After presenting over 120 acts on 11 stages over a three day period, it took us a bit of time to sort through the many stories we heard post Fest. From what we saw and heard, there were plenty of highlights to choose from.
Continue Reading »Tommy Aguilar has long been a force on the local music scene. With his production company and taste-making collective Universal Grammar, he continually brings quality, forward-thinking music to the intimate, deep red confines of the Pagoda, which will also serve as the home of this year’s RBC Jazz Beyond Stage. This year, he helped us curate our jazz beyond stage programming, which has been expanded to three days. He’s also been instrumental in helping us spearhead …
Continue Reading »Dave Koz, Mindi Abair, Gerald Albright and Richard Elliot – these four saxophonists have each had extraordinary careers, their resumes impressively gilded with gold and platinum-selling CD’s and numerous awards. An ingenious concept then for all four stars to come together on Dave Koz and Friends: Summer Horns, which debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Contemporary Jazz Chart and has become the feel-good smooth jazz release of the season. For its identity, the Summer Horns project …
Continue Reading »Pink Martini is an apt group to describe our time. Though their music can evoke an infectious nostalgia that touches upon 40’s cinema, classical music and the 1950’s Latin music explosion, their musical diversity is indicative of the global perspective that is the norm in our ultra-connected world. Similarly, the group’s many cultural touchstones can providing glimpses into a number of cultures within a single set – perfect to accommodate our shortened attention spans. In …
Continue Reading »Growing up in Prunedale, a small town near Monterey just north of Salinas, Livia Slingerland was exposed to classic rock at an early age. At 13, she began learning guitar at the San Jose’s School of the Blues. Taught by John Garcia, a former John Lee Hooker band mate, her burgeoning skills led her to hone her skills at jams at Poor House Bistro. “I remember every time I had a solo thrown my way, …
Continue Reading »To help shed some light on this year’s Latin offerings at Summer Fest, we consulted the source himself: Arturo Riera, the San Jose Jazz board member otherwise known as “Mister Latin Jazz.” In this blog post, he walks us through the top-notch Latin jazz and salsa acts you’ll encounter throughout downtown San Jose August 9-11.
Continue Reading »Arturo Riera, otherwise known as “Mister Latin Jazz,” offers you a guided introduction to the great Latin talent that will be performing at this year’s Summer Fest. Riera starts with a bit of background on 2011 MacArthur Fellow Dafnis Prieto and Cuban saxophonist Yosvany Terry. He then elaborates on the acts, and themes, you’ll encounter during our three days of wonderful programming on the Kaiser Permanente Salsa Stage. Watch the video in full below. Click …
Continue Reading »Before his performance at Pagoda as part of our Jazz Beyond monthly series, we had a chance to speak with the inimitable Mark de Clive-Lowe, who returns to San Jose to close our RBC Jazz Beyond Stage Fri Aug 9. As he notes in part one of our interview, his work encompasses a little bit of everything — he’s self-described as a “piano player, musician, DJ, remixer and creative collaborator.” Clive-Lowe fully embodies our Jazz …
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