The Alley Oop, a sophisticated cocktail lounge, is opening Friday at 320 Cedar St. in the former Poet & Patriot space next to Kuumbwa Jazz after a three-year renovation. Owner Max Turigliatto hopes the speakeasy-style bar, which serves vintage cocktails, wine and shareable small plates, will complement the music venue and bring a refined nightlife option to that end of downtown Santa Cruz.
Kuumbwa Jazz Center
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Bob Dylan tribute show at Kuumbwa Jazz to raise funds for Housing Matters
Housing Matters will be the beneficiary of a Nov. 21 tribute to Bob Dylan at the Kuumbwa Jazz Center to help raise money for the Santa Cruz nonprofit’s shelters and other programs.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
‘Nuanced, rich, beautiful’: The story of the Kuumbwa Jazz Center – told through its pianos
The Kuumbwa Jazz Center, celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, has had three pianos since its beginning. The latest, a Steinway Model B purchased in 2020, represents the club at its highest point in national and regional prominence.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Kuumbwa Jazz turns to a new generation of leaders for its next 50 years
As it marks its 50th birthday, the Kuumbwa Jazz Center is transitioning to a new generation of leadership, turning to under-40 staffers Chanel Enriquez and Bennett Jackson to continue the legacy of co-founder and longtime artistic director Tim Jackson.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Santa Cruz native Pascal Le Boeuf wins Grammy, putting him in august company
Santa Cruz native and jazz pianist Pascal Le Boeuf on Sunday won the Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition, an honor that in the past has gone to the likes of Duke Ellington and Henry Mancini.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Kuumbwa Jazz making ambitious plans for 50th birthday celebration
The Kuumbwa Jazz Center is marking its 50th anniversary with a number of events, including a “Spirit of ’75” concert series, a big free outdoor show in the spring and a collection of archival and behind-the-scenes photos.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
The Shapers: Tim Jackson and the creation of a vibrant musical culture in Santa Cruz
There is no one individual who can be credited with establishing Santa Cruz’s reputation as a hotbed of great live shows. It evolved from a confluence of many people, businesses and organizations. But, if you were to devise a Mount Rushmore of people who have shaped and sustained the performance scene in Santa Cruz, Tim Jackson of the Kuumbwa Jazz Center is one of the first names in that conversation.
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As old guard passes baton on Santa Cruz arts scene, how will new leaders weather generational shift?
Many of the steady hands that have guided the likes of the Cabrillo Festival and Santa Cruz Shakespeare for years are stepping down even as the performing arts are at a crossroads nationally. There’s no guarantee it will be business as usual as a diverse group of millennials and Gen Z makes up larger shares of potential audiences, and whatever comes next will be fascinating to watch.
Posted inCity Life
A very Villela summer breezes into Kuumbwa
Brazil native turned longtime Santa Cruz County resident Claudia Villela has a new album, “Cartas Ao Vento (Letters to the Wind),” and she brings it the stage Monday at Kuumbwa Jazz.
Posted inCoast Life
At Kuumbwa, a revival of women composers, in music and words
Santa Cruzan Brianna Conrey has devoted herself to exposing largely forgotten or overlooked female composers from the past to a contemporary audience, and that’s what the pianist has in store Friday night at the Kuumbwa Jazz Center.