‘Birdland’ lands in Vancouver at Wine & Jazz fest

What: 18th annual Vancouver Wine and Jazz Festival.

Featuring: 15 concerts; dozens of local restaurants, crafters and wineries selling their wares.

When: 4 to 10 p.m. Aug. 21; 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Aug. 22; and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Aug. 23.

Where: Esther Short Park, 301 W. Eighth St., downtown Vancouver.

Cost: $55 for advance three-day pass; $20 at the gate for Aug. 21 only, $25 for Aug. 22 only, $25 for Aug. 23 only (see website for discount advance-purchase prices).

Complete schedule: vancouverwinejazz.com

Information: 360-906-0441 or vancouverwinejazz.com

Been to Birdland?

The lyrics describe a hot little nightclub on New York City’s 52nd Street, where all the jazz greats played. The place was named for one of the greatest of them all: groundbreaking bebop saxophonist Charlie Parker, aka “Bird.”

But Vancouver’s own Esther Short Park will be “Birdland” on Aug. 22 during the 18th annual Vancouver Wine & Jazz Festival, as Grammy-winning singers the Manhattan Transfer unleash their famously classy-yet-sassy harmonies on hits like “Birdland” — as well as “Route 66,” “The Boy from New York City” and many more.

“I’ve wanted to have them here for years. They’ve been on my list,” said organizer Michael Kissinger. “They’ve defined vocal jazz music for the past 40 years.” The Manhattan Transfer have won 10 Grammy awards and worked with everyone from Tony Bennett to Phil Collins and B.B. King to Frankie Valli.

Fans of that group will surely dig singer Jane Monheit too, Kissinger said. She’s a proponent of classic American songbook standards as well as newer pop hits who brings a diva’s charm and vocal chops to the stage — which she’s shared with the likes of Michael Bublé and Sergio Mendez.

“She’s a real jazz singer,” Kissinger said. “Think Diana Krall or Diane Schuur.”

But if you’re one of those serious jazz fans who insists on seriously cerebral music, try the Billy Childs Quartet. Childs is “very intellectual and a highly technically gifted piano player and composer,” Kissinger said. Childs, a Los Angeles native who started performing at age 6, has won four Grammy awards — two for Best Instrumental Composition and another two for Best Arrangement Accompanying a Vocalist. He’s played with jazz and classical luminaries like Wynton Marsalis, Wayne Shorter and Yo Yo Ma.

“He does a really interesting mix of straight-ahead jazz and classical music,” Kissinger said. “He’s brilliant.”

Latin, military themes

Also big at the 18th Vancouver Wine & Jazz Festival will be what’s known as Latin jazz.

“That’s a theme for us this year,” Kissinger said. “We have Brazilian and Cuban, we’ve got contemporary and old-school. We’ve got world-famous names like Arturo Sandoval and Poncho Sanchez. Personally, I think the Pacific Mambo Orchestra is going to be a real sleeper.”

The relatively new, 20-piece big band hails from San Francisco; Kissinger noted that the group begged for funds to record its first album via a Kickstarter campaign, and the newcomers’ record went on to win a 2014 Grammy for Best Tropical Latin Album.

“It was shocking,” Kissinger said. “They beat out all these longstanding artists. They are really fun. They’ll get everybody dancing.”

Rounding out the Latin sounds will be singer-composer-pianist Claudia Villela, a native of Rio de Janeiro, whose physical technique Kissinger compared to that of vocalist Bobby McFerrin; trumpet and flugelhorn master Arturo Sandoval, a Dizzy Gillespie protege and native of Cuba; Texas bandleader Poncho Sanchez, “an incredible percussionist and just a great all-around musician,” Kissinger said; and Portland-based Caminhos Crusados, featuring guitarist Dan Balmer.

Last but definitely not least, Kissinger is shining a light on military bands. Featured will be the 204th U.S. Army Brass Band, the 234th U.S. Army Band and the 56th U.S. Army Jazz Band.

“They are phenomenal musicians. This is our way of saying military musicians are a great part of American culture. This is our way of saying thank you,” Kissinger said.