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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SJ Jazz Festival's truly historic lineup begins tonight with trombone legend Jimmy Bosch and James Brown legend Bootsy Collins.

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Today's incarnation of Conjunto Chappottín is probably as close as we'll ever get to experiencing what the legendary Arsenio Rodríguez Conjunto sounded like live. When Arsenio left for New York in the early 1950s, his trumpeter, Félix Chappottín, took over as leader and the band has been inherited by Félix's grandson, Angél Jesús Chappottín, and Miguel Cuní, Jr., the son of the group's original star singer. As they explain in this excellent mini-documentary they've really taken to heart the idea of recreating the sound and flavor of a real conjunto.

They'll be at Kuumbwa Jazz Center Thursday - one admission covers the whole night and the dance floor will be open. They'll also play twice on Saturday at the San José Jazz Festival. Tomorrow I'll have much more on the rest of the fest - the best lineup I've ever seen for a Latin festival, included three separate appearances by The Pedrito Martínez Group, Calixto Oviedo, Viento de Agua, Jimmy Bosch, Jerry González and Fort Apache, a tribute to Armando Peraza by Pancho Sánchez and John Santos, Bootsy Collins, David Sanborn, Donald Harrison, Snarky Puppy and virtually every top Bay Area group. SJ Jazz starts Friday evening and runs all weekend.

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