Previously known as the Sacramento Jazz Jubilee, the 39th anual Sacramento Music Festival descends on Old Sacramento from Friday through Monday, bringing family-friendly music for all ages. According to the event website, all of Old Saramento and the surrounding hotel ballrooms will be "pulsing with the rhythms of jazz, swing, blues, zydeco, rockabilly, bluegrass, Latin music and more." The event started as a bunch of jazz enthusiasts playing in Old Sacramento and evolved into one of the biggest jazz festivals in the world, Greg Willett, a spokesman for the festival, told The Sacramento Press last year. New bands for 2012 include Big Sam's Funky Nation, Briefcase Full of Stars and Lucky

We old-timers will likely continue to call it “Jazzfest” or even “the Jubilee” for some time to come, but as of today, Sacramento’s Memorial Day tradition for 38 years, the Sacramento Jazz Festival in Old Sacramento, is going by a new name: The Sacramento Music Festival. The airport isn’t the only SMF in town any more. Name changes are nothing new for the event, which began its life as the Dixieland Jazz Jubilee in 1973 and became the Sacramento Jazz Festival a couple of decades after that. But jazz has long since ceased to be the only, or even the dominant musical form at the festival, which has for years featured many blues, swing and other traditional music acts. The festival has als

Sacramento jazz fans, get ready. The second annual In the Flow jazz festival starts Friday and will be invading four venues on downtown's Broadway. Last year's festival was held on the patio of True Love Coffeehouse. This weekend, Beatnik Studios, The Comedy Spot, R5 Records and Java Lounge are opening their doors for three days of live jazz performances. "Sacramento has an incredible jazz scene. We have great players with great, original ideas that span all things jazz and beyond," said Ross Hammond, the main coordinator of the festival. The idea for the festival was dreamt up during a coffee outing with Hammond, jazz musician Byron Blackburn and some of their friends. They wanted to h

As many as 70,000 revelers are expected to hit Old Sacramento over this weekend for the 36th annual run of what used to be called the Jazz Jubilee, but is now called the Sacramento Jazz Festival. But Friday afternoon around 3, there was still plenty of room to move around the streets and alleys, and plenty of dance floor in venues such as Freeway Gardens. With temperatures around a comfortable 85 degrees, things should tighten up tonight and tomorrow as music fans arrive from all over the country. Friday afternoon, the festival got off to a smooth start as bands from the Folsom Street Band to world music stalwarts Mumbo Gumbo played sets to sizable crowds that were ready for the annual t

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

Although many of the events this weekend do not really reflect the true meaning of the foundation of this holiday, there are still some great things to do! Whatever your plan is this weekend, do take a moment to reflect on what Memorial Day is about and be thankful for our fellow Americans who put their lives on the line for the sake of our country. Just in case you aren't sure as to what Memorial Day is all about and why it is a National Holiday, here is the definition from Wikipedia: "Formerly known as Decoration Day, Memorial Day commemorates U.S. men and women who died while in the military service. First enacted to honor Union soldiers of the American Civil War (it is celebrated near