The 37th annual Jazz’SAlive festival was lost to the coronavirus pandemic, but returns to downtown San Antonio on Sept. 24-25, with two nights of music, official after-parties, and a special gospel brunch held the week before the event.
The multi-venue festival will take place at Travis Park, with a new stage in the recently-opened Legacy Park managed by Weston Urban, located in the shadow of the Frost Tower at Houston and North Flores streets. Proceeds from the festival will benefit the nonprofit San Antonio Parks Foundation, which manages Travis Park along with 189 other urban parks including the River Walk.
The pandemic has been “a devastating collective experience, leaving people craving community and human interaction,” said David Robinson Jr., Weston Urban’s director of parks and recreation in a press announcement. Hosting a Jazz’SAlive stage, he said, helps fulfill the company’s vision for Legacy Park as “a place where downtown can come together and make new memories after this tough past year and a half.”
The Legacy Park stage lineup has not yet been announced, but the festival’s main stage in Travis Park will host John Scofield, Kandace Springs, Mike Sailors, and New York Voices joined by the United States Air Force Band of the West Dimensions In Blue vocal group.
Local talent on the main stage will include flutist-ethnomusicologist Katchie Cartwright, jazz fusion collective Xenobia, The Dirty River Jazz Band led by drummer Chris Alvarado, and Latin Jazz group José Amador and Terra Nova.
Trinity University jazz-focused radio station KRTU 91.7 will present performers including the Kevin Nabors Quartet, Michelle Garibay-Carey, Toro Flores Quartet, and The Fellowship on its Jefferson Street stage in Travis Park.
Two after parties will continue the festivities late into the night on Friday and Saturday. Travis Park neighbor Hopscotch, an immersive art gallery and event space, will host the official Friday night after-party featuring Gibby Diaz, known as DJ Gibb, with a mix of jazz, hip hop, and electronica. The party begins at 10:30 p.m., and is free and open to the public. The Saturday night after-party will be held on the conveniently located St. Anthony Hotel Rooftop Terrace, next to the park.
The gospel brunch to be held on Sept. 19 at the Charline McCombs Empire Theatre will be hosted by Andrea “Vocab” Sanderson, the current San Antonio poet laureate and singer who will join singer-songwriter David Jacobe for a performance.
Tickets for the gospel brunch, festival performances, special patron seating and VIP tables go on sale at 10 a.m. on July 23.
This article has been updated to reflect that all performances will take place in Travis Park and Legacy Park.
