In collaboration with Yerba Buena Gardens Festival, AfroSolo Arts Festival presents its 16th annual free concert in Yerba Buena Gardens. Dedicated to nurturing, promoting, and presenting African-American and African diaspora art and culture through solo performance and the visual arts, AfroSolo showcases some of the most trenchant, vibrant and soul-stirring artists around.

Tammy L. Hall

Born and raised in Dallas, Tammy L. Hall started playing the piano at the age of four and soon began at playing Mt. Moriah Missionary Baptist Church. By the age of 8 she was studying classical music and soaking up the sounds around her, absorbing influences such as Stevie Wonder, Ahmad Jamal, Hank Jones and Oscar Peterson.

Hall made her conducting debut with the National Symphony of Turkmenistan, touring with Amikaeyla Gaston and Broadway Bound. She has performed with Connie Champagne, Mary Wilson, Regina Carter, Houston Person, Marcus Shelby, Kim Nalley, Linda Tillery, the late Etta Jones among others.

Linda Kay Ricketts

With roots deep in the music of the African American tradition, vocalist Linda Kay Ricketts‘s unique blend of gospel, spirituals, jazz and blues is the perfect compliment to her rich contralto voice. Ricketts is fast becoming one of the Bay Area’s favorite vocalist.

No stranger to the stage or the studio, Ricketts has performed with such greats as the late Ed Kelly, Calvin Keys, Robert Stewart, Ricardo Scales, Linda Rhondstadt, OIGC, Bill Bell, John Turk, Rhonda Benin, and was a featured artist at San Rafael’s Throckmorton Theatre. She has performed throughout the U.S. as well as South America, France and Africa. In 2012 she performed at Carnegie Hall, and in 2014 was the featured artist at Napa Valley’s Black Coyote Winery.

Ricketts is accompanied by Calvin Keys on guitar, George Spencer on keyboards, Leon Joyce on drums and Mark Williams on bass.