After a gala week of big-name delights, SFJAZZ turns the spotlight on Bay Area performers this week as it continues to celebrate the opening of it's grand new performance-plus space.
All shows start at 7:30 and cost $25:
- Thursday is devoted to large ensembles, as the Jazz Mafia capo Adam Theis' Realistic Orchestra, the Montclair Women's Big Band and the SFJAZZ High School All-Stars Orchestra live large.
- Jazz vocal wonders Paula West, Kim Nalley and Jamie Davis, plus iconclast Dan Hicks (not normally a guy for whom "crooner" springs to mind) have fun with Gershwin tunes on Friday, backed by the Marcus Shelby Quarter. $25
- Pianist, educator and all-around jazz dynamo Rebeca Mauleon gets her cha-cha-chas out Saturday with the Afro-Kuban Fusion ensemble, preceded by Jackeline Rago's Venezuelan-jazz hybrid VNote Ensemble.
- Sunday is swing time, as jump-jazz heroes Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers and jazz ala Django delight the Hot Club of San Francisco cut loose.
Also worth noting on the Bay Area jazz calendar this week:
- Influential fusion drummer Billy Cobham raises the roof with the latest version of his Spectrum group, 8 and 10 p.m. Monday at Yoshi's Oakland. $25-$30
- Lewis Jordan, Rent Romus and other Bay Area iconclasts celebrate the music of free jazz innovator Albert Ayler, 8 p.m. Wednesday at Swarm Gallery in Oakland.
- Stanley Jordan, one of the most influential and jaw-droppingly nimble guitarists of the fusion era, performs a solo show, 8 p.m. Thursday at Yoshi's Oakland. $20
- Consummate pianist Dick Whittington augments his trio with agile saxophonist Andrew Speight for an 8 p.m. Friday performance at Berkeley's Jazzschool. $15-$20
- The Cartoon Jazz Orchestra plays tunes from toons, 7:30 p.m. Friday in the Tressider Student Union at Stanford. Free!
- Pianist, club jazz icon and free spirit Marco Benevento gets his groove on, 9 p.m. Saturday at the Independent. $16
- Versatile vocalist Rhonda Benin sings and swings with her quartet, 8 p.m. Saturday at Berkeley's Jazzschool. $12-$15
- Hard-working, hard-swinging bassist Marcus Shelby convenes his orchestra and knockout singers Faye Carol, Kellye Gray and Ed Reed for a salute to Duke Ellington, 8 p.m. Sunday at Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse in Berkeley. $24.50-$26.50
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