Rhythmic rush: NM Jazz Festival showcases renowned and rising stars

The 18th New Mexico Jazz Festival has a must see lineup of returning acts and newcomers.

The festival runs from Thursday, Sept. 5 to Sept. 29 at Albuquerque Civic Plaza, Albuquerque Museum of Art Amphitheater and Outpost Performance Space in Albuquerque and the Lensic Performing Arts Center and Santa Fe School of Cooking in Santa Fe. The festival opens with the Michael Anthony-Paul Gonzales Quartet at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 5, at the Outpost Performance Space, 210 Yale Blvd. SE. The quartet will perform its signature bebop, standards, Latin, blues, funk and originals.

The John Santos Sextet will follow at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 6, at the Albuquerque Museum Amphitheater, 2000 Mountain Rd. NW.

“He’s a legendary figure in the Bay Area in terms of his knowledge, his performance, his teaching of all different kinds of Latin music,” said Tom Guralnick, Outpost executive director and founder. “He’s kind of the Latin music artist in residence at the SFJAZZ Center, which is a really amazing institution in San Francisco.”

Guralnick said Santos has been performing for about 50 years and his music covers a range of Afro Latin music.

“His knowledge is expansive and he’s somebody I’ve wanted to bring to Albuquerque for 20 years and it finally came together,” Guralnick said of Santos. “He plays Puerto Rican music and Cuban music and music of Venezuela. It’s just really all of the music within the Afro Latin traditions. I’m really excited about it.”

Ranky Tanky with special guest Lisa Fischer will perform at 7:30 pm. on Thursday, Sept. 12, at the Lensic Performing Arts Center, 211 West San Francisco Street, in Santa Fe.

“They’re a group that definitely combines jazz with the Gullah community along the Sea Islands (and coastal plains along Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida),” Guralnick explained. “Gullah (people) were slaves, ex slaves, who moved to the Georgia Sea Islands and created a language that’s derived from African dialects.”

Singer Lisa Fischer will joins Ranky Tanky on stage. Fischer has performed as a backup singer for the Rolling Stones and appeared in the film “20 Feet from Stardom.” She has performed at the Outpost Performance Space several times.

Rising stars, jazz singer Jazzmeia Horn and the Keyon Harrold Group, will take the Outpost stage later in September. Horn performs at 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 18 and the Keyon Harrold Group will have its concert at 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 20.

The SFJAZZ Collective is so popular it had to add a second show after its 7:30 p.m. show on Sept. 26 at Outpost sold out. The second show will be at 9:30 p.m. on the same day at Outpost. The SFJAZZ Collective is made up of younger jazz players put together as an ensemble by the SFJAZZ Center.

Carmen Bradford & the John Rangel Trio, will be part of supper club type show, at 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 21 at Dave’s Jazz Bistro at the Santa Fe School of Cooking, 125 N Guadalupe St., in Santa Fe. A special jazz dinner menu will be crafted by Chef Peter O’Brien for the event.

“We partner with the Santa Fe School of Cooking and they do a meal and show like many jazz clubs but also with famous chefs,” Guralnick said. “We work with them every year.”

Guralnick said the New Mexico Jazz Festival has something that speaks to everyone.

“Some of the music will be more edgy and avant-garde,” he explained. “There are a lot of people who love that. Some of it will be much more traditional and some of it will have Latin roots and some of it will have folk roots.”

Another component of the festival will be “Jazz Undercover,” an art exhibit that features 133 jazz album covers at the Inpost Artspace located inside the Outpost. A reception for the show will be held at 3 p.m. on Sept. 8. Another offsite event will feature two jazz films Sept. 10 through Sept. 12., at the Guild Cinema, 3405 Central Ave. NE. The film “Sun Ra: A Joyful Noise,” will be shown at 3 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. and “Sun Ra: Space is the Place” will be shown at 4:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. Moviegoers can enjoy the films as a double feature or see them separately.

“(The) jazz films (are about) the wonderful, crazy, amazing Sun Ra, who died a few years ago, but the band still exists, Sun Ra Arkestra,” Guralnick said. “He proclaimed that he was from Saturn. He was a real character.”