MAIN STAGE
11:00am Skylar Tang
Skylar Tang is a nineteen-year-old rising-star trumpet player and composer. She was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area and currently attends Columbia University and Juilliard Conservatory in New York. Skylar has played locally with renowned musicians such as Larry Vuckovich, Marcus Shelby, and Amina Figarova at the Bay Area’s most esteemed venues such as SFJAZZ, the Black Cat, and San Jose Jazz Fest. She has toured the US, Europe, and South Africa with Carnegie Hall's National Youth Orchestra Jazz Band, which featured guest artists Sean Jones, Dee Dee Bridgewater, and Jazzmeia Horn. As the winner of the 2022 Essentially Ellington’s Student Composition/Arranging Contest, she conducted and performed her original composition "Kaleidoscope" with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.
12:00pm Electric Squeezebox Orchestra
The Electric Squeezebox Orchestra is a 17-piece big band based in the Bay Area that plays music composed and arranged by its members, The band draws from a wide variety of influences but always comes up with music that grooves and has beauty power, and subtlety. Led by trumpeter Erik Jekabson, the band has a residency every second Sunday night at the California Jazz Conservatory in Berkeley that began in March 2021. Before that, the band had a weekly residency at the CJC from 2018-2020 and from Doc's Lab in SF from 2014-2018. The ESO. currently consists of Jekabson, Erik Andrews, Edward Evans, and Christopher Clarke on trumpets; Rob Ewing, Will Shannon, Patrick Malabuyo and Richard Lee on trombones; Sheldon Brown and Larry Delacruz on alto saxes, Rob Sudduth and Marcus Stephens on tenor saxes, Charlie Gurke on baritone sax, and the rhythm section of Parker Grant, piano; Max Brody, guitar; Josh Tower, bass; and Eric Garland on drums. In addition, the band has a resident poet: the Bay Area's own wonderful Avotcja. You'll catch many of the Bay Area's top jazz musicians subbing into the band each performance, and the band has collaborated with special guests Kalil Wilson, John Santos, Kenny Washington, Spok, Madeline Eastman, Sandy Cressman, Edgardo Cambon, Nicolas Bearde, Mads Tolling, Kellye Gray, Alan Ferber, Dayna Stephens, Harvey Wainapel, Ben Goldberg and Remy LeBouef. They have two CDs out on the OA2 label: "The Falling Dream"(2018) and "Cheap Rent" (2015). Their most recent CD, "Matter Is"(2020) on the DoubleOone record label features their collaborations with guest vocalists Madeline Eastman, Sandy Cressman, Kalil Wilson, Kenny Washington and Avotjca.
1:30pm Kim Nalley Three Ladies Sing the Blues
"Ladies Sing the Blues" is one of Kim Nalley's chestnuts that mixes foundation of jazz, blues, with a historical homage to its ancestors. This iteration will include the illustrious jazz veteran Clairdee, Dr. Kim Nalley and the rapidly rising new comer Rhonda Sauce. Expect a concert that honors Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington, Nina Simone and more. Most importantly it will show the historical and musical connection between each generation of jazz singers while recognizing the current three generations of jazz and blues singers Clairdee, Nalley, and Sauce. Most importantly, this concert is all about having a good time!
3:00pm Larry Vukovich
Jazz pianist/bandleader, Larry Vuckovich is recognized as one of the most versatile, wide-ranging musicians on today's jazz scene. He has performed, toured and recorded with the greatest names in history from the various genres of jazz. Some of the jazz masters are Cab Calloway, Dexter Gordon, Clark Terry, Jon Hendricks, Philly Joe Jones, Elvin Jones, Lucky Thompson, Mel Torme, Slide Hampton, Pepper Adams, Jimmy Witherspoon, Eddie Cleanhead Vinson, Joe Williams, Charles McPherson, Bobby Hutcherson – just to name a few. Bobby Hutcherson is featured on Larry Vuckovich's landmark, acclaimed recording, Blue Balkan – the first ever release of fusing the Balkan ethnic folk music with American jazz . . . Larry Vuckovich All-Star Ensemble features the outstanding vocalist, Jackie Ryan, plus in the frontline high energy instrumentalists Kai Lyons – the hottest jazz guitarist in the Bay Area, and former New Yorker, the excellent multi-reed saxophonist, Steve Heckman;
Puerto Rican master percussionist/vocalist Hector Lugo who will also sing a South American classic salsa selection; on bass it'll be the powerful, Ken Okada, and the versatile Sylvia Cuenca on drums.
4:30pm Bobi Cespedes
Gladys “Bobi” Céspedes is a legendary vocalist, composer, and cultural bearer of Afro-Cuban music, known for her resonant voice, commanding stage presence, and deep-rooted connection to the Cuban son tradition. A founding member and lead vocalist of the acclaimed Conjunto Céspedes, Bobi has led the Bay Area’s Afro-Cuban music scene for over four decades, captivating audiences with a powerful blend of folkloric chants, rumba, bolero, and jazz-infused son. Whether performing her own original compositions or honoring the legacy of artists like Celia Cruz and Celina González, Bobi brings storytelling, spirit, and soul to every performance. Her most recent project, Mujer y Cantante, is a vibrant testament to her enduring artistry and cultural legacy.
YOUTH STAGE
11:30am Jazz Education Ensemble
The Jazz Education Ensemble works as mentors to enrich the future of our global community by empowering children with the ability to solve problems through creative thinking, and by developing the knowledge, confidence and skills to work together in groups to achieve artistic, self-esteem and leadership prowess beyond previous limitations.
Our goal is to offer this program free of charge to parents and elementary schools that can't afford to pay for the program, initially throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, then state wide and eventually nationwide.
1:00pm San Francisco Conservatory of Music
The Roots, Jazz and American Music Program (RJAM) undergraduate and postgraduate students takes a holistic view of jazz from its inception to its current status. RJAM prepares the next generation of great jazz artists by engaging students in an innovative model of apprenticeship with all-star faculty such as Matt Wilson, Helen Sung, Altin Sencalar, Marcus Printup, as well as members of the SFJAZZ Collective like Matt Brewer, David Sanchez and Warren Wolf. Students in the RJAM program have the opportunity to perform in multiple venues in the Bay Area, and to collaborate and learn from some of the top jazz artists on the concert circuit today.
2:30pm SF JAZZ High School Allstars
A pre-professional training program for current Bay Area high school age jazz musicians, the All-Stars rehearse and perform throughout the school year at the SFJAZZ Center, receive mentorship and clinics with leading jazz professionals, record a professional studio album, compose and arrange original music in addition to studying a wide range of repertoire, and appear at prestigious music festivals and competitions.
Although it may be a cliché to boast that the future of jazz is in good hands, the skilled young musicians in our All-Stars program continue to earn accolades wherever they appear, including numerous Downbeat Awards, first place in The Portland Jazz Forward and Charles Mingus festivals, and so many more.
4:00pm San Jose Jazz High School Allstars
San Jose Jazz was founded in 1986 and the High School All Stars was founded in 1997 and is a regional, audition-based, advanced music education program for students who want to engage in the study and performance of jazz. The program includes a large ensemble and a combo. It’s designed to help students achieve a mastery of performance and improvisation techniques while advancing their knowledge of music theory, arranging, composition, performance, and jazz history. The program is under the direction of Dr. Aaron Lington, professor of music and coordinator of the Jazz Studies Program at San José State University.