The 2012 Fillmore Jazz Festival

The West Coast’s largest free jazz festival returns this summer with a weekend of live music, gourmet food and local arts and crafts.  On Saturday and Sunday, July 7 & 8, the 28th Annual Fillmore Jazz Festival, on Fillmore Street between Jackson and Eddy, will showcase the Bay Area’s most talented musicians across the full spectrum of jazz music accompanied by a festival infused with the local flavors and culture of San Francisco’s historic Fillmore District.

This year’s festival will feature more than two dozen bands performing on three different stages, including a heartfelt tribute to Etta James performed each afternoon on the California Street Stage by Kim Nalley, one of the Bay Area’s most acclaimed jazz and blues vocalists. Other performers on the California Street Stage include Radio Jazz, Foxtails Brigade, the Mark Rapp Group, the Contemporary Jazz Orchestra, Venissa Santi, and the Michael Orenstein Group presented by The Jazzschool.

The Sutter Street – Beyond Stage will feature the best of Bay Area’s world music performers. Saturday’s line-up will feature Dana Leong, the West Africa Hi Life Band, and Locura; while Sunday will focus on Latin-infused jazz music featuring Homengem Brasileira Feminina, Jai Uttal and the Queen of Hearts Orchestra, Yaelisa Y Caminos Flamencos, and the Hip Spanic Allstars.

The Eddy Street Stage will feature a wide variety of the Bay Area’s favorite Blues and R&B performers, including Carlos Zalcito, Dwight Carrier, Bobbie Webb and the Smooth Blues Band Show featuring Vinnie Florres and Paul Palizzola (a.k.a. Paul from the Streets), The King Brothers, Consonance, Jaye & Friends, Scary Larry 8 Piece Band, Coltrain and Sister Monica.

From sunup to sundown, the Fillmore Jazz Festival is a celebration of art and soul right in the heart of San Francisco.  Each year, the Fillmore Jazz Festival attracts more than 90,000 jazz aficionados and music lovers from all over the Bay Area to celebrate and enjoy a rich musical tradition of live jazz, rhythm and blues, and gospel while taking in the diverse local culture and cuisine of the storied Fillmore area. 

The Fillmore Jazz Festival offers twelve blocks of music, fine arts and crafts, gourmet food and beverages. Art and crafts include photography, painting, woodwork, metalwork, jewelry, pottery, clothing, hats, and children’s toys – over 200 artists and craftsmen.  Delicious “street food” includes oysters, calamari, fish & chips, grilled chicken, BBQ pork, jambalaya, tri-tip and organic fruits and veggies accompanied by fine wine and beer.

The Fillmore Jazz Festival is hosted by the Fillmore Street Merchants and Improvement Association and produced by Steven Restivo Event Services. Special thanks to our sponsors, including Armstrong Installation Service, ZipCar, TANG Newspaper Marketing Group/San Francisco Chronicle, Xfinity-Comcast, Provident Credit Union, AT&T Advertising Solutions, Summerwinds Resorts/Midvest Equities/Hot Springs Resort & Spa, Stage Active Brand Marketing/Jadot, Renewal by Andersen Bay Area, Polk Audio inc, Bath Fitter, San Francisco Giants, RMD Group, Bay Home & Window, American Laser Skin Care, KBLX, Ellis Eye,

Getaround, Ride the Ducks, Inspira Marketing Group/Maille Mustard, Alcone/Wonka, RedPeg Marketing/GEICO, On the Avenue Marketing- NY Times, San Francisco magazine.

28th Annual Fillmore Jazz Festival –
The West Coast’s Largest Free Jazz Festival Returns
July 7 & 8, 2012 from 10am – 6pm

Featuring Kim Nalley in a Special Tribute to Etta James,
Jai Uttal, The King Brothers, and Many More for Two Days of Music, Food and Art


WHAT:    28th Annual Fillmore Jazz Festival –
The West Coast’s Largest Free Jazz Festival Returns
Twelve blocks of music, fine arts and crafts, gourmet food and beverages.

WHERE:     Fillmore Street, between Jackson and Eddy, San Francisco

WHEN:    Saturday, July 7 and Sunday, July 8
        10am to 6pm

LINE-UP:   
   
SATURDAY, JULY 7 

California Street Stage:
10:00 - 11:00:    Radio Jazz
11:35 - 12:45:     Foxtails Brigade
1:15 - 2:25:     TSP: The Song Project
2:55 - 4:00:    Contemporary Jazz Orchestra
4:30 - 6PM:    Kim Nalley - Dedicated to Etta James


Sutter Street Stage - Beyond Stage    
10:00 - 11:30:    Dana Leong
12:00 - 1:30:    West African Hi Life Band
2:10 - 3:40:    Locura
4:15 - 6:00:    Jai Uttal and the Queen of Hearts Orchestra

