The night of June 27, 2015, break out your dancing shoes for Sitka Fine Arts Camp's annual gala Jazz on the Waterfront. We have some great featured artists this year, including Bill Liston, Ira Nepus, and members of our amazing Fine Arts Camp Faculty such as Austin Willacy.

Bill Liston is a Los Angeles based arranger, orchestrator, and woodwind player who has recorded with Michael Bublé, Bette Middler, Ray Charles, James Brown, James Taylor, Tom Petty, Diane Reeves, Chicago, and others.

Another Los Angeles musician bringing his incredible talent to Sitka, a current and twenty-five year original member of the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, Ira Nepus grew up performing with greats like Kid Ory, Johnny St. Cyr, Joe Darensbourg, Barney Bigard, and Rex Stuart. Nepus has recorded with Paul McCartney, Elton John, Elvis Costello, and B.B. King (on the 2009 Grammy winner One Kind Favor), among others.

For 20 years, Austin Willacy has toured internationally with the "Rock Band without Instruments," the House Jacks. Activist, solo recording artist, voice over artist, guitarist; performer arranger, producer--Willacy is based in Berkeley, California, and is a long-time SFAC faculty member.

Slated for performance are classics and standards from Jazz and Rock Royalty like James Brown (The Godfather of Soul), Frank Sinatra (The Chairman of the Board), Aretha Franklin (The Queen of Soul), Miles Davis (The Prince of Darkness), Tito Puente (El Rey de Mambo), Count Basie (The Count), Duke Ellington (The Duke), and Prince (Prince).
 

The details:

• Doors open at 6:30pm for drinks and mingling; dinner starts at 7pm.
• Cuisine is Brazilian, exquisitely prepared by Chef Donte King.
• The night will feature five sets of music:
• Prince of Darkness, a quintet playing more subdued selections from the Miles Davis oeuvre to begin the night and to accompany dinner.
• The Joyous Sounds of the Count Basie Orchestra, a warm, distinctive, uncomplicated style rooted in traditional blues swing, a rollicking good time brought into being by a 19-piece big band.
• The Sophisticated Swing of Duke Ellington, characterized by twists, complicated music, virtuosic displays of musicianship; the big band stays on stage.
• Vocal Set, featuring seven singers from our Camp faculty, SFAC's own Rhiannon Guevin included in that number, and backed by our big band - the music of Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, and Tito Puente.
• Funk, Rock, and Soul: the music of James Brown, Aretha Franklin, and Prince.
• Tickets can be purchased from the SFAC office or at Old Harbor Books for $65. If you are interested in reserving a table for 8-10 guests, please call us directly at 907-747-3085.