Three great new galleries from Peter Maiden - click on each photo to see the full gallery for that group.

Pedrito Martínez Group

QBA

Orquesta Borinquen

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Pedrito Martínez Group - Álvaro Benavides on bass - photo by Peter Maiden

Pedrito Martínez Group - San Jose Jazz Festival - photo by Peter Maiden

The 25th San Jose Jazz Festival was absolutely tremendous, capped by the Pedrito Martínez Group playing three stunning shows - one with special guest Calixto Oviedo and another with Jerry González sitting in on trumpet. Among dozens of other amazing acts was the California debut of the classic plena band Viento de Agua, led by Tito Matos, who will be conducting a plena clinic with John Santos at the Mission Cultural Center in San Francisco.

Tito Matos Clinic Tonight
6:30 to 8:30
2868 Mission St.
510-295-7685

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Sunday at SJ Jazz is truly a day for the ages. 

Three Pedrito Martínez Group concerts within a 12-hour period provide the incredible opportunity to experience just how differently this historically great band plays each time they pick up their instruments.

Here's my plan to get he most out of this tremendous lineup. Start by waking up a bit early to catch every note of PMG's 12:00 noon show on the main stage. While you wait for their 5:30 set at Café Strich you can hear the tremendous plena group Viento de Agua (with monster plenero Tito Matos) at 2:00 at the Blackbird stage, then slide back over to the main stage for John Santos' and Poncho Sánchez's musical tribute to the late great Armando Pereza, a wonderful man who did as much as anyone to put Northern California on the Latin music map. Next, there should be time to catch part of QBA's set on the salsa stage before the second PMG set at Café Stritch at 5:30. Next you can the tail end of either David Sanborn or the second Viento de Agua show before relaxin' at the Big Easy with Donald Harrison as you build up strength for Pedrito Martinez' climactic 9:00 closer at the Blackbird. [Kevin Moore]

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Last night was the Bootsy & Bosch show. While you won't find his records in the Latin section, the most natural way to describe a lot of what Bootsy Collins does is with timba terminology: tumbaos, efectos and gear changes. This was no descarga however - the show was as tight and choreographed as Charanga Habanera and had as much of the same type of rhythmic fireworks as ... well ... the old Charanga Habanera. They hit several epic funk groove peaks over the course of a long show on the main stage that was so good that it forced me to miss Pacific Mambo. Jimmy Bosch was a study in contrasts. Where Bootsy had two bassists and a whole troupe of dancers, Jimmy used precisely one person (himself) to cover the entire coro and horn sections as his sextet cycled through a master class on salsa dura. The one-man coro section was a bit odd, but it resulted in some very interesting moments where Jimmy kept changing the coro, forcing his quick-witted young sonero to pull out his best improvising chops.

All in all, a perfect start to a perfect festival that will climax tomorrow with no less that THREE separate performances by The Pedrito Martínez Group. Today, Saturday, We have Calixto Oviedo, Chappottín twice, Fort Apache twice, Wayne Wallace, and all of the Bay Area's best bands: QBA, Avance, Pasión Habanera (aka Pellejo Seco) etc. [Kevin Moore]

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