Laguna Beach Festival Of Arts Brings Sweet Summer Thursdays

LAGUNA BEACH—The Festival of Arts presents a series of live jazz concerts, all coupled with chocolate and wine pairings. This extremely happy hour and a half takes place each Thursday this summer from 5:30-7 p.m. The variety of musicians performing covers jazz from classic standards to bossa nova. The artists' work can be heard on recordings, film and television soundtracks, and concerts worldwide.

The cost is $20, which doesn't include admission to the art show. And, as you'd imagine, you must be 21 or older to partake.

Many of the "Art, Jazz, Wine & Chocolate" series musicians return from festivals past, or you've heard them playing on other nights at the Festival of Arts.

Here is the 2021 schedule:

July 15: Tony Guerrero’s Big Band

Flugelhornist, trumpeter, composer, arranger and producer Guerrero makes his big band really swing.

July 22: Girl’s Jazz Night with Tony Guerrero. Vocalists Crystal Lewis, Tawanda and Maria Schafer take the stage.

Singer/songwriter Lewis is a multi-Dove Award winner and 3 time Grammy nominee; Tawanda is a Sarah Vaughan Vocal Jazz Competition finalist, currently recording her first album with Resonance Records; Schafer has toured the U.S., Canada and Japan with the Glenn Miller Orchestra, and produced two of her own albums.

Girl power in the jazz world, with bandleader Guerrero's fine musicians.

July 29: Bill Cantos.

The latest of Cantos' 6 solo CDs features original music in homage to classic jazz standards. But he loves Brazilian jazz as well, having worked with such greats as Sergio Mendes and Flora Purim.

August 5: Brian Simpson

The prolific keyboardist and composer has topped the charts in R&B and smooth jazz. Expect tunes from his 2021 release "All That Matters," including the hit single "So Many Ways."

August 12: Téka

The Brazilian guitarist and singer blends bossa nova with her love of American jazz into a style she calls New Bossa—smooth, warm and rhythmic summer sounds.

August 19: Billy Valentine

From live theater roles to the recording studio, Valentine's vocal chops are flexible in multiple genres. His songwriting collaborations include such icons as the Neville Brothers and Ray Charles.

August 26: “Pretzel Logic, A Steely Dan Revue”

The little "big band" consists of three vocalists, three horn players and a five-person rhythm section, with a 70-song repertoire.

September 2: Scott Wilkie

The contemporary jazz artist with an international following returns to the festival, bringing a fiery approach to the grand piano for the final "Art, Jazz, Wine & Chocolate" Thursday for summer 2021.

As for what wine will be served with which chocolates? You'll have to go and see, hear and taste for yourself!