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Every summer, the crooning notes of trumpeters and the intricately improvised melodies of pianists take up residence at Portola Vineyards, one of the Peninsula’s only commercial wineries. And this summer is no different, with the vineyard hosting its annual Summer Jazz festival for the 12th time.
Portola Vineyards General Manager Len Lehmann said the annual series was born out of a desire to integrate the winery into the surrounding community, while providing a space for community members to appreciate natural beauty and artistic talent.
“We wanted to invite people onto our (vineyard) to just be outdoors during the summer, to enjoy the foothills and to be a part of the place, and so concerts sounded like a great idea,” Lehmann said. “It’s really been a treasure for a lot of people during the summer just to get outdoors beside the vineyard, listen to really first-rate jazz, bring picnics and friends. We don’t get outside enough in our beautiful weather and in the foothills here, but it’s a gorgeous place to be during the summer.”
With support from the city of Palo Alto since its first season, the jazz festival has boasted an impressive lineup every year, including violin maestro Mads Tolling, Latin big band Orquesta Dharma and piano prodigy Javier Santiago.
“We strive to invite in musicians who are really, really top-tier jazz artists,” Lehmann said. “We like to see ourselves at the level of Bach Dynamite Society and … SFJazz in many cases. This area’s really fortunate to have so many great jazz venues and great jazz musicians. We also bring in musicians who are touring from elsewhere in the country for our festival.”
While the annual series has hosted big-name artists in a beautiful setting for over a decade, Lehmann noted that many within the greater Peninsula community are unaware of the festival; while it has had impressive turnouts, many of its attendees are from the small circle of winery members.
“I think it’s almost totally unknown,” Lehmann said. “We have not promoted this very much, partly because tickets do sell out really quickly. We don’t want to frustrate people, but … after 11 full years, it’s amazing to me that so few people in Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Los Altos and Mountain View know that we exist and that we are really offering great concerts here.”
This season’s lineup features a star-studded cast of jazz musicians, each bringing unique sounds and styles to the vineyard. The festival will open on June 18 with an already-sold-out concert by the Chick Corea Large Ensemble Project. This concert will feature a host of musicians paying tribute to the late piano maestro through presentations of his large ensemble work.
“This is a gathering of fine musicians from around the Bay Area producing music that Chick Corea composed that is rarely heard,” Lehmann said. “It includes, for example, a string quartet: Quartet San Francisco, as well as some horn players and (jazz trio) Charged Particles. So this is something special.”
The Electric Squeezebox Orchestra, a San Francisco-based big band, will play on July 2, and the Gary Meek Sextet will follow on July 16 (a show that is also sold-out and has a waitlist). The Dmitri Matheny group will perform on Aug. 6. Matheny is one of the festival’s out-of-town guests this season.
“An all-star jazz flugelhornist, Matheny is coming to us from Washington State,” Lehmann said. “He has over 120 recordings to his credit and has gathered a great deal of critical acclaim as one of the greatest and most expressive improvisers of his generation. So that’s going to be a very, very special concert.”
The festival will conclude with a vocal concert by the Nicholas Bearde Quartet on Aug. 20.
Lehmann emphasized the historic ties between the Peninsula region and winemaking, advocating for greater connectedness between the regional community and the winery, a relationship he hopes to strengthen through community events like the jazz series.
“The jazz concerts are a way for us to be of service to the broader community and to introduce ourselves to that community,” Lehmann said. “(Our existence here is) a reminder that this was the epicenter of fine winemaking, before tech and finance and all of those industries took over.”
As Lehmann and Portola Vineyards look forward to the upcoming months of music, he noted the similarities between the artistry of the vineyard and of the vineyard’s musical visitors.
“Jazz is improvised,” Lehman said. “We say ‘yes!’ to whatever the music moves in our direction, and I think winemaking is much the same. It’s a humbling process. We don’t have control over everything and we have to take each day as it comes, but we play with what nature gives us and in the end a wine can be memorable and delightful. Just like a jazz concert.”
Summer Jazz at Portola Vineyards takes place June 18 (sold out; waitlist available), July 2 and July 16 (sold out; waitlist available), Aug. 6 and 20 at 6 p.m. at Portola Vineyards, 850 Los Trancos Road, Portola Valley. Tickets are $26-$45. For more information, portolavineyards.com.