The San Jose Jazz Summer Fest initially had formidable competition with the long-established Monterey Jazz Festival , which began in 1958 and the comparatively recent SF Jazz Festival that started in 1983 as “Jazz in the City.” Significantly, since its inception over 30 ears ago, the annual San Jose gathering has come into its own and now is in a class by itself. It has warmer weather than the other nearby festivals and is much broader in scope with an appealing mixture of jazz and its variations, Latin mus
Downtown San Jose’s Plaza de César Chavez Park is the festival’s hub with eight stages all within close proximity. Among them are the Sobrato Organization Main Stage, Blues/Big Easy, Latin Tropical, SJMA Next Gen and the Tabard Theatre Swing Stage . This year over 100 different artists will perform with something for everyone, even those with little to no interest in jazz.
Mainstream Jazz lovers and more adventurous aficionados will enjoy some familiar high caliber musicians like the boundless The Bad Plus, multi- Grammy-Winning soul/jazz vocalist Gregory Porter, celebrated composer/arranger/pianist Billy Childs , heavy weight session player/composer/bandleader/humanitarian Marcus Miller , and multi-faceted Patrice Rushen who’s a stellar keyboardist, songwriter, producer and educator.
Corinne Mammana