Arts and Culture
It’s Blues Sunday at Art + Soul Main Stage
Oakland’s beloved 19th annual Art+ Soul festival, held in the heart of the downtown area on July 27 and 28, will feature a range of musical talent on its stages. A family fun event, it will include a dance contest, marketplace of artisans and food for every appetite, from down-home barbecue to world class fusion cuisine.
Oakland welcomes home two-time Grammy® winner Fantastic Negrito who co-headlines along with Grammy® winning R&B artist Estelle.
A newly established Emerging Artists Stage dedicated to the late Victor McElhaney will feature artists on both days.
There will be hundreds of handcrafted art and artifacts at the festival’s annual Artisan Marketplace; a huge Family Fun Zone jam-packed with interactive arts, carnival, bouncy houses and more; scores of food vendors cooking up everything; plus beer, wine and specialty cocktails featuring Effen Vodka, a festival sponsor (21 & over).
Last week in the Post, we featured the events of Sat. July 27. This week we focus on the performers and activities of the last day of the festival, July 28, with all blues all day on the main stage.
Fantastic Negrito
When you listen to Fantastic Negrito, you’re invited to hear the story of life after destruction. Each song is a real story about a musician from Oakland who experienced the highs of a million-dollar record deal, the lows of a near-fatal car accident, and is now in the midst of a rebirth that took him from the streets of Oakland to the Grammy® stage.
While playing on the streets of Oakland in 2014, Fantastic Negrito won the inaugural NPR Tiny Desk contest. In 2016, he released his debut album, ‘The Last Days of Oakland,’ which went on to win a Grammy® for Best Contemporary Blues Album. And this year he won his second Grammy® in the same category, for his critically acclaimed release ‘Please Don’t Be Dead.’
West Coast Blues Society
Firing up the stage for Oakland’s newest Blues star will be the West Coast Blues Society annual festival showcase with veteran musicians Ira Walker, Fillmore Slim, Willie G., Terrible Tom, Bobby Young, Jock Shock, and Karl Bracy; Oakland Blues Divas featuring Baby Bee, De Jeana, Margie, Xymphoni, and Earnestine; as well as a tribute to the legendary Johnny “Guitar” Watson.!
Jazz Mafia Returns!
Jazz Mafia brought it to the 2018 festival with an eclectic, rousing lineup of top local talent, and this year promises to be another amazing show. The jazz collective’s stage will come alive with Heaviest Feather featuring TNT (Trance Thompson, Tym Brown & Nataly Wright), Jazz Mafia Bay Revue – a 10-piece band featuring guest vocalists/MCs including Tiffany Austin, Mani Draper, Ryan Nicole, Deuce Eclipse, Aima the Dreamer, and Dakini Star; Jazz Mafia Choral Syndicate directed by Trance Thompson ─ a 20-piece All-Star Funk/Soul/ Gospel Chorus, plus Hive, a group of vocalists/music educators making music with just their voices and some crazy sound effects. DJ Lady Fingaz.
Art + Soul Oakland 2019 takes place in downtown Oakland Saturday, July 27 and Sunday, July 28, from noon to 6 p.m., centered in Frank H. Ogawa Plaza. Advance tickets are available for purchase online for just $12 Adults and $6 Seniors (65 & older). Save even more with two-day tickets available through advance purchase only. At the door, admission will be $15 Adults and $9 Seniors (65 & older). Ages 18 and under enjoy free admission (no ticket required).
Art + Soul Oakland 2019 is Northern California’s most accessible festival with direct service via both BART’s 12th Street City Center station and AC Transit, in addition to $5 parking in the adjacent City Center West Garage, 12th Street at Martin Luther King Jr., Way. Free attended bicycle parking will be available (please bring your own lock).
Art + Soul Oakland 2019 is produced by Heart of the Town Events in association with the City of Oakland and Oakland Central.
For tickets and information, including the complete 2019 lineup, visit Art + Soul Oakland
Arts and Culture
Kedrick Armstrong: New Music Director for the Oakland Symphony
The Oakland Symphony Announced Kedrick Armstrong as its Next Music Director. In addition to conducting the orchestra’s public concerts, Armstrong will also actively participate in the Oakland Symphony’s many education and community engagement programs, designed to inspire a love of music in people of all ages.
By Post Staff
The Oakland Symphony Announced Kedrick Armstrong as its Next Music Director.
In addition to conducting the orchestra’s public concerts, Armstrong will also actively participate in the Oakland Symphony’s many education and community engagement programs, designed to inspire a love of music in people of all ages.
Armstrong is the successor to previous music director and Conductor Michael Morgan, who passed away in 2021 after a 30-year tenure at the Symphony.
Armstrong will open the Oakland Symphony 2024-2025 season on October 18.
Armstrong, who is 29 and hails from Georgetown, South Carolina, is currently the creative partner and principal conductor of the Knox-Galesburg Symphony.
The Chicago Tribune has praised Armstrong for his ability to “simply let the score speak for itself.” He enjoys a wide range of repertoire, spanning early music to premiering new works, using his joy and curiosity for all music to cultivate understanding and collaboration within diverse communities.
