All Jazzed Up
Fall into Jazz Festival…
It’s been nearly a quarter-century since Redding last hosted a jazz festival, and a pair of jazz-loving musicians think that’s more than long enough.
Cleveland Boney, a pianist and music teacher, and Greg Takemoto, the saxophone-playing proprietor of Redding Music School, are excited to welcome music lovers to a daylong event they’re calling the Fall into Jazz Festival.
The festival will be held from noon to 7 pm Saturday, Nov. 16, at the I.O.O.F. Hall in downtown Redding. Featured performers include Soul Punch, VJQ, Sax Therapy, Victor and Allison, the Fourple Jazz Quartet and the Nala Kathleen Jazz Trio.
Takemoto says he used to enjoy the Shasta Dixieland Jazz Festival as a child and was disappointed it was no longer happening when he returned to Redding as an adult. (The festival, which attracted national and international bands to hotel ballrooms on Hilltop Drive, began in 1986 and ended in the early 1990s.) “Cleveland and I talked about it and this is our homage to it,” Takemoto says.
“This community has a genuine love for music, and it hasn’t seen such a diverse line up of jazz musicians and vocalists in one place like this in quite a few years,” says Boney, owner of Clevie B Good Music and co-owner of North State Music Lessons in Palo Cedro. “It’s time to rekindle that love – not just for lifelong jazz enthusiasts, but for those who are just getting to know the profound joy jazz music holds. Our hope is that Fall into Jazz will nurture a passion for jazz music in the next generation.”
Opening new ears to jazz “is a close personal thing for Greg and I, and Kim,” Boney says, referring to his wife, Kimberly Nicole Woods Boney, who hails from New Orleans. “It’s in our blood. Carmen McRae is my grandmother’s first cousin,” Boney adds. The late McRae is considered one of the most influential jazz vocalists of the 20th century.
Originating from a medley of cultures in the South, jazz is a uniquely American style of music and sparking an appreciation of it is one of the motivations for organizing the festival, Takemoto says. “Jazz is cool that way. It’s an American form of art,” he says.
Jazz also is versatile and full of opportunities for improvisation. One of the featured acts, VSJ, is a good example. The band came together when saxophonist Jeff Ervin, 73, met 19-year-old pianist Maxwell Gandy when both men joined the Shasta College jazz band in the fall of 2023.
The two discovered they shared a mutual love of jazz from before 1970 and began weekly jam sessions filled with classic tunes by Fats Waller, Cole Porter, Duke Ellington and others. To round out their sound, the pair added bassist Bruce Calin and Jesse Ajamian on drums. The quartet regularly performs at Kelly’s Pub and Wine Bar.
Boney and Takemoto can be heard together in a couple different combinations, including in the Fourple Jazz Quartet and the funk-oriented Soul Punch.
Fall into Jazz will also feature works by local artisans offering up vintage furniture and décor, fashion and jewelry as well as food, including charcuterie boards that can be picked up at the Fall into Jazz Snack Bar or ordered in advance. Festival organizers also are partnering with local restaurants near the I.O.O.F. Hall to offer discounts on meals that can be brought into the venue. Beer and wine will be available, as well. •
Fall into Jazz Festival
Noon to 7 pm Saturday, Nov. 16, at the I.O.O.F. Hall, 1504 Market St., Redding
(530) 988-8382
Tickets: $55 per person with limited seating,
$65, guaranteed seating
fallintojazz.wixsite.com/music
www.facebook.com/events/1299607658155104
