Heussenstamm headlines festival

The Artists’ Theater will be swinging March 7.

Guitarist John Heussenstamm will perform “Nothin’ But the Blues,” along with the award-winning Laguna Beach High School Jazz Orchestra and jazz singer Jamie Shew during the Fifth Annual Laguna Beach Blues & Jazz Festival at 7:30 p.m. March 7 at the Artists’ Theater, 625 Park Ave.

The concert benefits school district music programs.

Twenty-five members of the high school’s jazz orchestra just returned from Orlando, Florida, where they competed in the Disney Jazz Fest. The students participated in workshops led by national jazz music professionals and performed at the Disney Hollywood Studio stage.

The orchestra won first place in their division, and also took home other honors: Superior Category Musicians, Best Rhythm Section, and second place in the Overall Performance category, beating out many larger high schools and other divisions.

The band lost first place by only three points to a large audition-only band, whereas Laguna High welcomes all musical students. The orchestra is led by Roger Shew.

Heussen- stamm was raised in Los Angeles. He trained initially in classical piano “” his great grandfather and grandmother founded a music conservatory in pre-war Germany “” and explored trumpet and electric bass before discovering jazz guitar in his teens.

Bitten by the jazz bug, he studied intensively with some of the best teachers in the city, including Ted Greene, Joe Pass and Tito Guitati. His jazz studies encompassed be-bop, blues, swing, Latin, funk and jazz fusion.

He also studied Indian scales and rhythms with Ali Akbar Khan at his college in San Rafael.

Wes Montgomery and George Benson were major early influences and are reflected in his melodic range; and B.B. King, Albert King and Freddie King are his favorite blues guitarists.

Heussenstamm has performed extensively in Los Angeles, Orange County and the United States, and enjoyed 10 years of performing around Australia. He has had the opportunity to work with such artists as Grammy Award-winning Deniece Williams, Jackie Lomax and Above The Clouds (Earth Records).

Locally, he can be seen performing at venues including the Festival of Arts, Hush, Laguna Beach Blues & Jazz Festival, Steamers, Studio Café, Universal Bar & Grill, Orange County Blues Festival, Culver City Blues Festival, Stanton Blues Festival and the House of Blues. His recordings date from 1985, and the latest one is “Live At The Pageant,” Baba Elefante bass, Leo Vigil drums, Ron Kobayashi (2007).

In addition to performing, he teaches, creates and produces video guitar lessons, writes and records commercial jingles and movie soundtracks and produces various artists in his Little Bluebird Studio. He is currently editing his first guitar instruction book, “Speed Picking.”

Tickets to the Blues & Jazz Festival are $30 for premium seating, $20 for adults, and $10 for students. Tickets are available at www.lagunaplayhouse.com and (949) 497-2787.

For more concert information visit www.bluesandjazzfestival.com