Winter Fest To Illuminate Downtown San Jose With Jazz

San Jose Jazz Winter Fest is returning for its seventh annual edition this year, featuring the stylings of Roy Ayers, Donny McCaslin, The Cookers, Villalobos Brothers, and Huntertones.

AP Photo – Roy Ayers
Symphony Hall, Woodruff Arts Ctr., Atlanta, Ga.

The event takes places across seven venues in Downtown San Jose, Calif., from Feb. 14 until March 3 and has something for everyone, with traditional-style jazz to world music-leaning artists. While the long running companion event San Jose Jazz Summer Fest sells a wristband for entry to all events, Winter Fest only sells tickets to individual performances. There will also be free performances throughout the event.

Additional performers include Wallace Roney, Ben Allison & Think Free, Natalie Cressman and free performances from local high school bands.

The festival is trying to create a “New York–feel” the festival’s Artistic Director Bruce Labadie told Pollstar. “You can walk around and hear music at night in different places,” he said.

Labadie said downtown San Jose has experienced substantial growth in the last few years and the organizers are always happy to see people turning up on the city’s formerly barren streets. “Just in the last few years they’ve put a lot of buildings up, a lot of housing,” Labadie said. “It’s really encouraging. It’s been quiet for such a long time, now there’s people downtown.”

Tickets are available now. Learn more at SanJoseJazz.org.