Music

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.

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.

Expect plenty of seasoned authenticity when Cyrus Chestnut and a local rhythm section, Jaimeo Brown on drums and Marcus Shelby on bass, hit the Paul Mahder Gallery stage in Healdsburg on Sunday, Oct. 11, at 7pm.

Charles Lloyd will headline the Sunday, June 14, show at Bacchus Landing, marking his 10th time playing for a Healdsburg audience. In fact, festival founder Jessica Felix reminds us that his first visit was in 1997 with drummer Billy Higgins—two years before the first Healdsburg Jazz Festival.

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.

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.

This sense of fun and unfettered creative abandon is one hallmark of Lucius’ live shows. Prone to donning matching wigs and outfits, Laessig and Wolfe are often mistaken for being twins. On top of the flawless harmonies they deliver, longtime fans have learned not to bat an eyelash when the duo busts out matching “keytars"...

The Lone Bellow returns to recording after 2025 theft Brian Elmquist, of the Lone Bellow, has come to appreciate conflict as an essential element of the creative process. It’s an ingredient he and bandmates Zach Williams and Kanene Pipken have tapped into dating back to...

"At the root of it all is The Rolling Stones,” Will Turner said, “and the whole Laurel Canyon thing—The Mamas & the Papas, Jefferson Airplane.” “CSNY,” Georgie Fuller chimed in, citing the folk-rock super group Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.

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