When Tony Monaco was twelve, He was given a Jimmy Smith album and instantly knew that Jazz Organ was his calling. Tony began to play in Jazz night clubs around Columbus, Ohio while he was still learning the art of the Hammond B3 organ. He was influenced by hometown Organists such as Hank Marr and Don Patterson. Tony's newfound fascination led him to jazz organ legends Jimmy McGriff, Richard "Groove" Holmes, Charles Earland, Jack McDuff, and Dr. Lonnie Smith. Here He found an unlimited source of inspiration; he just couldn't get enough!

On Tony's sixteenth birthday, he received a phone call from Jimmy Smith. This was a great honor and really boosted his enthusiasm as an organist. Jimmy Smith continued to give Tony Jazz Organ secrets over the phone while Tony was playing around Columbus. When he was twenty, Jimmy Smith invited Tony to come play with him at his club in Woodland Hills L.A., California. An experience Tony would never forget; Tony finally got to play in front of the master of the Jazz Organ.

Billy Hart © Andrea Canter

Every June, the Healdsburg Jazz Festival combines the talents of the Bay Area with the finest of international touring artists to create two weeks of memorable music in the heart of California’s Sonoma wine country. For 2006, Artistic Director Jessica Felix pulled off perhaps her most ambitious program yet, bringing in Louie Bellson, the Heath Brothers, Mark Murphy, Charlie Haden’s Quartet West, the Billy Hart Trio, and the grand finale, the McCoy Tyner Trio. With the latter two ensembles performing before a near sell-out crowd on a breezy afternoon on the grounds of the Rodney Strong Winery, jazz fans from the Bay Area and beyond were treated to a doubleheader meshing distinguished veterans and young titans.

© Howard A. Gitelson

When former MJQ bassist Percy Heath passed away in April, the jazz world lost one of its premiere bop artists, and Jimmy and Albert (Tootie) Heath lost the elder third of their family ensemble. Well before his passing, Jessica Felix, Artistic Director of the Healdsburg Jazz Festival, was working on an appearance of the three Heath Brothers for the 2006 event. Without Percy, Jimmy and Tootie agreed to an evening tribute to their brother, which would include not only a memorial quartet but also the first public showing of a documentary film, Brotherly Love. Not entirely completed until the morning of the show, the film fortunately included extensive footage and interviews with all three Heath brothers. It provided the perfect historical context to the evening’s music on June 9^th, kicking off the final weekend of the 8^th Annual Healdsburg Jazz Festival, held each June in the heart of California’s Sonoma Wine Country.

The Heath Brothers