The numbers add up well for the first San Diego Tijuana International Jazz Festival, which will takes place next weekend.
With a total of 11 performances by eight artists taking place at three venues on both sides of the U.S./Mexico border — one indoor and two open-air — the three-day event will be a multinational affair in more ways than one.
The lineup features noted artists from various parts of the U.S. and Mexico, and from as far afield as Cuba, Italy and the Netherlands. The festival opens with a ticketed concert Friday at California Center for the Arts, Escondido. It will be followed by free performances Saturday on a block of Tijuana’s Avenida Revolucion and next Sunday at the outdoor Quartyard venue in downtown San Diego.
Here is a guide to who is performing.
San Diego Tijuana International Jazz Festival
Cindy Blackman Santana Band: Rock fans know her as the dynamic drummer in Santana and, before that, Lenny Kravitz’s group. But jazz fans also know Cindy Blackman Santana as an assured band leader and composer whose solo career dates back to her all-star 1988 debut album. She and her four-man band play jazz-rock, with an emphasis on jazz. 9:15 p.m. Friday. California Center for the Arts, Escondido, 340 North Escondido Blvd.
Gilbert Castellanos All-Star Sextet: This will be a rare opportunity to hear top San Diego trumpeter Gilbert Castellanos, a native of Mexico, alongside tenor sax titan Karl Denson, a touring member of the Rolling Stones since 2014. The lineup also includes ace pianist Gerald Clayton, bassist Luca Alemanno,cq former Dizzy Gillespie drummer Ignacio Berroa and Charlie Chavez on congas. 8:15 p.m. Friday. California Center for the Arts, Escondido; 7 p.m. Saturday. Avenida Revolucion, between Calle Salvador Diaz Miron and Calle Emiliano Zapata, Tijuana
Gerald Clayton: Born in Holland, this Los Angeles-based piano star has distinguished himself as a solo artist and as a key member in the bands of such jazz stars as saxophonist Charles Lloyd and trumpeter Roy Hargrove. Clayton will perform a solo tribute to Jellyroll Morton, the New Orleans jazz pioneer who lived and performed in Tijuana in the early 1920s. 7:30 p.m. Friday. California Center for the Arts, Escondido
Magos Herrera & The Hausmann Quartet: This Mexico City-bred vocal star and her New York-based trio will focus on performing music from her sublime 2023 album, “Aire,” on which Herrera sings with equal poise and panache in Spanish, English and Portuguese. They will be accompanied by one of San Diego’s most noted string quartets. (6:30 p.m. Friday. California Center for the Arts, Escondido; 8:15 p.m. Saturday. Tijuana’s Avenida Revolucion
Notec Jazz Experience: Talk about a multicultural fusion! The legacy of American jazz pioneer Jellyroll Morton will be saluted in a newly commissioned piece, “Tee Wana,” that teams Bostic + Fussible of the Tijuana electronic music group Nortec Collective with leading Ensenada trumpeter Ivan Trujillo and his brassy band. 9:30 p.m. Saturday. Avenida Revolucion, Tijuana; 7:45 p.m. Oct. 6. Quartyard, 1301 Market St., East Village, San Diego
Binational Youth Ensemble: This new, nine-piece band of teenage musicians features four students from Ensenada trumpeter Ivan Trujillo’s Instituto Contemporáneo de Música de Baja California and five musicians from San Diego trumpeter Gilbert Castellanos’ Young Lions Jazz Conservatory. They will perform original compositions and pieces by Charles Mingus and other jazz immortals. 6 p.m. Saturday. Tijuana’s Avenida Revolucion; 5:30 p.m. Oct. 6. Quartyard, San Diego
Sure Fire Soul Ensemble: Propulsive funk and vintage soul-jazz are the specialties of this groove-happy, one-woman, eight-man San Diego band. It features keyboardist Tim Felten, saxophonist/flutist Jesse Audelo and the formidable drummer Jake Najor. 6:15 p.m. Oct. 6. Quartyard, San Diego
Tickets: Admission to Saturday’s concert in Tijuana and the Oct. 6 concert in San Diego are free. Tickets for Friday’s concert in Escondido are priced from $35-$99, plus service fees.
Phone: (800) 988-4253
Online: sdtjjazz.org
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