Eddy Street Stage    
10:00 - 11:00:    Carlos Zalcito - (R & B)
12:00 - 1:30:    Dwight Carrier - (Blues Zydeco)
2:00 - 4:00:    Bobbie Webb & The Smooth Blues Band Show (Featuring) Vinnie Florres and Paul Palizzola a.k.a Paul From The Streets
4:30 - 6:00:    The King Brothers

O'Farrell Street Stage Dance Floor
12:00 - 12:30:     Lesson by Swing U (no partner & no experience needed)
12:30 - 2:30:    Dance floor with DJ's by Swing U
2:30 - 3:00:     Lesson by Swing U (no partner & no experience needed)
3:00 - 6:00:     Dancing continues with guest DJ's and bands to be added by Swing U at SFSwingFest.com


SUNDAY, JULY 8

California Street Stage    
10:00 - 11:15:    Jazzschool Presents Michael Orenstein Group
11:45 - 1:15:    Venissa Santi
1:45 - 3:30:    Norbert Stachel and Electric Forecast featuring Ray Obiedo
4:00 - 6:00:    Kim Nalley - Dedicated to Etta James
   
Sutter Street Stage - Beyond Stage    
10:00 - 11:15:    Homenagem Brasileira Feminina
11:50 - 1:30:    Jai Uttal and the Queen of Hearts Orchestra
2:10 - 3:40:    Yaelisa Y Caminos Flamencos
4:15 - 6:00:    Hip Spanic Allstars
   
Eddy Street Stage    
10:00 - 11:00:    Consonance - (Gospel)
11:30 - 12:30:    Jaye & Friends From The Fillmore- (R & B)
1:00 - 2:00:    Scary Larry & The Monster- (R & B)
2:30 - 3:30:    Coltrane- (Jazz)
4:00 - 6:00:    Sista Monica

O'Farrell Street Stage Dance Floor
12:00 - 12:30:     Lesson by Swing U (no partner & no experience needed)
12:30 - 2:30:     Dance floor with DJ's by Swing U
2:30 - 3:00:     Pin-up, Lindy & any-swing-goes Jack & Jill contest by Swing U
3:00 - 6:00:     Dancing continues with guest DJ's and bands to be added by Swing U at SFSwingFest.com

TICKETS:    The Fillmore Jazz Festival is FREE and open to the public

INFO:        Call 800-310-6563 or visit FillmoreJazzFestival.com

John Moremen's Flotation Device Comes to the Make Out Room

John Moremen is almost impossible to explain. A session-man, side-man, band leader and collaborator extraordinaire, the San Francisco musician has recorded with experimentalists Half Japanese and MX-80, backed legendary Flamin' Groovies front man Roy Loney, written with The Minus Five's Scott McCaughey and fronted his own bands. And that's alongside over a decade as a member of Bay Area popsters, The Orange Peels, first as their drummer and now as their lead guitarist. Yet none of that explains what he does on "Flotation Device," where he navigates surf, NRBQ-esque roots rock and Monk-like bop with a deft hand.

In the spring of 2011, Moremen started working on some instrumentals for fun, but over the course of a few months found himself completing over 20 songs. After each one was finished, Moremen would post them online as a work in progress.

"I was kind of going back to something I did when I was in my teens, where I would come up with these instrumentals and then as quickly as possible, sit down and record the drums, guitar and bass. The whole process from writing to recording was almost instantaneous," Moremen says. "It was a routine I had and it was a really fun thing for me and I wanted to tap into that again."

Soon friends and fellow musicians were asking whether he was actually making an album. Working with producer (and Orange Peels band mate) Allen Clapp, the two mixed, mastered and sequenced fifteen of the songs into "Flotation Device."

"John is too ridiculously talented. Everyone knows this," Clapp says. "Flotation Device is like what it must be like inside John's head: Thelonious Monk, Robert Fripp, Jimmy Page all hanging out on the San Francisco coast..."

Performing all the instrumental parts on this album, Moremen freely navigates between drums, bass and guitar while never losing sight of the end goal: songs that move, shake and rattle with palpable energy. From "Stay Inside," which refers to his theory about listening and learning music to "Outta Here," motivated by the homerun call of San Francisco Giants announcer Duane Kuiper, while "Skybar" is a little musical candy bar with its separate sections. Call it 21st century mood music; call it a West-Coast guitar freak-out; call it what you will —Moremen is entirely at home in the grooves of this album.

John Moremen's Flotation Device
with Chris Xefos-bass, Ian Robertson-guitar, Adam Symons-drums
Friday, June 8th @The Make Out Room
w/ The Hollyhocks
3325 22nd Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
@ 7:30 pm, 21+