west coast arts foundation

A new WCAF project is on the horizon, Fickle Forest Fairytales. Fickle Forest Fairytales is a movie and series for television, created by Margot. The opening episode is an 88 minute original, musical adaptation of Peter and the Wolf and the precursor to our series, titled A Wolf’s Tale. Members of WCAF’S scholarship program have been encouraged to participate in the production.Kiki Lam is a fairy in West Coast Arts production of A Wolf’s Tale.

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When the Storybook Opens! The Magic Begins!

Fickle Forest Fairytales is a one hour, weekly series packed with innovative episodes that entertain while educating the viewing audience. Each week our host, Allie and puppet side kicks; Beanie and Lumpy take a look at folklore and fairytales from around the world. Fairytales from Africa, India, Mexico, China, Latin America, Europe and Native American folklore, come to life each week.

THE SAN FRANCISCO CHAMBER JAZZ QUARTET CELEBRATES NEW CD IN CONCERT AT WEST END STUDIO THEATRE SATURDAY, NOV. 26, 8 PM
$15.00 at the door
$35.00 for families
For tickets and information
please call 415-453-0552

GINI WILSON (The Duchess) and THE SAN FRANCISCO
CHAMBER JAZZ QUARTET
Klobas •Wilson •Heckman •Marabuto

Gini Wilson

Join the acclaimed San Francisco Chamber Jazz Quartet -- co-founders Gini Wilson on piano and reedman Steve Heckman, along with Pat Klobas on bass, Ron Marabuto on drums, Badr Karram on dumbek - as they celebrate the release of their second CD "SFCJQ" in a long-awaited Marin concert at 8 p.m. on Saturday, November 26 at the West End Studio Theatre, 1554 4th Street (between E and F) in San Rafael, CA. Tickets are $15.00 at the door, $35.00 for families. For tickets and information, please call 415-453-0552 or go to www.westcoastarts.org.

Their new self-titled CD, out August 23 on Music Wizards, is an intensely lyrical, richly varied program featuring some of the most arresting and creative chamber jazz they have written to date. It's earning high praise from critics and the public alike.

SFCJQ showcases music written by Klobas, Wilson, Heckman, Mussorgsky, as well as a bossa nova by Amandio Cabral. These compositions reflect musical influences ranging from classical music to world music and Brazilian and Cuban rhythms, and from free improvisation to blues.

The San Francisco Chamber Jazz Quartet has made waves in the San Francisco area and nationally. Their concerts and debut album, The Crossing Point, (Music Wizards, 2003) gained national attention.

Gini Wilson, known as The Duchess, is legendary in the Bay Area as a brilliant jazz pianist, entertainer, and composer. Gini performs regularly at well-known Bay Area clubs such as Jazz at Pearls and Shanghai 1930 in San Francisco. In various television and radio projects, concerts and interviews she is also noted for her irreverent sense of humor. She studied classical piano (M. Music) and studied composition with the American master George Crumb, switched to playing jazz after a classical career, and this is her seventh album of original music.

Reedman Steve Heckman creates "an extravaganza of beautiful tenor playing." - All Music Guide. He began his career in New York at 17 with bebop trumpet player Howard McGee and Roswell Rudd. He has performed with trumpeters Eddie Henderson and Tom Harrell; pianists Andrew Hill, Bennie Green, and Jessica Williams; drummers Eddie Moore and Pete Escovedo; guitarists, Bruce Foreman and Mimi Fox; and vocalists Madeline Eastman and Kellye Gray.
His debut CD, With John In Mind, (for John Coltrane) has received critical acclaim. His new CD, Live at Yoshi's is being released August 23.

Known as a very creative musician in both the classical and jazz fields, bassist Pat Klobas' experience has performed with the S. F. Opera and Ballet, Skywalker Symphony, The American Jazz Philharmonic, numerous jazz groups and regional orchestras.

Drummer Ron Marabuto, from the Bay Area, worked in NYC for many years with leading players such as Pepper Adams, Roland Hanna, Tommy Flanagan, Rufus Reid, Steve Grossman and many more.

Visit ChamberJazz.com for more info

West Coast Arts Foundation Presents
The Dick Conte Trio in Concert
Friday, Dec. 9th, 8:00 PM
Tickets $15

The Jazz Cafe with Dick Conte

An elegant blend of classic jazz from artists like Miles Davis, Wes Montgomery, Stan Getz and Ella Fitzgerald. Hosted by Bay Area pianist Dick Conte. If you have any questions about the songs or artists heard during the Jazz Cafe' please feel free to contact Dick via e-Mail.

Dick Conte is best known as a jazz radio DJ in the golden days of KJAZ and now on KCSM and KKSF (his Sunday night straightahead jazz program is a huge succes). But Conte's also an impressive pianist who has been gigging the area for as long as he's been gracing the airwaves. He's finally released his debut CD, and it's a jewel of an album.

In these solo and trio sesions recorded over a span of ten years, Conte gives fine renditions of such chestnuts as Gershwin's "Summertin," Ellington's "Sophisticated Lady" and "Satin Doll," as well as delights with orginals, like the gently swaying rmantic tune, "Blues for Kathleen," the Brazilian-inflected "The Breeze," and the jaunty "Virgone." Don't expect Conte to pull off dazzling feats of virtousity. That's not his forte. But what does make this collection so remarkable is the way he soulfully plays into the heart of these compositions.

Pat Klobas

Ron Marabuto

Steve Heckman

West Coast Arts Foundation Presents
An evening with renowned pianist and composer Kevin Kern
Saturday, Dec. 10th, 8:00 PM
Tickets are $20
students with ID, $15
This special event is a benefit for WCAF'S Scholarship Program for young gifted artists.

Kevin Kern has become synonymous with beautiful and relaxing music. His recordings and concerts have established him as both a gifted composer and a brilliant performer.

With the release of his latest CD, Imagination's Light , Kevin returns to his roots, inviting his listeners to enter his special world where melodies take shape in response to his life-long connection to the piano.

As a child, Kern discovered his musical voice in his parents' darkened living room, which was illuminated only by the glow of a roaring fire. As the flames danced and the logs crackled in the fireplace, Kevin would immerse himself in both the instrument and the space, in an effort to clear his mind and allow his creativity to express itself, unencumbered by the confusion of a visual world. To this day, Kevin still draws upon the memory of that darkened living room with its magical firelight to provide him with the canvas upon which he paints his exquisite images for the listener.

"All my life, I have drawn inspiration from the joy of sitting and playing a piano in a darkened room. There is something remarkably pure and uncomplicated about a world consisting of nothing but sound and sensation.When we turn out the lights in the studio, I begin to feel that undiluted creative energy that has been such a part of my life from the beginning."
It is in this special atmosphere that Kevin's compositional gift takes form. Imagination's Light is a collection of ten original compositions, augmented by a stunning reinterpretation of Sting’s "Fields of Gold." The album begins with "Remembering the Light," which sets the tone for the recording as it draws the listener into Kevin's fire lit creative world. For this CD, Kevin is joined by Bassist Terry Miller and Guitarist Mike Miller, each of whom make their own exceptional contributions to the music.

"I feel that I have put together the perfect team for making records," Kern says. As with all of Kern's recordings, Imagination's Light continues the tradition of solo improvisations that have become his signature, including "Keepers of the Flame," which was based on a Gregorian Chant Kevin remembered from his early childhood.