Eight-time Grammy Award-winning composer, trumpeter and band leader Terence Blanchard, named SFJazz’s executive artistic director in 2023, is on a mission to revamp the San Francisco Jazz Festival to better serve the Jazz Center’s Hayes Valley area.
“We’ve tried to bring together a roster of people that we thought people could learn from and enjoy and hopefully create a vibe in the neighborhood to give back to the community,” Blanchard says, adding, “With the festival in the past, 40 concerts were held in the building, and what we want to do is expand that out into our neighborhood.”
His vision is being fulfilled with the 42nd San Francisco Jazz Festival on June 13-15, with 35 concerts in the seated Miner Auditorium and standing-room Joe Henderson Lab inside the center and in a new, nearby standing-room tent. Also on tap: a street market with food, wine and beer vendors, a vinyl record swap, book and zine merchants and a local artists’ market.
The festival kicks off at noon Friday with a free outdoor concert on Octavia between Hayes and Fell streets featuring past and present members SFJazz High School All-Stars and students in the San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s Roots, Jazz & American Music Program.
The Friday lineup offers SFJazz Collective with singer Kurt Elling in a world premiere; Don Was and the Pan-Detroit Ensemble; the Charles Lloyd Sky Quartet with pianist Jason Moran, double bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Eric Harland in Miner Auditorium; singer Sachal Vasandani and alto-saxophonist and singer Braxton Cook in the Joe Henderson Lab; and, in the tent: multi-instrumentalist Salami Rose Joe Louis; guitarist-quartet Mark Lettieri Group; drummer, producer and rapper Kassa Overall; and saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin and the Phoenix Quartet.
Appearing Saturday are singer-actor-playwright Somi; trumpeter Nicholas Payton; Grammy-winning vocalist Lisa Fischer and progressive rock/jazz fusion band Grand Baton; bassist Stanley Clarke and pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba in Miner Auditorium; with the Jahari Stampley Family Trio and the New Jazz Underground band in Joe Henderson Lab. The electro-acoustic jazz group SML; Theo Croker Quartet; Zig Zag Power Trio with guitarist Vernon Reid, bassist Melvin Gibbs and drummer Will Calhoun; and brass ensemble Soul Rebels play the tent.
On tap Sunday are pianist Orrin Evans’ Trio; pianist Sullivan Fortner and trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire; bassist Dave Holland and guitarist and vocalist Lionel Loueke; and pianist Patrice Rushen in Miner Auditorium; singer Tyreek McDole and trumpeter Tatiana Tate in Joe Henderson Lab, and, in the tent, trumpeter Brandon Woody’s Upendo; the Kiefer Trio; spiritual musician Idris Ackamoor and the Ankhestra; and Afro-Cuban fusion artist Cimafunk.
The festival showcases both established and up-and-coming musicians: “Patrice Rushen is really a pioneer of her kind, and you look at Ambrose Akinmusire and Tatiana Tate, these other young people that come along—giving them the platform to do their thing, it’s something that’s really powerful for me,” says Blanchard, who will appear as an artist-at-large throughout the festival.
Blanchard, originally from New Orleans, succeeds SFJazz founder Randall Kline as director, and gives props to him for keeping the largest nonprofit presenter of jazz in the world a local concern.
“Kline has been dedicated to the Bay Area since well before SFJazz. I remember doing concerts with him at various halls all around San Francisco, so that makes sense,” says Blanchard, whose 2021 premiere “Fire Shut Up in My Bones” marked the first time the Metropolitan Opera presented a work by a Black composer.
Still, Blanchard would like SFJazz to serve not only the Bay Area. He says, “Our intention is to make this more of a global festival, where people will want to come and play.”
He also wants SFJazz to be a “conduit for the world” with its digital services and archives.
“We’re archiving everything from 1980 all the way up to the present,” he says. There’s a vast array of music videos and audio for people to research and learn from. I don’t think anybody can match that, what we’re doing when it comes to current music and musicians who are creating now.”
Like other nonprofits, SFJazz is supported by ticket sales, donations and grants. Despite the Trump administration’s recent decision to cut a $30,000 National Endowment for the Arts grant, Blanchard remains undaunted about the organization’s mission.
“I’m not going to let someone else’s ignorance … deter me from helping not only to develop artists but also to do service to the community,” he says. “Art is supposed to make you feel inspired and it’s supposed to make you feel uncomfortable at times. What we’re trying to do at SFJazz is to allow artists to be themselves, to present their music to a community and let the community decide.”
The San Francisco Jazz Festival runs 2-9 p.m. June 13 and 1-10 p.m. June 14-15 at the SFJazz Center; 201 Franklin St., and the Festival Tent and Outdoor Festival Street Market, 110 Franklin St., San Francisco. Find tickets ($50-$650; 12 and under free) at sfjazz.org.
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