ALONG COMES MARY

Despite all the food, wine, giggles & fun had in San Jose, the main reason for the media trip was to check out their 25th Annual Jazz Festival. Each year, Downtown San Jose pulls out all the stops to bring you one of the best festivals in California.

Having grown up hearing much Jazz play from my Father’s speakers, I admit, I know a thing or 2 about the genre & many of its legends. I was so excited to hear that names like Bootsy Collins & David Sanborn would be gracing the stages of the 3 day event.

Their Friday night kick-off at The Kaiser Permanente main stage with Bootsy Collins was a perfect way to begin this dazzling weekend! With plenty of funk, fun & costumes, Collins gave us his all for his set & had the crowd having loads of fun as they sipped at their wine & beer!

Saturday afternoon’s first set was one to be reckoned with, New York faves & Grammy winners, Snarky Puppy, graced the main stage with their mix of fusion & improv that left the audience with goosebumps (literally! Just ask fellow blogger, Serendipity Mommy).

After Snarky Puppy, we headed on over to the historic California Theatre where we got to listen in on Hot Club of Detroit, who are masters of blending gypsy-like vibes with french flare even thrown in. Retaining its original lineup of reeds, two guitars, accordion, upright bass and no drums, Hot Club of Detroit was the perfect mellow sound to hear following a busy morning of brunch & lots of sight-seeing.

Sunday, by far, had my favorite performance. Taiko of San Jose with The Bangerz headlined The California Theatre & we were fortunate enough to grab the 2nd row. I was unfamiliar with Taiko, as per Wikipedia: “Taiko is an amazing broad range of Japanese percussion instruments. Within Japan, the term refers to any kind of drum, but outside Japan, the term is often used to refer to any of the various Japanese drums called wadaiko and to the form of ensemble taiko drumming more specifically called kumi-daiko lit. “drum collection”). The process of constructing taiko varies between manufacturers, but must include the making and shaping of a drum body, choosing a skin for the drum head, and carefully stretching the skin over the drum head to create appropriate tension.”

Taiko have a mythological origin in Japanese folklore and appears to be a drumming style of Japanese origin. Historical writings documented young Japanese men being sent to Korea to study specially the drumming of kakko, a drum from Southern China. The drums are similar to the instruments found in Korea and China from shape to ornament. Taiko is believed to have been introduced to Japan through Korean and Chinese cultural influence between 300–900 CE. Some taiko drums are similar to ones from India, Thailand, Vietnam and other cultures, which suggests a Southern Asia influence on the set of instruments.

The Taiko performers with The Bangerz, a group of San Jose native DJ’s, could not be a better union. Combining their beats & tracks of famous songs drumming to the beat of Taiko drums, was absolutely fascinating to witness, & to see the Taiko drummers, from very young, to elderly, was very inspiring & just made me feel happy!

The San Jose Jazz Festival is definitely one of the best of the fests in California, if you’re not too familiar with Jazz or are looking for more than one style of the subject, this event has beyond succeeded in creating a wonderful weekend event highlighting a broad range of Jazz.

And, A big congrats going out to Tony, Kassie & Nora who’ve won my Tori Amos giveaway! 🙂 That was such a fun & successful giveaway. How about another today?! 😉 I have a copy of The San Jose Jazz Fest’s program (below) to give away to one lucky winner (to be chosen at random via Rafflecopter.) Simply use the form below for your chance by August 31st. Don’t forget to check out my Sweepstakes tab for all rules. Good luck!! xo

a Rafflecopter giveaway

(*Disclosure: I was provided with a FAM media trip to San Jose & provided press comps for this review. All opinions, as always, are my own.)