(Click on above image for a lerger view) The 38th Annual Sacramento Jazz Festival and Jubilee opened Friday with its traditional parade around the streets of Old Sacramento. This year music will be played at 23 performance sites in Old Sacramento and the Convention Center area. Jubilee attendees can choose from a variety of music in addition to jazz, including blues, zydeco, rhythm & blues, western swing and afro-beat. The Jazz Festival is presented by the Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society, a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of America's own musical art form. Special events throughout the Memorial Day weekend event include a swing dance contest, salute to war vet

(Click on image above to see a larger view) Warmer weather welcomed the thousands of guests at the 37th annual Sacramento Jazz Festival and Jubliee this weekend. Sponsored by the Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society, the Festival brings together a variety of musical styles, including traditional jazz, Zydeco, blues, Latin jazz and swing music. Over 2,200 volunteers work together to support the Festival. Photos by Ron Nabity

 Visitors had a rollicking good time Sunday at the second annual Sacramento Swing Time. The event at the California Auto Museum featured swing music from nine bands, and offered something for every musical taste, said Fun Monkey Entertainment’s Shonda Honkanen, event co-founder. “We have a whole roster of wonderful music from blues, to jazz, western swing and rockabilly music,” she said. “There’s a lot to listen to and a lot to dance to.” Entertainment also came in the form of unusual vendors, including Heavenly Gate Tattoos doing on-site inking and a booth selling rockabilly clothing. The fun continued outside with free swing dance lessons, a hula dancing performance and a car show fea

 Music flowed from Beatnik Studios on Sunday during the third annual In the Flow Jazz Festival. Musicians from all over the West Coast played, including Nels Cline. The guitarist from band Wilco played Saturday afternoon. “My friend Byron and I, we came up with doing just a festival of jazz to let local and regional artists play,” said Ross Hammond, the event’s co-founder. The festival started at the True Love Coffeehouse three years ago, and moved to its current location at 2421 17th St. last year. Hammond said the celebration has been growing steadily. “The first year was kind of more Sacramento, then we added some Bay Area stuff, and now there’s a lot of other people from up and down

The Annual Sacramento Jazz Festival and Jubilee is a Sacramento tradition that conjures up summer, swinging, and saxophones. This year's festival, the 36th annual, will feature 600 jazz artists from all over the United States and the world, including the Count Basie Jazz Orchestra, a number of featured performers and about 60 sponsored bands from all over the stylistic map. With 24 venues total, 19 in Old Sacramento and four at the Sacramento Convention Center, the whole shebang kicks off Thursday night at the Radisson Hotel from 8-9 p.m. The concert featuring the 17-time-Grammy-winning big band will be streamed live on Sacramento's Jazz Station, KXJZ 90.9. Tickets are $45 in advance, $5