SF Jazz Heritage Center Honors Living Legends of Jazz
March 4, 2008 · Print This Article
F. Allen Smith, George Alexander, Amando Peraza, Frank Lewis, Jazz Heritage Center Executive Director Peter Fitzsimmons, Junius Simmons, Ricardo Lewis, Bobbie Webb, and John Terry Hillard.
John Handy, Frank Jackson and others give Legends Concert at West Bay Conference Center
By Wade Woods
This past Sunday the West Bay Conference Center was filled to capacity as the Jazz Community came out to honor Living Jazz Legends and hear the Living Jazz Legends Concert. Featured in the concert were Frank Jackson (piano & Vocals), John Handy (sax), Denise Perrier (Vocals), Eddie Duran (guitar), Al Obidinski (Bass), Allen Smith (trumpet & flugelhorn), and Akira Tana (drums).
You could tell the Jazz OG’s by their dress, bebop head gear, spit shined shoes, cashmere overcoats, fancy rings, their ladies in fur, and their laid back cool. The event was MC’d by local media personality Noah Griffin.
Also on the program were performances by the Village Project Kids, who sang “Lift Every Voice”. The Handful Players, a youth performing group unveiled a scene from award-winning Marcus Gardley’s original new play “The Fillmore Five: A Jazz Musical Rhapsody.”
The program also honored local Jazz pioneers awards for their contributions to the history of Jazz in the Fillmore. The honorees were: George Alexander (Trumpet), Donald “Duck” Bailey (Drums), Waldo Carter (Trumpet), Aurthur Cummings (Trumpet), Eddie Duran (Guitar), Frank Fisher (Trumpet), John Handy (Sax), John Terry Hilliard (Bass), Johnny Ingram (Bass), Frank Jackson (Piano/VocalPs), Ricardo Lewis (Drums), Armando Peraza (Congas), Denise Perrier (Vocals), Junius Simmons (Guitar), F. Allen Smith (Trumpet), Larry Voucovich (Piano), Bobbie Webb (Vocals), Mary Stallilngs (Vocals), Homer Walker (Drums) Richard Wyands (Piano), and in Memoriam Eddy and Vernon alley (Bass & Drums), and Earl Watkins (Drums)
The Jazz Heritage Center has been developed to rediscover, identify and celebrate San Francisco’s contribution to the history of Jazz. Located at 1320 Fillmore, on the corner of Fillmore and Eddy Streets, the Jazz Heritage Center is based in the hub of the new Fillmore Jazz Preservation District. This location is the first permanent exhibition space to showcase the history of San Francisco’s origins of Jazz as well as the national contribution to the evolution of Jazz.
