Jazz legend David Gonzalez invites Vallejo for 80th Birthday Celebration

Even with seven decades of jazz-playing to his name and a large portion of his musical influence stemming from his Latino heritage, David Gonzalez still prefers to simply call it jazz. Just jazz. “I've always been reluctant to do add-ons to the term `jazz', like smooth jazz, or any other inflections or influences — it's jazz!” he exclaimed. However, as he plans for his 80th birthday party at the Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum, Gonzalez is conscious of the fact that it won't be a hard-core jazz audience in attendance. “I want to sing music that everyone can have fun to, where they don't have to think about what they're hearing,” he said. They're coming to help me celebrate my birthday, he said. “So I'm not going to do Thelonious monk and scat for 94 bars,” Gonzalez joked. Born during World War II, the second-generation San Franciscan recalls a much different city in those days where ethnic groups tended to live in same areas, and sometimes even in the same flats as each other. Gonzalez was largely influenced by what was on the radio, describing himself and many other children of his generation as radio children. “We had to use our imagination,” Gonzalez remembers. “That helped me immensely, allowing me to imagine singing with the Count Basie Orchestra. It allowed me to imagine being in situations outside of where I existed at that time in my life.” Gonzalez cited his parents as the reason for his varied influences. “My mother and father were great aficionados of music,” he said, explaining that anything that swung that they could dance to. From Duke Ellington to Count Basie, his parents would play music constantly. While Gonzalez's parents were both fluent in Spanish, because they grew up in San Francisco they didn't have the dialect. However, the Mexican roots were still deeply embedded. From doo wop, to a capella, to madrigal and then finally to jazz, Gonzalez grew up finding himself musically only to land where it all started — jazz. When asked about the role his particular Latin influence brought to jazz, Gonzalez mentioned a passion that existed that was different from other jazz musicians of the time. In his professional career this even got confirmed by someone admitting that he operated “on another level.” “That is what distinguished us from others,” he said. In fact, commitment can help define Gonzalez's entire decade-spanning career. Reflecting on the years devoted to his craft, Gonzalez pulled a quote from David Ackert who said, “Musicians are willing to give their entire lives to a moment — to that melody, that lyric, that chord, or that interpretation that will stir the audience's soul.” Recounting a devastating time in his life when his mother died in 1967, Gonzalez saw that quote embodied by one of his favorite singers of all time. His friends had taken him to Las Vegas to get him away and it was there that he his hero, Sammy Davis Jr. “I saw what he did, the magic that he wove through the audience,” Gonzalez remembered. “They were captivated and it transformed me and brought me to a mindset where I thought, if he could do this to me, then wouldn't it be wonderful that I could do this for others?” In that moment Gonzalez saw Ackert's quote distilled into a single fact: it would be enough to help just one person going through what he was going through. All the sacrifices involved would be worth it. Gonzalez was so moved, he ended up writing Davis a letter thanking him, for which he received a response. “It was indicative of how genuine he was, the greatest performer of our time in my opinion,” Gonzalez remarked. As jazz continues to live on at the hands of newer generations, Gonzalez has been pleasantly surprised to see they remain true to the form. While the chemistry is not always there due to one person feeling they are better off going in their own direction, for the most part it's a respectful conversation. “Jazz is a conversation on stage, often with a sense of humor,” Gonzalez said. It's that very same humor that Gonzalez embraces when he considers “to bebop, or not to bebop” ahead of an upcoming show. As is the case with many seasoned performers, Gonzalez is attuned to the energy and dynamic of each venue. “I never do same, same, same,” he said, explaining that his sets always vary in theme, carrying on a mambo rhythm or sometimes something from the blues. “I do something that won't scare anybody. I just want them to react and tap their feet,” Gonzalez said. “Even if it's not a dance gig, I want to make people feel like even if there's no room they'll go crazy if they can't get up and move and dance,” he said, reminiscing on his earliest exposure to the genre that his parents would dance to. “Even if it's a ballad, it's got to swing. It's got to get to them somehow and hit an emotional note with them.” At its heart, the birthday celebration is a celebration of his mother and father, honoring them and the great pride they felt in his music. Reflecting on the four times he's held this celebration so far starting with his 40th birthday, Gonzalez is excited and grateful, saying how each new decade brings added significance.

IF YOU GO:

WHAT: Jazz at the ValMuse with David Gonzalez WHEN: Feb. 4, 3 — 6 p.m. WHERE : Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum, 734 Marin St. Vallejo. TICKETS: Tickets are $20 and can be purchased online at: www.eventbrite. com/e/jazz-at-the-valmusewith-david-gonzalez-tickets-795730961727