JAZZ FESTIVAL
Bill Saxton, Paul McCandless and a dozen other performers `tee up'
Last year, Essence RobersonMcCormick and husband Ken of T-Up Mini Golf made a dream come true, and this year that dream has blossomed and the couple are sharing it with the community.
Legendary jazz saxophonist, composer and band leader Bill Saxton came to Ukiah last year to celebrate the opening of the couple's new business — an indoor mini-golf course, lounge and more. The standing-roomonly crowd was awestruck by Saxton, who performed with Ukiah's local legend Paula Samonte.
“We were stunned by the turnout and Bill's performance was so amazing that people were leaving the building in tears,” says Essence, T-Up's owner.
The couple decided to invite Saxton back to Ukiah. He will be performing at T-Up-`s Jazz Fest on Saturday, March 2, but along with Saxton and Samonte, 14 other local and internationally recognized musicians will be performing at what may be inland Ukiah's first official jazz festival. The event marks the second anniversary of the business, which offers mini golfing, virtual reality gaming, snacks, a seasonally changing “escape room” and a “speakeasy” lounge for the grownups.
“Bill and Paula have been working closely with us to formulate this Jazz Fest,” says TUp's general manager Ken McCormick. “We came up with the idea of a line-up with a larger set of Northern California musicians and artists to play with Bill. We have Mendocino, Sonoma and Lake county legends — all performing at the same place at same time.”
Following graduation from the New England Conservatory of Music, Bill Saxton traveled the world, performing and recording with luminaries like Roy Haynes, Jackie McLean, Clark Terry, Nancy Wilson, the Duke Ellington Orchestra, the Count Basie Orchestra, Carmen McRae, Tito Puente and many more.
An honorary recipient during the White House's Black Music Month, Saxton was inducted as a Jazz Legend at the Library of Music at New York's Lincoln Center. He recently received a proclamation from New York State Senator Cordell Cleare for his exemplary service to the community and the preservation of “Bill's Place,” his historic speakeasy that was once the after-hours hangout of everyone from Moms Mabley and Duke Ellington to Langston Hughes.
Paula Samonte is Mendocino County's own. Singing since she was a child, the performer and instructor has been in more shows and musicals than one could count. She has sung with the Ukiah and Lake County Symphony, The Mendocino College Jazz and Concert Bands and represented women in jazz for the Donne in Música Foundation in Rome. She was a featured artist at a gala event for the Christopher Reeve Foundation and has been a national promotions director for Paul Winter Consort and the Narada record label, where she worked with Billboard Magazine and other industry publications on behalf of the artists she represented.