San Jose Jazz Summer Fest stays true to its community roots

If 30 is the age when you’re supposed to calm your wild ways, somebody forgot to tell the crowd at San Jose Jazz Summer Fest, which kicked off its 30th annual edition in strong form Friday night.

The joyful, rollicking audience surrounding the main stage in Plaza de Cesar Chavez was already in a good mood when the Family Stone shouted out, “San Jose, it’s a family affair,” riffing off the Bay Area funk and soul band’s 1971 hit. The crowd let out a huge cheer in response and kept right on cheering for En Vogue later in the night. It’s gonna be that kind of weekend in downtown San Jose, which is floating in music, be it jazz, blues, soul, salsa, swing or gospel.

Bruce Labadie, who has been booking the festival since its much smaller start in 1990, said he thinks this is the best lineup in three decades. Yet, it’s not just the big names — including Gregory Porter and Pink Martini on Saturday and the O’Jays on Sunday — that have transformed Summer Fest into an institution that’s expected to draw some 40,000 people to its 13 downtown stages this weekend.

It’s also because the festival has managed to maintain its community roots even as it has grown and evolved. Those nationally known acts are mixed in with homegrown performers like Jackie Gage, Aki Kumar, Amy Dabalos, Aaron Lington and the SJZ Collective, a touring band that features talents like Wally Schnalle and Oscar Pangalinan. Collaborating with Poor House Bistro’s Jay Meduri and promoter Universal Grammar to program stages has added a more diverse sound to the mix. And this year, the Sonido Clash collective — which has its own festival next month — is programming its own stage with Latin dance music near the Salsa Stage on San Fernando Street.

“I think we’ve done a good job of adapting the festival to be reflective of San Jose’s musical identity,” San Jose Jazz Executive Director Brendan Rawson said. “The diversity that’s present in our region is an exciting thing to tap into as a programmer, both in terms of the local talent that’s present and the international talent coming from around the globe that has particular relevance to the communities that are part of San Jose today.”

Many community hands had a role in bringing to life that first festival in 1990, especially Labadie and the late Sammy Cohen, who founded the San Jose Jazz Society. It would be impossible to list the scores of people who have nurtured the festival through ups and downs over the years.

People remember when the festival was free, and some lament the decision in 2008 to start charging a $5 gate admission fee. But those were also the days when stages were in parking lots, and the added revenue has allowed the fest to bring in better acts and to improve the stages. Today, general admission tickets are $30, providing access to five outdoors stages; paying an extra $15 adds four indoor stages. But there also are free stages inside the San Jose Museum of Art (youth), in the courtyard behind St. Joseph Cathedral Basilica (gospel), at Tabard Theater at San Pedro Square (swing) and at San Pedro Square Market (various). Schedule and ticket information is available at summerfest.sanjosejazz.org.

“I think we’re the best music value in the Bay Area,” Rawson said. “And what distinguishes us is how much we’ve tried to stay in tune with our local community. This is not a festival that’s a whole slew of traveling artists that are on the same bill you’ll see at the next festival.”

San Jose Jazz’s other initiatives also have added to the festival’s variety. Students who learn an instrument in the middle-school Progressions program or San Jose Jazz’s annual summer camp might find themselves on the stage with the San Jose Jazz High School All-Stars or the San Jose State-based 7th Street Big Band. Even if they don’t catch the performing bug, they become part of a more music-literate audience.

A few years ago the outdoor festival changed in another way that strengthened its ties to downtown by adding indoor stages at Cafe Stritch, the Hammer Theatre Center, the Fairmont Hotel and restaurant Inca Azteca. Adding these more intimate spaces not only expanded the range of performers the festival could book but it also unleashed the electric energy from the crowd at Plaza de Cesar Chavez beyond the festival gates onto downtown streets.

Of course, the crowd inside the gates is a still a sight to behold, with groups setting up their lawn chairs in front of the main stage and greeting old friends like it’s a music-infused family reunion during the day and dancing with endless energy after dark.

Milling around the food and vendor booths lined up on Market Street or stopping in the Jazz Mass at St. Joseph Cathedral, you’ll run into people from around the Bay Area, California and even as far away as Atlanta. They’re here to see who San Jose is showcasing this year, whether it’s Chicago trumpeter Marquis Hill, hot British jazz group Sons of Kemet or Colombian salsa band Orquesta La 33. And, let’s face it, the weather ain’t bad, either.

Rawson says it’s exciting for San Jose Jazz to be part of the ongoing evolution of downtown San Jose. “We want to keep adapting and making sure music and the arts are a key part of how we envision the city moving forward,” he said. “We’re fortunate in San Jose that our festival is able to reflect jazz as an American art form known around the globe. I think that’s just going to continue to grow as an exciting contribution to the national jazz scene.”