Free Concerts in Menlo Park

The Menlo Park Library is hosting a pair of free concerts this August.

The sounds of the islands will fill the Belle Haven Branch Library on Saturday, August 4, when the Ho’omana Hawaiian Band plays at 1:00 p.m. Ho’omana is a trio led by Manley Bush, who was born and raised in Hawaii, and is a self-taught musician and a cofounder of the Bay Area Aloha Festival held annually in San Mateo.

Ho’omana features six-string rhythm and slack-key guitars, ukulele and bass. Bush leads the band, playing 6-string slack-key guitar and ukulele. Joining him is Robert Ucangco on rhythm guitar and Eddy Navarro on bass. All three musicians share lead and backup vocals. As Ho’omana plays many hulas, dancers are invited to participate if they know they know a song – or even if they don’t.

An eclectic jazz sound will take over on Saturday, August 11 at 11:00 a.m., when the library hosts JAZZphoria at the Menlo Park City Council Chambers. JAZZphoria is a new octet playing all original music from swing, to bebop, reggae, salsa, Middle Eastern funk, “and the kitchen sink.” The Jean Fineberg-led octet bill themselves as "Groove Beat," because all of their material is contemporary and rhythm based, and their performances are up-tempo and geared toward a general audience.

Saxophonist/flutist Jean Fineberg is a charter member of the Jazzschool faculty, Assistant Director of the Montclair Women’s Big Band, and Director of the Jazzschool Girls’ and Women’s Jazz & Blues Camps. She has recorded on more than 40 albums, and her compositions have been performed at the Grammys, The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., and the 2016 Monterey Jazz Festival.

Both of the concerts are free, thanks to funding from the Friends of the Menlo Park Library.

For more information, visit the Menlo Park Library online at menlopark.org/library, or phone 650-330-2501.