SFJazz gala celebrates the Big Easy
The Big Easy marched down the aisles of SFJazz Center and wafted through the tree-lined streets of Hayes Valley, drowning out the typical sounds of San Francisco with trumpets, trombones and tubas on Thursday, Feb. 1.
It was SFJazz’s annual gala, but this year it was a celebration of New Orleans music, with the Southern city’s heart and soul, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, at the center to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award.
Thursday’s gala was the first time SFJazz has chosen another institution as the recipient of its coveted honor. In the past, Dizzy Gillespie, Herbie Hancock and Joni Mitchell have accepted the honors. “We wanted to recognize an institution that came before us,” SFJazz CEO Don Derheim explained. “In many ways, we can model their authenticity.”
Gala chairs Del Anderson Handy and her husband, Grammy-nominated musician John Handy, co-hosted an elaborate VIP dinner for SFJazz patrons on the second floor of the organization’s stunning $64 million building at Franklin and Fell streets. Downstairs, a more casual crowd sampled fried chicken sliders and tater tots.
Musicians from the High School All-Stars jammed before the night’s main event, a two-hour whirlwind musical tour of New Orleans jazz and Preservation Hall’s immense impact on its culture.
“This is one of the greatest rooms in the country for live sound,” said Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah. The New Orleans native, also a Grammy-nominated musician, joined Ellis Marsalis, Terence Blanchard, Pedrito Martinez, Chucho Valdés and Daymé Arocena on SFJazz’s stage for what was probably a once-ina-lifetime show.
The all-female Original Pinettes Brass Band kicked off the performance by marching down the stairs of the amphitheater, blasting brass. Guests had been given white handkerchiefs embroidered with the gala’s logo and — as is custom — whipped them in the air to the music.
The Preservation Hall Jazz Band served almost as the night’s house band, with its musicians staying on or around the stage for much of the evening. Founded in 1961, the tiny New Orleans group and its rotating lineup of musicians have endured and survived — including literal hurricanes. History and soul is palpable in their music, from slower numbers like “Santiago” to one of the night’s rousing closing pieces, “Keep Your Head Up.”
Poet Saul Williams’ spokenword piece was another standout of the night, a powerful reminder that jazz and social justice are intertwined.
Even after the headliners left the stage, the music played on. Guests were encouraged — in between trips to the bar and bites of “gourmet Ho Hos” — to stick around for more live music, even more jazz.
The night was a success, raising $1.2 million for SFJazz’s arts and education programs. In fact, thanks to its fundraising efforts, the organization will bring jazz education to every public middle school in San Francisco and Oakland, introducing a new generation to the improvisational magic of jazz music and the inherently American story of jazz history.
“Music,” Williams urged his rapt audience, “is a conversation that lessens the complications.”
A thousand white handkerchiefs waved in agreement.