While it is true that the month-long Jalisco Jazz Festival has the free musical education of low-income youngsters as its raison d’être and offers public concerts in downtown Guadalajara venues such as subway stations and Plaza de la Liberación.
The Festival, now in its 11th year, also features concerts in some of the metro area’s most attractive venues.
One of the most stylish this year will “Tónica All Stars,” the closing gala, on Friday, August 4, from 8 p.m. to midnight, in a dramatic rooftop terrace in the eye-popping Plaza Andares near the city’s north edge. In this non-traditional, open air venue, patrons seated at tables of four will be served a three-course dinner as they enjoy 18 acts from a lineup of the festival’s big-name performers.
Two of the evening’s best known musicians will be German saxophonist and composer Niels Klein and Boston pianist Aaron Goldberg, but the names of the others—Obed Calvaire, Matt Penman, Hanno Busch, Jonas Burgwinkel, Lars Duppler, Brian Lynch, Chuck Bergeron, Russ Macklem, Paul Rappolt, Bryan Dubrow, Zack Bartholomew, Gabe Godoy, Marcus Grant, Ernesto Ramos Abraham Barrera and Tom Kessler—suggest to the uninitiated the wide scope of Festival invitees.
Besides the performances, venue and dinner (prepared by chef Luis Jiménez De Santiago), concertgoers may appreciate knowing that the evening is a benefit for the educational program of Tónica Foundation (Fundación Tónica). The foundation sponsors the entire festival and, with the help of Guadalajara and Zapopan city halls, runs two cultural centers – Centro Creativo la Ferro in Colonia Ferrocarril and another in Lomas del Centinela – where low-income young people receive music classes and instruments absolutely free, according to Fundación Tónica cofounder Gilberto Cervantes.
The Terraza Andares event will also include a silent auction of art pieces connected to the Festival. The cost of a ticket for the evening is 1,400 pesos.
In addition to this closing concert (which, by the way, is NOT on the night of the last Festival event), acclaimed acts will likewise highlight “Fiestas de Jazz,” the marathon concert at Teatro Diana Saturday, July 29, 6 p.m. There will also be big names at two free concerts Tuesday and Wednesday, August 1 and 2, 7 p.m., at Plaza de la Liberación. (Both Klein and Goldberg appear Wednesday.)
Noteworthy performances of the Festival’s final week, including free ones (with double bullets), will be:
• Saturday, July 29, 6 p.m., “Fiestas de Jazz” at Teatro Diana (showcasing indie-rock-jazz from the acclaimed Niels Klein, the eclectic Chilean group MediaBanda, the jazz-hiphop-rock-son group Filulas Juz, the rockabilly sound of Dirty Black Beans and swing, blues and be-bop from the Daniel López Trío; lasts five hours, 150–300 pesos)
• Monday, July 31, 8:30 p.m., lovely and acclaimed local vocalist Monica Zuloaga with the Zavala Project takes to PALCCO’s Sala de Cámara, near the Periférico and Aqueducto, 200 pesos.
•• Tuesday and Wednesday, August 1 and 2, both days 7 p.m., “Foro Tónica” at Plaza de la Liberación (showcasing, on Tuesday: Brian Lynch, The Meeting, Gabriel Balderas, Chuck Bergeron and the Klaus Mayer Big Band; and on Wednesday: the stellar Niels Klein with Tubes & Wires, the acclaimed Aaron Goldberg Trío, Cienfuegos and, from Miami, the Frost Ensemble, free)
• Friday, August 4, 8 p.m. to midnight, “Tónica All Stars” at Terraza Andares near Patria and Aqueducto. (See above article, 1,400 pesos includes dinner)
•• Saturday, August 5, 5 and 6 p.m., Juarez Station of the Tren Ligero, at Vallarta and Federalismo (showcasing, at 5 p.m., ensembles from the Festival’s weeklong educational camp and, at 6 p.m., Guadalajara’s Los Changos. Free.)
• Saturday, August 5, 8 p.m., “Ruta del Jazz” (showcasing five acts at two established, centrally located jazz bars, Primer Piso and Gin Club, in the Chapultepec-Expiatorio area. 300 pesos, includes a beer)
Tickets at Ticketmaster or www.jaliscojazzfestival.com, using credit card or Paypal.