Jazz is resilient and self-generating. And its artists are famous for going off on tangents — roads and byways to different musical disciplines like the blues, rhythm and blues, soul, gospel, and rock ‘n’ roll.
Etta James, the husky-voiced singer whose métier encompassed all of the above, died in January, and the loss was like a hammer blow to her devotees.
Fortunately, Kim Nalley, a sultry- and sulky-voiced Bay Area institution, is with us to make sure the Etta James artistic canon won’t be disappearing soon.
Nalley will hold two street fair master classes in Etta James, just as she has done on her award-winning albums dedicated to the sounds of Billie Holiday and Nina Simone. The two street-level presentations are scheduled for the upcoming annual Fillmore Jazz Festival the weekend of July 7–8, in which Nalley will preside as artist-in-residence with the tenacious jazz spirit. An inspired choice, because she plans two concerts entitled “Dedicated to Etta James” — a fine opportunity to honor James and to hear the glamorous local diva doing her own thing.
Kim Nalley: Fillmore Jazz Festival, Fillmore Street (btw. Jackson & Eddy), Saturday–Sunday, July 7–8, 4:30 p.m.–6 p.m., free, 800-310-6563, www.fillmorejazzfestival.com
