Saturday, December 3, 2022 - 7:30pm
$15 youth, $20 Senior/Student, $25 general admission
Tickets available through Eventbrite.
Oakland born and bred, The Oakland Jazz Choir is one of just a few community jazz choirs in the nation singing cool original and standard jazz material in a distinctive choral jazz setting.
OJC has taken many shapes, sizes and forms over the years but the common denominator has always been the same: joy of expression, using the voice to communicate the triumphs, as well as the turbulence, of the human spirit. They are committed to bringing vocal jazz performance and education to underserved audiences in the Bay Area and beyond.
OJC, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, has been singing & bringing innovative, & unique vocal jazz to the Bay Area since 1992.
2020 was the year that silenced choirs around the world but we faced and overcame our personal pandemic challenges, and we’re thrilled to say we’re back in 2022!
This show will be a joint benefit concert for Oakland Jazz Choir and Calliope: East Bay Music & Arts. Here's to keeping the music alive!
YOUR SAFETY IS PARAMOUNT TO OUR OFFERING THIS SHOW: Proof of full vaccination is required to attend, and a properly-worn mask is required at all times. Admission will be limited to 50% of capacity. All performers and staff are fully vaccinated.
Artist Profiles:
Ben Flint - Artistic Director
"My personality is laid back, but I like to play outrageously". The OJC director, in addition to being a composer, arranger, songwriter, vocal jazz instructor, gospel choir director, and former member of the late Isaac Hayes' band, also sang with OJC 10 years ago. He attended Berklee College of Music on a full scholarship and can play just about anything on piano and keyboards. As a pre-teen his mentor was James Williams who played with the late Art Blakey and his band.
Walter Bankovitch - Assistant Director/Band Leader
Walter grew up in Burlingame, California, and studied with Anna Mears; Walter Rudolph; the Peninsula Conservatory of Music and Jose Bowen (Stanford University jazz band director). With 12 years of formal classical piano studies, Walter has performed since 1986 in venues such as Yoshi's, The Garden City, Kuumbwa Jazz Center, Kimball's Carnaval, Johnny Love's Cafe, Cafe Du Nord, J.J.'s Blues, Sacramento Blues Festival, Waterfront Blues Festival (Portland, OR) and Flint Center. Walter has appeared with Stan Getz, John Lee Hooker, Bobby Shew, Rebecca Parris, and Bobby Hutcherson. He is extensively involved with the San Francisco Bay Area vocal jazz community as the accompanist for the Oakland Jazz Choir and for the De Anza College jazz vocal ensembles. Walter has also accompanied many San Francisco Bay Area vocalists. He is no stranger to the recording studio, having contributed piano and keyboard work, compositions, arrangements, and an occasional voice track to over a dozen album and demo projects with blues bands, vocal ensembles, and instrumental ensembles. FSJ guitarist Mike Cohen produced a CD album of original jazz compositions entitled "Fugue" in 1997, featuring Walter and FSJ drummer Carlos Almeida. Walter has composed and arranged tunes for jazz band, LSJUMB (aka the Stanford Marching Band), vocal jazz choir, and small jazz ensembles, has been a faculty accompanist at Jazz Camp West each year since 1995.
Singers:
Deborah Blackburn
Laura Blanton
Andy Cohen
Valorie de Leña
Heather Fong
Norm Gelbart
Eugenie Hsu
Pam Lewis
Jocelyn Pou
Dave Watt
Gayle Wilhelm
