Rhonda Benin Quartet at The Annex Sessions, brought to you by SunJams and Javier Navarrette Music

The Annex Sessions show #67

“The Annex Sessions" Wednesday, July 10, 2024, 6-8:30pm will continue our music series held
at El Cerrito Natural Grocery Company Prepared Food Annex (The Annex) 

Rhonda Benin Quartet
featuring:
Rhonda Benin – vocals
John R. Burr - keyboards
Ron Belcher - acoustic bass
Richard Howell - saxophone
 
Jazz, Blues, Soul, and Pop
www.rhondabenin.com

Musician Bios:

RHONDA BENIN - Vocalist, Producer, Artist Teacher
“Benin’s got a coolly hip vocal, with a bit of hush and sugar and an undercurrent of big booming
power. She can bend notes with a bass, talk serenade with a piano and steam the kettle from
the drums”.                                                              Ran Pacifica Tribune

San Francisco Bay Area vocalist, Rhonda Benin has earned a reputation for not just a good voice
but showmanship, magnetic stage personality, humor, and of course her great dancing. 
Rhonda’s impressive resume includes performances at SF Jazz, Yoshi’s, MOAD, The Healdsburg,
Sonoma, Burlingame, Sausalito, Filmore, and Calistoga Jazz Festivals.  In the summer of 2012
Rhonda traveled to Hangzhou, China for a 3 month engagement at the JZ Jazz Club and was
2014 USA headliner for The Kigali Up Music Festival in Kigali, Rwanda.  In addition to singing,
Rhonda is producer and founder of the annual Women’s History Month show “Just Like A
Woman” a tribute to Bay Area Women In Music. Benin is a 26 year member of The GRAMMY
nominated vocal ensemble Linda Tillery and The Cultural Heritage. She appears on the CHC’s 7

CD’s and has toured 30 countries performing and recording with legendary artists such as Taj
Mahal, Wilson Pickett, Richie Havens, Odetta. Al Green, Keb Mo, Santana, Patti Austin, Janis Ian,
Jackson Brown, Hugh Masekela & Sweet Honey In The Rock.

In 2006 Rhonda produced her first solo CD, A Matter of the Heart a classic mix of jazz, blues,
and soul and is currently working on her 2nd  CD.

Rhonda is on the teaching staff of Healdsburg Jazz ‘s Operation Jazz Band, San Francisco Arts
Project, LEAP, California Conservatory of Music, Cal Performances and conducts her own school
assemblies and workshops, “The Voice, The Hands The Feet”  “Twist and Shout” and “Love
Letters Make Me Misty Blue”.

JOHN R. BURR – Pianist

John R. Burr is that rare pianist who combines jazz technique with a genuine love for folk music.The Philadelphia Weekly said, “Pianist extraordinaire John R. Burr has the most sparkling stylesince former Allman Brother-turned-Rolling Stone hired hand Chuck Leavell.” Discology wrote,“John R. Burr ranks with the best of the elegant jazzers.”Years of touring and recording sessions with such artists as Maria Muldaur, The Alison BrownQuartet, Paul McCandless, Michael Manring, and Kathy Kallick, and recognition including afeature spot on Windham Hill’s Piano Sampler II are a testament of his talent.Living in the San Francisco area, John R found himself at OTR Studios often recording on otherpeople’s albums. There he met Cookie Marenco, the engineer on those sessions. When Cookiefounded Blue Coast Records, she knew it was a matter of time before John R had a recordingunder his own name. The first solo piano album of many to come is called Quarter Tones anddisplays John R’ intimate relationship with the piano.His playing is as likely to be inspired by James Taylor or Doctor John as by Oscar Peterson or theYellowjackets although he says it is his love of folk music that has influenced him most.compassrecords.com/artist/john-r-burr 

RON BELCHER - Bassist

Bassist Ron Belcher travels the world from France to Japan and throughout the United Statesbringing his rhythmically buoyant, emotionally uplifting style to the stage for a wide diversity ofjazz artists.

RICHARD HOWELL - Saxophonist

Multi-instrumentalist, saxophonist, vocalist, Richard Howell has explored a vast spectrum of
music. His powerful, sensually melodic saxophone playing has been heard with artists as
diverse and definitive as blues/jazz/soul legends Etta James, Chaka Khan, Maurice White,
Narada Michael Walden, Della Reese, Cecil Taylor, Don Cherry, Billy Higgins, Charlie Haden,
Hilton Ruiz, Bernard Purdie, Buddy Guy, Bobby Watson, Regina Carter, Jimmy Smith, Charlie
Musselwhite, Joe Louis Walker, Ledisi, Taj Mahal. Continuing with such progressive
Latin/Afro/rhythmic pioneers as Willie Bobo, Bill Summers, Pete Escovedo, Mingo Lewis,
John Santos, and the Motels among others.

The Annex

The Annex is a lively space for shopping, dining and relaxing. As the newest part of The Natural Grocery Company, the values are the same: a passion for vibrant community, healthy organic food and respect for the planet. 

"The Annex Sessions" is sponsored by the Natural Grocery Company in its commitment to serve the local community and help in the recovery of the local art scene. 

Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner 7 days a week, inside the Annex you’ll find: A Cafe, Juice Bar, Deli, Wine & Beer, and more.

The Annex building itself embodies our values: a few of the sustainable features are: extensive re-use of materials from the pre-existing structure, use of recycled materials from local vendors, and reliance on the solar energy we produce here, supplemented with other clean energy sources.

Javier Navarrette continues to bring live music to several venues around the Bay Area. Javier has been a professional musician and music educator in the Oakland Unified School District for the past 20 years. Over the past 2 years Navarrette has produced outdoors events that have proven instumental in enabling musicians to deal with some of the fallout of the pandemic and shutdown that followed. Most recently he has been curating "Modúpue Sundays at the Brooklyn Basin.” These musical productions ran from June–November 2021 at the new Oakland hot spot, the Brooklyn Basin, with internationally known, Bay Area musical legends. Follow Javier Navarrette on Facebook , Instagram and YouTube. 

COVID RELATED SAFETY MEASURES

Please be safe. Feel free to wear a mask if you prefer. 

TICKETS

Tickets are encouraged, we are happy to offer you a reserved seat (limited seating available) if you RSVP with a donation that will go towards paying for the music. Tickets are NOT required for this venue, you can simply come in, order food and beverages at the Annex counter. 

DONATIONS

SunJams is committed to funding children's music education in underserved public elementary schools. Your donation will help support this ongoing program. 

In addition, we need to raise funds to continue bringing you this exciting new live music program. All of the proceeds will go directly to our network of local musicians, each of whom have been severely impacted by the lack of events during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Whether you donate $10, $100, or $1000 - any amount helps and will allow us to keep bringing music to our community! As always, your donation to our 501(c)3 may qualify as tax exempt. 

Please DONATE HERE

DURING THE SHOW

We will be taking cash or check donations at check-in, during intermission & at the end of the show. 

TIME

The Annex is open every day, please check their website for hours (https://naturalgrocery.com/annex/).


The show will begin at 6:00 PM and conclude by 8:30 PM.