Tom Rogers and Sally Anderson
With Irvine Barclay Theatre present
Jazz Meets Motown
THE BARCLAY JAZZ & BEYOND ORCHESTRA
Shelly Berg - The Tom and Mayumi Adams Music Director
Featuring LISA FISCHER, EVERETT HARP, AND BILLY VALENTINE
Saturday, May 16, 2026 at 8pm
Presenting Sponsor
Tom Rogers and Sally Anderson
Media Sponsor
KJazz
This performance will include a 15-minute intermission.
Shelly Berg: Music Director/Piano
Lisa Fischer: Vocals
Everette Harp: Saxophone
Billy Valentine: Vocals
Saxophones
Sal Lozano
Michael Czają
Alex Johnson
Frank Fontaine
Tim McKay
Trombones
Alex Iles
Joey Sellers
Dave Ryan
Tiffany Johns
Trumpets
Ryan DeWeese
Landon Grigsby
Harry Ostrander
Sarah Bauza
Rhythm Section
Adam Alessi: Drums
Nick Schaadt: Bass
Matt Hornbeck: Guitar
Jorge Zuniga: Percussion
Set One
The Rubberband Man: Composed by Thom Bell and Linda Creed
Arranged by Shelly Berg; Featuring The Barclay Jazz & Beyond Orchestra
What’s Going On: Composed by Reynaldo Benson, Al Greenfield, Marvin Gaye
Arranged by Robert Morgan; Featuring Everette Harp
I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch): Composed by Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, Eddie Holland
Arranged by Shelly Berg; Featuring Billy Valentine
Until You Come Back to Me (That’s What I’m Gonna Do): Composed by Morris Broadnax, Clarence Paul, Stevie Wonder
Arranged by Shelly Berg; Featuring Lisa Fischer and Everette Harp
You Keep Me Hangin’ On: Composed by Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, Eddie Holland
Arranged by Shelly Berg; Featuring Lisa Fischer
Georgia On My Mind: Composed by Hoagy Carmichael and Stuart Gorrell
Arranged by Tom Scott; Featuring Billy Valentine
I Heard it Through the Grapevine: Composed by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong
Arranged by Shelly Berg; Featuring Billy Valentine, Lisa Fischer, Everette Harp
Set Two
Mercy, Mercy, Mercy: Composed by Joe Zawinul
Arranged by Phil Wilson; Featuring The Barclay Jazz & Beyond Orchestra and Everette Harp
You Haven’t Done Nothin’: Composed by Stevie Wonder
Arranged by Shelly Berg; Featuring Billy Valentine
All in Love is Fair: Composed by Stevie Wonder
Duet Performance; Featuring Lisa Fischer and Shelly Berg
Respect: Composed by Otis Redding
Arranged by Christian McBride; Featuring Lisa Fischer and Everette Harp
Got to Get You into My Life: Composed by Lennon-McCartney
Arranged by Chris Walden; Featuring Billy Valentine
A Change is Gonna Come: Composed by Sam Cooke
Arranged by Shelly Berg; Featuring Billy Valentine and Everette Harp
Ain’t No Mountain High Enough: Composed by Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson
Arranged by Shelly Berg; Featuring Billy Valentine, Lisa Fischer, Everette Harp
Jazz Meets Motown celebrates the catchy blend of pop, gospel, and rhythm and blues that originated in Detroit (the “Motor City”) in the 1960s during the rapid rise of Berry Gordy Jr.’s Motown Records. This impactful style emerged during the Civil Rights era and, as Smokey Robinson noted, helped “break down barriers with music,” appealing to both black and white audiences while leaving a lasting social impact.
Motown recordings often utilized call-and-response, syncopation, improvisation, and enticing background harmonies—signature elements of jazz and gospel. This new pop sound helped catapult the careers of Gladys Knight and the Pips, The Temptations, the Four Tops, The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, and the Jackson 5.
The label’s first hit was “Money (That’s What I Want),” followed by “Please Mr. Postman.” Soon after, songs such as “Respect,” “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” “What’s Going On,” and “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” became iconic classics.
Motown’s headquarters, nicknamed Hitsville U.S.A., produced 110 Billboard Top Ten hits between 1961 and 1971 and influenced countless artists, including those featured in tonight’s concert: special guest vocalists Lisa Fischer and Billy Valentine, saxophonist Everette Harp, and the musicians of The Barclay Jazz & Beyond Orchestra, directed by Shelly Berg.
Act One opens with an exciting jazz big-band rendition of “The Rubberband Man,” first recorded by the Spinners. A new arrangement by Shelly Berg showcases the orchestra’s virtuosity. Next is “What’s Going On,” Marvin Gaye’s 1971 plea for peace, performed here by Everette Harp, who has toured with George Duke, Marcus Miller, Kenny Loggins, and Sheena Easton.
Billy Valentine delivers an electrifying jazz-fused version of “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch),” written by the Holland–Dozier–Holland team and released in 1965 by the Four Tops.
Lisa Fischer joins the ensemble for the wistful “Until You Come Back to Me,” a Top Ten hit recorded by Aretha Franklin, then raises the energy with “You Keep Me Hangin’ On,” made famous by the Supremes.
The act closes with Billy Valentine singing “Georgia on My Mind” in a big-band arrangement by Tom Scott. He, Fischer, and Harp then perform “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” whose Marvin Gaye version was later inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Act Two opens with “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy,” the Cannonball Adderley hit that topped the Billboard Hot 100 in 1967. Billy Valentine follows with Stevie Wonder’s “You Haven’t Done Nothin’,” then Fischer and Berg perform a duet of “All in Love Is Fair.”
Fischer returns with “Respect,” arranged by Christian McBride. Valentine sings “Got to Get You into My Life,” followed by “A Change Is Gonna Come,” featuring Valentine and Harp.
The concert closes with a rousing “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” first recorded by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell and later reimagined by Diana Ross.
The Barclay Jazz & Beyond Orchestra is a premier ensemble comprised of Orange County musicians that is dedicated to exploring jazz and popular music through the creation and presentation of unique and entertaining concert programs. Led by Music Director Shelly Berg, The Barclay Jazz & Beyond Orchestra brings a fresh approach to the genre through new compositions, compelling arrangements of jazz classics, and collaboration with world-class guest soloists.