisco childhood. John developed his love of classic Italian cuisine in the family-run restaurants of North Beach.
John's wife and partner, Paula May, specializes in desserts of classic Italian cooking and derives inspiration from the flavors of the season.
Kai Devitt-Lee was born in 1993 in Rhinebeck, New York, and raised in Sonoma County, California. He began studying piano at age eight, and discovered the guitar at age eleven. Since the age of twelve, Kai has performed guitar and piano around the country, including at the Jazz Education Network Conference in New Orleans, the San Francisco Jazz Festival and the Healdsburg Jazz Festival.
A recent migrant to the Mendonoma coast, Chris Doering, dropped his piano studies and picked up the guitar soon after the Beatles appeared on Ed Sullivan. He has been playing and practicing ever since, moving from blues, rock and funk into jazz via lessons with Pat Martino, Dave Friesen and Warne Marsh along with academic studies in music theory. Christian's versatility as a guitarist has allowed him to play also for Romance & Jazz, Brunch & Jazz, Poetry & Jazz. This year Doering will appear at:
An instigator since junior high school days, Abrams was told by his principal that he had much "unrealized potential." Having the music of Monk, Miles, Brubeck, Django, etc. indelibly imprinted on his young mind, he has been working to fulfill that potential ever since. Providing relentless pulse and breathing precious life and vitality into the classic musical themes of our time, Abrams lives by the premise that whatever musical phenomenon comes his way must have been sent to him by the greatest creative force for him to apply tender loving care. He gives thanks every day for Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Muddy Waters, John Coltrane, James Brown, Bob Marley and all the rest. Abrams will perform at four events in the 2011 Whale & Jazz Festival: