The Creative Sanctuary jazz folk are putting on another tribute to the greats at the Arcata Playhouse tonight at 7 p.m. This time it’s Duke Ellington and his tight collaborator Billy Strayhorn, author of the inimitable tune “Take the A-Train,” among many other classics. James Zeller, Katie Belknap and the usual suspects will be joined […]
James Zeller
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Music Tonight: Thursday, March 19
Northcoast Preparatory Academy is throwing a fundraiser for its music program at the Arcata Playhouse tonight at 6 p.m. Come through and check out some fantastic local talent — many of whom are educators themselves who have broken HumCo containment — including Jenny Scheinmann, James Zeller, Matt Rollings and John C. Wood. Tickets are $20 […]
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Fast Cars and Night Gardening
Spring hits the streets this week and the build-up in the air has been absolutely blooming with sensual ions and ozone for anyone with the right peepers. The forces of the Earth churn on through the wasteland detritus of human ambition and we can still feel and be animated by those primeval forces despite our […]
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Music Tonight: Sunday, Feb. 1
A slightly late birthday show for the late Brazilian composer Antonio Carlos Jobim, whowould have been 99 years old last Sunday had he not died 31 years ago as of Dec. 8,an infamous calendar day for musicians that also saw the deaths of John Lennon andDimebag Darrell — in different years, of course. Anyway, the […]
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Music Tonight: Monday, Dec. 29
There’s an important birthday to celebrate, and no, I’m not talking about my dear middle brother’s nativity marker yesterday. It’s bandleader, tromboner, music master, clownish pro and all-around great guy James Zeller’s birthday celebration at the Arcata Playhouse tonight at 7 p.m. Expect appearances from the roster of fantastic jazz musicians who have been entertaining […]
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Bah, Humbug
Until very recently, I considered using this space to write about the future, Christmas and otherwise, as a means of suggesting through gentle encouragement how we might collectively find a path through the detritus of the present. But now I find myself working remotely from the wrong side of some flooded roads, and what little […]
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Music Tonight: Friday, Nov. 14
The Arcata Playhouse is hosting the Writer’s Roundup Songwriter Showcase with Ruby Ruth George, Polimana, James Zeller and Fo Fera. The setup is fashioned after the popular Nashville — and elsewhere — style of rotating performances and storytelling, featuring a whole slew of genres from progfolk to jazz and country. These are some of the […]
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Music Tonight: Thursday, Aug. 21
The good folks at the Creative Sanctuary are continuing Homage to the Message, a chronological celebration of various satellite members of the Jazz Messengers. This installment is all about the tunes of trumpeter and composer Lee Morgan — gone too soon at the age of 33, when his girlfriend shot him between sets at an […]
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Music Tonight: Thursday, July 24
The Creative Sanctuary’s fine cadre of jazz musicians continues rolling along with their excellent series celebrating the various satellite musicians associated with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. Tonight’s gig at 7 p.m. at the Arcata Playhouse is a celebration of tenor sax player Benny Golson, whose brief stint with the Messengers produced the 1958 […]
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Music Tonight: Saturday, July 5
The Creative Sanctuary continues its Jazz is Peace series with an homage to one of my heroes and the father of some of the greatest music this country ever produced, from the Delta womb of all good American sounds, my spiritual home, New Orleans. I’m talking about Satchmo himself, Mr. Louis Armstrong, who would be […]
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Music Tonight: Saturday, June 28
The Creative Sanctuary presents another jazz show at the Arcata Playhouse tonight at 7 p.m., this one is a tribute to trumpeter and composer Kenny Dorham, a criminally underrated musician who died far too young and is perhaps most famous for his work with the early iteration of the Jazz Messengers. Co-producers James Zeller and […]