“I am deeply honored and grateful for the opportunity to serve as the new music director of the Oakland Symphony,” Armstrong said. “As a Black conductor, I find it humbling to stand on the shoulders of both Michael Morgan and Calvin Simmons,” the most recent and the first African American music directors of the Symphony, respectively.
Armstrong led three programs at the Symphony between 2022 and early 2024, which showcased his broad knowledge of the classical repertoire and enthusiasm for spotlighting diverse voices.
On his Oakland Symphony subscription debut on Feb. 16, Armstrong led the world premiere of “Here I Stand: Paul Robeson,” an oratorio by Carlos Simon on a libretto by Dan Harder, commissioned by the Oakland Symphony.
Armstrong was selected unanimously by the Oakland Symphony’s board of directors and musicians after an extensive two-year search. “The search committee was overwhelmed by Kedrick’s scholarship and curiosity about all kinds of music, from classical and jazz to gospel and hip-hop,” said. Dr. Mieko Hatano, executive director of the Oakland Symphony. “We are thrilled to have him join us at the Oakland Symphony.”
Arts and Culture
Faces Around the Bay Dr. Carl Blake, Pianist
Born in Liberty, Missouri, Carl Blake, a virtuoso and respected pianist, made his most recent migration to the East Bay in 1999. One might have seen him performing recently at Noontime Concerts in San Francisco, or at the Piedmont Center for the Arts in Oakland. He is Director of Music at The Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples in San Francisco. He was also co-organizer and collaborative pianist at Herbst Theater for The Majesty of the Spirituals concert in 2022 and has held several church positions in the Bay Area.
By Barbara Fluhrer
Born in Liberty, Missouri, Carl Blake, a virtuoso and respected pianist, made his most recent migration to the East Bay in 1999.
One might have seen him performing recently at Noontime Concerts in San Francisco, or at the Piedmont Center for the Arts in Oakland. He is Director of Music at The Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples in San Francisco. He was also co-organizer and collaborative pianist at Herbst Theater for The Majesty of the Spirituals concert in 2022 and has held several church positions in the Bay Area.
Blake obtained a Bachelor of Music from Boston University and continued post-baccalaureate studies in Jamaica before earning a Master of Arts in Music at San Jose State University. He was the recipient of two Fulbright residencies in Honduras and completed a third residency at the University of St. Petersburg in Russia. He has a Doctor of Musical Arts from Cornell University.
At age 19, Blake, then an undergraduate piano major at Boston University, was “discovered” by Impresario Dr. W. Hazaiah Williams, who is the Founder and Director of Today’s Artists/Four Seasons Arts.
Williams honored Blake by awarding him the first Marian Anderson Young Artist Award. Anderson personally presented the award at the Masonic Auditorium in S.F. Subsequently, Blake was presented by Dr. Williams in his San Francisco debut at The Herbst Theatre. Williams subsidized a year of study abroad for Blake at the Paris Conservatory of Music. Additionally, Williams sponsored Blake’s New York Weill Hall debut, where he has performed twice since. Blake performed several times at the Yachats Music Festival in Oregon.
Blake continues to perform nationally and abroad. His hobbies are reading, baking and travel. He says, “I’m still pumping ivories, as Belgian pianist Jeanne Stark described the disciplined practice of concert piano.”
Arts and Culture
Oakland Jazz Great Offers Master Class as City Declares “John Handy Day”
World-renowned jazz master saxophonist John Handy, a McClymond’s High School graduate, was presented with a Mayor of Oakland Proclamation declaring Feb. 12, as John Handy Day in the city. Handy is most notably known as the featured saxophonist for Charles Mingus on “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat” from the album “Mingus Ah Um” (1959) and on “Hard Work” from his own album “Hard Work” (1976).
By Conway Jones
World-renowned jazz master saxophonist John Handy, a McClymond’s High School graduate, was presented with a Mayor of Oakland Proclamation declaring Feb. 12, as John Handy Day in the city.
Handy is most notably known as the featured saxophonist for Charles Mingus on “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat” from the album “Mingus Ah Um” (1959) and on “Hard Work” from his own album “Hard Work” (1976).
“John Handy is a jazz icon and an inspiration to musicians everywhere,” said Ayo Brame, a 16-year-old Oakland tenor saxophone player who is enrolled at the Oakland School for the Arts.
In celebration of this day, the reception in downtown Oakland at Geoffrey’s Inner Circle was a gathering of artists, young and old, coming together in his honor and celebrating his 91st birthday.
Handy presented a Saxophone Colossus free masterclass for musicians. This class afforded a rare opportunity to learn about the saxophone from an aficionado. The class was free and open to all – saxophonists, vocalists, aficionados, students, and casual listeners.
“As a longtime friend for over 60 years, and fellow musician who has had numerous opportunities to share the stage with John, it has always been a pleasure performing with him and hearing his creative interpretations of the music and his gift of ease inspiring the next generation of jazz musicians,” said Roger Glenn, a multi-instrumentalist.
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