The Crowd: Getting jazzy for the Ocean Institute
An amazing musical tradition on the Orange coast celebrated its 13th year, welcoming hundreds of sincerely dedicated patrons and raising a net amount of $170,000 from Jan. 23 to 25. It was all for and all about the Ocean Institute at Dana Point. Organizers call the party Jazz Festival.
Once again, the talented musician Rick Braun headlined the event, supported by good pals Elliott Yamin and Norman Brown. The jazz greats performed with tremendous heart and plenty of soul for sold-out audiences at the Institute on Friday and Saturday evenings, as well as a Sunday encore that also featured a performance by a jazz group known as DW3.
A major aspect of the festival combines jazz and — what else? — fabulous food and wine. The entire experience pays homage to the great life in the O.C., coupled with doing something wonderful in support of education. This purpose mostly benefits school-age students, but also reaches students of every age wanting to learn more about the science of our oceans.
Participation from major chefs and renowned dining rooms is certainly a big part of the draw. On Friday and Saturday evenings, guests dined on lavish multicourse dinners with wine pairing provided by an array of culinary winners.
Among the generous were St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort & Spa, Laguna Cliffs Marriott Resort & Spa, the Balboa Bay Resort, the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel, Park Hyatt Aviara Resort and Montage Laguna Beach, which, by the way, just sold for a reported $300 million to a Chicago-based investment entity.
The crowd raved over food enhanced by the smooth jazz of Braun and friends. Dining highlights served on the main-event evening Saturday included a cured Scottish salmon, artichoke barigoule in Meyer lemon vinaigrette and coriander tuile prepared by the Balboa Bay Resort’s executive chef, Vincent Lesage. It was followed by a course of spicy piloncillo, glazed prawn with sushi rice cake in pickled slaw with crunchy pepitas created by chef Pedro Contreras of Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel.
A main course of pot-au-feu wowed the music lovers. Slow-cooked beef shank infused with winter harvest veggies, horseradish and tomato sauce was the work of chef Pierre Albaladejo of Park Hyatt Aviara. Suffice it to say, the crowd dined with baronial treatment. No one left hungry.
It was all made possible by a dedicated and super-hard-working committee that pitches in year after year. Members all deserve kudos, including Amy Botdorf, Sally Coombe, Kat Dej-Panah, Pam Forney, Dennis Gabrick, Eileen Hayden, Donia Moore, Angie Narel, Pam Petersen, Bryan Stirrat, Melinda Williams and longtime advocate Tim McMahon.
Folks from the Ocean Institute working to make the jazz festival a winner included Shira Greenbaum, Kajsa James, Mary Lawson, Erin Slattery and Jennifer Wilson-Rouyer. Also front and center for the event was the Ocean Institute president and CEO, Daniel Stetson.
A massive auction, with donations from dozens of local merchants, entertained the crowd before and during dinner. Spotted among the Ocean Institute patrons were Melony and Brett Barber, Carol and Larry Blair, Vera and Winston Cheshire, Donna and Bruce Fischer, Dally and David Gordon, Lynn and Dave Jochim, Sally and Tom Magill, and Erin and Jim Moloney.
Also supporting the jazz festival were Kris and John Ratliff, Linda and Kirk Retz, Darlene and Steve Rudkin, Beverly and Hugh Verano, Debra and David Weinberg and Deana and Ed Wondergem.
The Ocean Institute in Dana Point uses the “ocean as a classroom.” With national recognition for its hands-on marine science environmental programs, the institute involves some 115,000 students in kindergarten through grade 12, as well as some 6,000 teachers, annually in 61 different immersion-style educational programs. To learn more, visit https://www.ocean-institute.org.
THE CROWD runs Fridays. B.W. Cook is editor of the Bay Window, the official publication of the Balboa Bay Club in Newport Beach.
