{"id":20183461,"date":"2025-08-13T06:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T13:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.metrosiliconvalley.com\/?p=20183461"},"modified":"2025-08-13T17:29:52","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T00:29:52","slug":"san-jose-jazz-summer-fest-2025-bright-moments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metrosiliconvalley.com\/san-jose-jazz-summer-fest-2025-bright-moments\/","title":{"rendered":"Summer Fest\u2019s Brightest Moments"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

To borrow a phrase from Rahsaan Roland Kirk, the San Jose Jazz Summer Fest was filled with bright moments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First of all, the much-heralded Alebrijes\u2014vivid sculptures from Oaxaca, Mexico\u2014arrived in Plaza de Cesar Chavez earlier in the week, bringing a whole new life to the park. They were perfect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Wednesday night before the festival, Adolfo Gomez of Mezcal Restaurant, himself Oaxacan, threw a huge party, Noche de Alebrijes, in the San Jose Museum of Art, corralling chefs and tequila purveyors from all over town. It was masterfully done. By 8:30pm, people were already slow dancing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the time the festival started on Friday, everyone was anticipating the full moon, which appeared early Saturday, and along with the pulverizing daytime heat, triggered me to view the festival through a lens of bright moments. There were many. I can only survey a few.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Friday, the biggest surprise came in the form of Summer Camargo, one of the newest members of the Saturday Night Live<\/em> band, who appeared at the \u201cCalifornia Music Lounge,\u201d a killer intimate space upstairs in the California Theatre, where former Cafe Stritch employees toiled away as stagehands. It was Camargo\u2019s first-ever gig anywhere in the state of California. A trumpet and flugelhorn maestro with wicked chops, she played a set that included many of her own compositions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Musicians<\/a>
The Headhunters at the Jay Paul Company Main Stage. PHOTO: Gary Singh<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

That same night, I also caught Bilal, whose transcendental essence filled the Montgomery Theatre. Unfortunately, I was upstairs in the balcony, where the sound was terrible. The kick drum and the bass guitar obliterated the rest of the mix. The theater simply wasn\u2019t built for massive amplification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These might be feuding words, but every gig that happened in Montgomery Theatre should have been at Hammer Theatre instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A brighter moment? Bilal\u2019s midnight gig at the Break Room, which I did not see in person, but did watch later thanks to the Break Room\u2019s live stream archive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Saturday, Camargo was back, this time on the main stage with the San Jose Jazz High School All-stars, always an inspiring, hopeful gig. Camargo even led them through a tune she originally wrote when she was in high school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To me, this gig is always an important part of the festival. Music education prevented me from going down more nefarious paths in life, so it\u2019s personal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking of music education, a few moments later, SJSU Music Department graduate Leela Paymai and her band Zheniia played a gorgeous fusion of Persian, jazz and psych-rock that we don\u2019t often see around here. Some of the tunings were not of this hemisphere, as they say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just to explain how much we\u2019ve evolved, 30 years ago in the SJSU Music Department, there was no such thing as a Persian student blending music from her own heritage with rock and jazz, and then writing her own tunes. Now someone like Paymai can land fellowships from San Jose Jazz and then wind up at the festival herself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The only problem? The space, like Montgomery Theatre, is not designed for massive amplification if the gig gets to that point. It\u2019s like putting a rock band in a dentist\u2019s office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s not a complaint. Many people, myself especially, are craving a more urban festival, but we just don\u2019t have the venues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Group<\/a>
SHOWING THEIR RANGE Mariachi Las Catrinas covered \u2018Dancing Queen\u2019 at Summer Fest. PHOTO: Gary Singh<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It made me recall moments from previous festivals: Saxophone virtuoso James Carter outside Cafe Stritch telling us stories about gigging with Sun Ra. Latin jazz pioneer Jerry Gonz\u00e1lez at Cafe Stritch telling me Chet Baker stories from the \u201970s. Everybody from everywhere showing up at Cafe Stritch all weekend long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But back to the present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other highlights included the 10-woman Mariachi Las Catrinas covering \u201cDancing Queen,\u201d Delbert Anderson going native, and Stella Cole mastering the Great American Songbook. Tyreek McDole was transcendental, the Headhunters still had it, and the San Jose Jazz U19s were another ray of hope for music education. Wow. All of \u2019em. Just … wow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the festival came to a close, the full moon was just starting to wane and the normal desolation of downtown San Jose on a Sunday night re-emerged all over again, but I did not feel empty. I was full, like the moon itself. Bright moments to all!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

First of all, the Alebrijes\u2014vivid sculptures from Oaxaca\u2014arrived in Plaza de Cesar Chavez. They were perfect.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14789,"featured_media":20183463,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","_expiration-date-status":"","_expiration-date":0,"_expiration-date-type":"","_expiration-date-categories":[],"_expiration-date-options":[]},"categories":[1877],"tags":[5295,10772],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n