Music

What began with the Noah and Kelly Dorrance's passion for music and wine has grown into an annual festival that brings people together through a shared commitment to making a difference in the world.

This year brings the second Healdsburg Winter Jazz Festival, which starts Thursday, Jan. 29, at the Harmon Guest House’s Merritt Hall and concludes Sunday night, Feb. 1, at the Healdsburg Community Church. It once again showcases a diverse line-up of jazz talent, genres and venues. A total of six programs are being presented at off-beat stages, with a suitably wide-ranging menu of music.

Now widely known as “The Harlem Nutcracker,” Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn wrote it for Columbia Records, along with film scores and other work. It was met with a sensational reception

Topo, in Fiddler on the Roof, was a Klezmer musician, “schlepping his way from shtetl to shtetl… a distinctive image of pre-war Jewish life in the Ashkenazi communities of Eastern Europe,” according to worldmusic.net.

Tinsley Ellis is out driving around the country on what Alligator Records has dubbed his “Two Guitars and a Car” tour. That car brings him to Healdsburg’s Raven Theater on Friday, Nov. 21.

As a recording artist, if a person hangs around long enough, they get to look back at their body of work. And if they’re really lucky they not only get to revisit their canon, they even get a shot at reinterpreting and reimagining these earlier fruits of their labor. That’s what Alejandro Escovedo has done with his latest album, Echo Dancing. It finds him using the past to shape the future.