66 California Helps Keep Live Music Accessible

Although the resident appetite for live jazz has traditionally been strong in this county, the opportunities to see it come and go. But it has shown a staying power at one address over the past few years--66 California.

The Ventura restaurant and music venue is one of those spots that might, but shouldn’t, be taken for granted as it buzzes and swings its way into the new millennium.

You can catch the live, large ensemble sounds of Boyd Cannon’s 17-piece big band tonight, and the impressive Orange County-based jazz vocalist Debbie Yeager returns to the club Saturday night. Yeager, who put out the fine album “Mood Swings” in 1996 and then dropped out of sight and sound, made a dramatic return to gigging action a year ago after confronting personal demons related to her own childhood.

DETAILS

Boyd Cannon’s 17-piece big band at 8:30 tonight; Debbie Yeager Quartet at 8:30 p.m. Saturday at 66 California, 66 California St. in Ventura; free; 648-2266.

Festival Field Report: In case you hadn’t noticed, we’ve segued into festival season. Early next month is the by-now well-established Ventura Chamber Music Festival, running from May 4 to 14. Guests will include the Shanghai Quartet, a favorite last year, and noted classical guitarist Sharon Isbin.

Then, the world-renowned Ojai Festival is the perennial end-of-the-season event in the area. This year, Ojai Fest runs from May 31 to June 4 and trains a cultural focus on the music of Britain. A stellar guest list includes, as the festival’s artistic director, conductor Sir Simon Rattle and composers-in-residence Thomas Ades (recent winner of the esteemed Grawemeyer Award) and Mark-Anthony Turnage.

Up Santa Barbara way, the ninth annual UCSB New Music Festival reaches its finale this weekend, offering enticements worth a trip up the coast.

This festival, founded by composer William Kraft upon his arrival at UCSB, has presented a lot to admire over the years, ushering in new music from Mexico and other cultures as well as a memorable encounter with film composers two years ago. This year, the festival is playing host to the Danish chamber group Esbjerg Ensemble, which gave two concerts of its own earlier this week.

Fittingly enough, Saturday night’s climactic festival event is a glimpse at Kraft’s own ambitious new project, an opera based on Anchee Min’s novel, “Red Azalea.” Min, born in China in 1957, recounts her experience growing up there during the repressive Cultural Revolution.

She came to study music and filmmaking at the Chicago Art Institute in 1984 and has been in the United States since, now living in California.

Her novel won The New York Times’ Notable Book of the Year award in 1994.

The world premiere of scenes from Kraft’s opera will be presented by the Esbjerg Ensemble, along with vocalists from the UCSB Opera Theater.

In concerts at 4 and 8 p.m. today at the Lotte Lehmann Concert Hall, the university-based Ensemble for Contemporary Music will show its stuff. This is the group that, in its few performances in a given concert/academic season, offers local audiences healthy new musical fodder in an area otherwise fairly starved for it.

These concerts feature music by university-based composers, including “The Vision Serpent” by Jeremy Haladyna, the indefatigable associate director of ECM and the New Music Festival. But they also dip into the stuff of “classics” from the 20th century, with music by Steve Reich, George Crumb and Philip Glass. Long live 20th century music, as well as repertoire that can still fit snugly under the “new music” umbrella.

DETAILS

UCSB New Music Festival, “New Music for a New Century,” through Saturday at UCSB’s Lotte Lehmann Concert Hall. today, 4 and 8 p.m.; Saturday, 8 p.m. Tickets are $10 for general admission, $7 for students.

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Josef Woodard, who writes about art and music, can be reached by e-mail at joeinfo@aol.com