Review and Photo Gallery: 2008 San Jose Jazz Fesival

by Michael Shea.

On August 9 and 10, 2008 I spent two exhilarating days at the San Jose Jazz Festival. There are nine stages – I counted them – with the main stage located at Plaza de Cesar Chavez in downtown San Jose, California. It’s impossible to listen to every artist playing concurrently on those nine stages.

I was in pretty good shape, having just returned from a 60-mile hike in the Sierra Nevada mountains, but three stages per set was the best I could do. My strategy was to review the program and pick the acts I most wanted to see, listen to a few songs, and then move on to the next venue.

During the two days I was there, I did manage to hear 19 different artists, including The Manhattan Transfer, James Hunter, Joe Bonamassa, Tony Lindsay, Javon Jackson with Dr. Lonnie Smith and Les McCann, George Brooks and Zakir Hussain, John Desnmore’s Tribal Jazz, David Sanborn, and Dayna Stephens.

The festival offers music lovers a variety of options. Just want to relax? Bring a lawn chair and hang out at the main stage all day. Feel like dancing? Then the salsa stage is the place to go. With acts like Karabaili and Avance, it’s hard to stand still. Into the blues? Get barbeque, beer, and blues at the blues stage. Had enough of the San Jose sunshine? There are three awesome indoor stages – at the IMAX Theatre, San Jose Repertory Theatre, and The Technical Museum of Innovation.

You might be thinking, “San Jose, California? Silicon Valley? The festival must cost big bucks.” But check it out: the cost was only ten dollars a day. With the generous help of sponsors Comcast and Southwest Airlines, the San Jose Jazz Festival is able to put on three days of great music at a cost even a family can afford (children under 12 are free).

San Jose Jazz, a nonprofit organization, produces the festival and uses proceeds from it to support free or low-cost jazz performances, educational programs, in-school workshops, young artists performances, summer jazz camps, and to provide scholarships for young people.

Not only does the festival present top name acts and fantastic music, it’s green, too. All the cups, plates, and utensils are biodegradable. Although the forks, knives, and spoons appear to be regular plastic, they are actually made from corn or potato starch and can be composted. The cooking oil from food concessionaries is converted to bio-diesel fuel, and the festival uses solar energy to power the stage, lights, and sound systems. You can hear great music, eat delicious food and be socially responsible while doing so.

Photo Gallery

Related Links
San Jose Jazz Festival
Crosscut Saw Photography

---