SFJazz Names Artists to Open Its Permanent Home

September 13, 2012, 5:00 pm

By BEN RATLIFF

SFJazz, the Bay Area jazz institution which has for nearly 30 years presented concerts and festivals in rented spaces, announced on Thursday the lineup for a series of opening concerts and a wide-ranging full-season schedule in its new permanent space - with concerts by local as well as international artists and educational programming.

The SFJazz Center, designed by the architect Mark Cavagnero, the acoustician Sam Berkow, and the theater designer Len Auerbach, will open on Jan. 21, Martin Luther King's Birthday, in San Francisco's Hayes Valley neighborhood. It will include a 700-seat auditorium in addition to smaller rehearsal and performance spaces and a café.

The center will open with a series of performances involving McCoy Tyner, Chick Corea, Esperanza Spalding, Joshua Redman, Bobby Hutcherson, Mary Stallings and others.

The rest of the season, through early June, will include concerts by Tony Bennett, Dianne Reeves, Hiromi, and Ute Lemper; changing four-night residencies by the bassist Dave Holland, the pianist Brad Mehldau, the Indian tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain, and the Portuguese fado singer Mariza. There will also be five weeklong artistic director residencies, in which selected bandleaders will be given a greater degree of programming power and the freedom to present multimedia works.

The organization has raised funds for the project for the last three years, but is still $8 million away from the $63 million capital campaign costs, said Randall Kline, its founder and executive artistic director.

“The hope is that they'll develop an identity with the place,” said Mr. Kline. “We're working with them to connect to the listening community; we create a longstanding dialogue to shape these weeks in their image.”

The artistic directors in residence will include the percussionist John Santos; the guitarist Bill Frisell; the saxophonist Miguel Zenón; the violinist Regina Carter; and the pianist Jason Moran, who will close his week in May with a new work - a collaboration between his band and local skateboarders, involving a half-pipe constructed in front of the stage. Tickets will be available via the SFJazz Web site to members on Oct. 13 and the general public on Nov. 3.