Fresno State’s non-commercial, member-supported radio station, 90.7 KFSR, and local music non-profit organization JazzFresno, will present Loren Pickford and Friends, Thursday Aug. 16, at the Fresno Art Museum’s Bonner Auditorium. The concert begins at 7 p.m., with a pre-concert reception at 6 p.m.

This concert marks the start of 90.7 KFSR’s 25th Anniversary Celebration. Other upcoming events include the 90.7 KFSR Blues Night on Oct. 6, and Evening Eclectic En Vivo II on Oct. 27. Other special events celebrating the anniversary are also in the works. The station first signed on the FM airwaves of the San Joaquin Valley in October of 1982.

Saxophonist Loren Pickford was one of Fresno’s most prominent musicians of the 1970s and 1980s. A Fresno native, and the son of famed watercolor painter Rollin Pickford, Loren Pickford has toured with artists such as Ray Charles and Chet Baker.

Pickford left Fresno in 1989 to pursue his music career, and eventually settled in New Orleans in 1990, where he lived until Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005. While in New Orleans, he became a fixture in the music community and recorded half a dozen records with some of the Crescent City’s top musicians. He currently lives in Kansas City, and is active in that area’s jazz community.

Pickford will be joined in this special reunion concert by his son, bassist Lucas Pickford, as well as local pianist Craig VonBerg, drummer Gary Newmark and other guests.

KFSR is heard throughout the Fresno/Clovis metro area at 90.7 FM and worldwide on the Web. The station’s “Full Spectrum Radio” programming includes jazz and contemporary music, public affairs and cultural programs. The station both provides the community with unique public radio programming, and

JazzFresno is non-profit organization dedicated to promoting jazz in the Central San Joaquin Valley through education and performance.

Tickets are $15 general and $12 for KFSR or JazzFresno members. Advance tickets are available at the Fresno Art Museum Gift Shop or by calling the station at 559.278.2598.

For more information contained in this release, please go to the following Web site(s):

KFSR

JazzFresno