FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact: Carlos Zialcita [email protected] 415.574.0651 Presented by the San Francisco Filipino American Jazz Festival www.sfpinoyjazzfest.com Event Name: 6th Annual San Francisco Filipino American Jazz Festival Date of Event: Sunday, October 20, 2013 Time of Event: 6PM Location: Yoshi’s San Francisco 1330 Fillmore St. San Francisco, CA 94115 www.yoshis.com Box Office / Dinner Reservations: 415.655.5600 Tickets: $35 advance $40 at the door http://www.yoshis.com/sanfrancisco/livemusic/artist/show/3784 Celebrate Filipino American History Month with the 6th Annual San Francisco Filipino American Jazz Festival on Sunday October 20, 2013. Featured artists include jazz vocalists Melissa Morgan and Yolanda Quandt, pianist/composer and jazz/fusion maestro Winston Raval, and drummer/jazz historian Richie Quirino. Melissa Morgan was born in New York City to a Filipina mother and an Irish father. Morgan combines the poise and maturity of a seasoned veteran with the infectious verve of a fresh new talent. You’ll hear elements of Nancy Wilson, Dinah Washington and Dakota Staton in her sound, but Morgan clearly has her own voice. Morgan’s debut CD Until I Met You(Telarc Records) was called “one of the most assured and enjoyable debut albums by any jazz singer in recent memory” (San Diego Union Tribune), while Dr. Herb Wong simply declared “she is the one we’ve been waiting for.” In 2004, Melissa was named a semi-finalist in the prestigious Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition in Washington D.C. relocated to Los Angeles, California in 2006 to extend her jazz audience throughout the West Coast. As a child star in the Philippines,Yolanda Quandt was known as “Baby Yolanda” Llanto. Yolanda developed into a vibrant jazz singer and entertainer during the heyday of Manila’s club scene in the 60’s and 70’s. After moving to the United States and raising a family, she returned to the stage, recording a delightful CD dedicated to Duke Ellington, Passion for Duke, in London in 2003. Occasionally performing in the Las Vegas area where she now lives, “Baby Yolanda” still knows how to entertain the crowd with standards from the Great American Songbook and more! Pianist Winston Raval is a seminal influence in the development of jazz fusion in Manila, and was among the first composers to combine indigenous instruments and music of the Philippines with jazz in the 70s.A prolific composer with 23 film scores to his credit, he led the Winston Raval Trio in Hawaii and Southern California. In October 2011, Winston Raval performed at the 4th Annual San Francisco Filipino American Jazz Festival where he was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Raval was also featured at the 7th Annual San Francisco Asian Heritage Street Celebration in May 2011 with the Jonathan Bautista Group. Richie Quirino is the first Filipino to chronicle and publish a detailed history of Jazz in the Philippines with the publication of Pinoy Jazz Traditions (2004), Mabuhay Jazz: Jazz in Postwar Philippines(2008), and Contemporary Jazz in the Philippines (2011). The first volume won the 2004 National Book Award for Music and served as the basis for the 60-minute video documentary Pinoy Jazz: The Story of Jazz in the Philippines. A founding member and later president of the Jazz Society of the Philippines, Quirino was instrumental in organizing the Philippine International Jazz and Arts Festival, which is held during the entire month of February in Manila and other cities in the Philippines. Trained at the University of the Philippines and The Berklee School of Music in Boston, he has performed as a drummer and percussionist for over 30 years. About the San Francisco Filipino American Jazz Festival The San Francisco Filipino American Jazz Festival, www.sfpinoyjazzfest.com a non-profit (c) (3) organization, is sponsored by Philippine American Writers and Artists, Inc. and by the Filipino American National Historical Society-FANHS East Bay Chapter, and promotes, preserves, and celebrates contributions to Jazz, Blues, R&B, and World Music by Filipino American and all artists. .