Freebie of the week: Some people keep saying jazz music is dead, but there are a lot of signs to the contrary. One hundred and nine years after its birth in New Orleans, the music is still with us, and appreciated by everyone from Boomers to Gen-Zers. One need look no further than the SFJazz Center and its lineup of concerts to see that the Bay Area in particular still has an appetite for jazz. And when it comes to jazz on radio and streaming sites, the Bay Area is likewise well-served by the San Mateo College station KCSM-FM 91.1, which began broadcasting in 1964. On Saturday, the station hosts its annual Jazz on the Hill free concert from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. in front of the College of San Mateo library and theaters, 1700 W. Hillsdale Blvd., San Mateo. Performers include clarinetist Nathan Tokunaga; the beloved local vocal duo Tuck and Patti; Roger Glenn Latin Jazz Ensemble with guitarist Ray Obiedo; Miles Smiles, a Miles Davis tribune featuring Essiet Essiet, David Sanchez, Eddie Henderson and Akira Tana; and saxophonist-singer-songwriter Vanessa Collier. There is a family-friendly lineup on a separate Youth Stage, and plenty of food and drink will be available. More information is available at kcsm.org.
What about Bob: Technically, Bob Ross was a painter. But to anyone of a certain age who spent any time watching PBS on TV, he remains a pop cultural icon and phenomenon. To some, the man and his softly voiced painting tutorials, which still air on some PBS stations today, were an invitation into a quiet, gentle world without judgment. To others, he was something of a goofy return to a long-gone era in which people valued simple, cheesy art and TV. Some viewers and beginner-painters valued his bare-bones instructions on how to create unchallenging landscape portraits, while others undoubtedly enjoyed Ross (who learned to paint when he was in the military before PBS started airing his classes in the early 1980s) and his lessons for their snark value. Folks in that last group likely will not be on hand on Friday when WorkshopSF hosts a Bob Ross Paint Along. Technically, the event is intended as a way for folks to get acquainted with the training facility at 1310 Haight St. in San Francisco and the various classes offered there. From 7 to 10 p.m., guests may do all that and paint along as a Bob Ross segment is shown on a large screen. Friday’s session is free, and you don’t need to bring any supplies. More information is at workshopsf.org.
JJ’s headlining gig: Drummer, percussionist, educator and band leader Josh Jones is known throughout the Bay Area music community for his sterling musicianship, often as a collaborator with such artists as Omar Sosa, Steve Coleman, Yosvany Terry, Jacqui Naylor, Taj Mahal, Bob Weir and Larry Coryell. His decades-long history on the local scene launched with his involvement with the acclaimed Berkeley High School jazz band, which included stints with such influential hip-hop artists as Tupac Shakur and the Digital Underground. This weekend, he steps into the spotlight at the Jazzschool in Berkeley, performing from 8 to 9:30 p.m. Saturday with his Latin Quintet, which also includes flutist Chloe Scott Jones, Danny Lubin-Laden on trombone, keyboardist Erick Peralta, and bassist Sadie Scott Jones (who happens to be the bandleader’s daughter, not to mention a student at Jazzschool). The AfroCuban setlist will touch on works by luminaries Eddie Palmieri, Ray Barretto, Marco and many others. Tickets for Saturday’s show are $26.39 ($16.21 for youths); go to jazzschool.org.
Cheap seats to a great opera: San Francisco Opera’s current production of Rossini’s frothy, frolicky “The Barber of Seville” has already begun its run, garnering rave reviews in particular for its opening night Rosina, sung by Russian mezzo-soprano Maria Kataeva in her American debut. And you can see her, too, from the comfort of your own home if you pop a mere $25 for the Friday night production that will become available on livestream for a full 48 hours beginning at 10 a.m. on Sunday. Cast alongside her in the title role as the clever, scheming barber Figaro is American baritone Joshua Hopkins, with South African tenor Levy Sekgapane as the lovestruck aristocrat Count Almaviva and baritone Renato Girolami as the overprotective guardian Dr. Bartolo. The opera is double cast, so some subsequent performances feature alternate cast members Hongni Wu, Justin Austin, Jack Swanson and Patrick Carfizzi in those same principal roles. But the glorious music, conducted by Benjamin Manis, remains the same throughout. Friday night’s live performance in War Memorial Opera House begins at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for it and the subsequent performances, running through June 21, range from $29 through $447, available at sfopera.com. Check that website also for info on a special “Encounter” performance of Act 1 on June 17 that will be followed by a lobby party that will immerse the audience into the comic world of the opera.
A musical nod to FIFA: Symphony San Jose, fully aware that the World Cup is hosting some events in Santa Clara County this month, closes out its season this weekend with a program that presents important works by great international composers. Denmark’s Carl Nielsen’s “Helios Overture,” an homage to the myth of the god of the sun, leads things off, with conductor Carlos Vieu at the podium. Vieu’s fellow countryman, Argentinian composer Alberto Ginastera, comes next with a highly unusual work, his 1956 Harp Concerto, which brought the instrument out of the domain of the angels and placed it squarely on center stage. The guest soloist is Katherine Siochi, principal harpist of the San Francisco Symphony, who will be demonstrating her skills with what is widely considered to be the biggest test of them for her instrument. Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich’s mighty Symphony No. 5, a fist in the face of the oppressive Stalinist regime, closes out the program, which takes place at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday at the California Theatre in downtown San Jose. Find tickets, $24-$121.50, at symphonysanjose.org. Following Saturday night’s concert, there will be an “Afterglow: Cocktails and Conversation” no-host gathering in the nearby Hilton Hotel’s Ahi Bar, featuring conductor Vieu, soloist Siochi and Symphony San Jose musicians.