This Festival Will Jazz Up Brea

New York, New Orleans and Los Angeles are the centers of the jazz universe. But Orange County has its own galaxy of local jazz stars.

They will shine when the city of Brea presents the Brea Jazz Festival today through Sept. 29th. Free performances are scheduled in the city’s downtown for Friday and Saturday nights and Wednesday lunchtimes. Sponsored by the Brea Community Hospital and jazz radio KLON-FM (88.1), the groups--assembled by the Orange County Musicians Assn. Local 47, American Federation of Musicians--include combos, big bands and eclectic ensembles.

Festival organizers want to showcase the depth of the local scene and its quality. No one better represents that quality, they say, than longtime Orange County resident Peggy Duquesnel, who leads her quartet in the series opener tonight.

Duquesnel, a pianist, vocalist and songwriter, attended Canyon High School in Anaheim Hills where, as a clarinetist, she was president of the school’s band program and homecoming queen. A familiar presence in O.C. and Los Angeles jazz clubs, she studied classical piano at Cal State Fullerton before launching a professional career.

“I think it’s great [the Brea Festival] will promote Orange County musicians,” Duquesnel said. “And it’s good exposure for the local performers. I think the festival will reach a broader audience with lots of families attending rather than just your typical jazz fan.”

In 1991, Duquesnel recorded “Old Friends,” a collection of her jazz originals with a group that included renowned bassist John Patitucci, then an Orange County resident. (The album has recently been remastered and re-released. Duquesnel will hold an album release party for it at Steamers Cafe in Fullerton Sept. 20.)

In 1997, she was selected to be Dionne Warwick’s accompanist. She spent more than a year touring with the well-known singer and still substitutes in Warwick’s ensemble. Duquesnel has also worked with singer Monica Mancini and her father, Henry Mancini.

“We were laying down some track music for a Julie Andrews project, and [Henry Mancini] and I just clicked,” Duquesnel recalled. “He was very supportive of what I did. It was great to sit side by side on a piano bench with a person like that and hear him say these positive things about my playing.”

In 1999, Duquesnel employed one of her former jazz piano instructors, Natalie Cole arranger Alan Broadbent, to write orchestral backing for her first recording as a vocalist, “What Is Love?” A lush, romantic album that included drummer Jeff Hamilton of the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, it received favorable attention and was compared to the work of one of Duquesnel’s longtime friends, singer Diana Krall.

Jazz fans aren’t the only ones familiar with Duquesnel’s work. She has been the organist-keyboardist for the Mighty Ducks for eight years, and she played at Angels games at Edison Field the last four. She’ll take a leave of absence from the Angels game tonight to play in Brea.

Duquesnel’s quartet will include Laguna Hills-based bassist and record producer Mike Peak and Los Angeles musicians drummer Dick Weller and saxophonist Ann Patterson. The pianist promises a variety of material and will sing a number of tunes.

On Saturday, the series continues with big band swing music from the Big Shots directed by Ken Treseder and featuring vocalist Johnny Fabulous, known in his hometown of Fullerton as Kirk Wall. The first Wednesday lunch concert boasts John Noreyko’s tuba-fired, neo-bop ensemble Tubop, with its unusual instrumentation and wide-embrace of styles.

Future shows include the seven-piece jazz band the Side Street Strutters on Sept. 14; saxophonist, arranger and Golden West College instructor Tom Kubis’ big band on Sept. 15; Dave Wells’ 11-piece jump band Swingtown out of Newport Beach, vocalist Miss Rickey Nero on Sept. 22; the 16-piece big band of Santa Ana-based Norm Major on Sept. 28; and the award-winning Cal State Fullerton Jazz Ensemble, directed by Chuck Turnlinson, on Sept. 29.

Wednesday concerts feature drummer Matt Johnson’s trio on Sept. 19 and Gerry Schroeder’s contemporary band Whizzard on Sept. 26.

*

Brea Jazz Festival Concerts will be held on the Main Stage at the Gateway Promenade on Birch Street at Brea Boulevard in downtown Brea. Friday and Saturday concerts are 7-10 p.m. Wednesday concerts are 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Information: (714) 990-7600.