San Jose Jazz Summer Fest energy lights up downtown

British acid jazz band Incognito led a mini revolution for the masses while putting on a high-energy show on the opening night of the San Jose Jazz Summer Fest on Friday.

A little after 10:30 p.m., an hour into the band’s set, guitarist Jean-Paul Maunick paused the music to address a sea of white plastic chairs in front of the Jay Paul Company Main Stage at Plaza de Cesar Chavez.

“It’s strange playing to empty seats. This is the first time we’ve done that in 20 years,” he said. “We come to play for the people.”

He beckoned the huge crowd in the general admission area to take the unoccupied seats and come up to the stage area to dance. They quickly took him up on the offer and for the last 30 minutes, the energy in the crowd matched what was happening on stage.

Now, that was a jazzy move that capped off a great first night of music by the Family Stone, the New Breed Brass Band, David Benoit, Black Joe Lewis and Greg Rahn and the Fat Tuesday Horns.

“We had a great opening night; all the indoor stages were packed,” San Jose Jazz Executive Director Brendan Rawson said. “And we’ve got a big weekend planned. San Jose really steps up for the occasion when an event like this happens.”

San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan was all smiles Saturday morning during the Mayor’s Jazz Brunch, sponsored by Amazon and held at Plaza de Cesar Chavez.

“This is really the best weekend of the year in San Jose, where we come together as a community,” he said. “We have the second-fasted downtown rebound in the country and it’s being driven by experiences. It’s being driven by artists, by entrepreneurs and small-business owners, by our local arts and culture groups, and San Jose Jazz is at the forefront of that and has been for nearly four decades.”

Saturday night’s lineup included Angélique Kidjo, Cory Henry & the Funk Apostles, the Spanish Harlem Jazz Orchestra, New Orleans trumpeter Shamarr Allen and the incomparable Herbie Hancock.

The closing day Sunday is also filled with crowd-pleasers including Delfeayo Marsalis & The Uptown Jazz Orchestra, Lisa Fischer and Grand Baton, and Maze honoring Frankie Beverly.

The full lineup, tickets and passes are available at summerfest.sanjosejazz.org.

GIANT HONOR: The Aug. 4 death of San Jose creative entrepreneur Chris Esparza heavily impacted many involved with San Jose Jazz, where Esparza was a board member and longtime supporter. The festival honored him Friday night, projecting his image on the Wells Fargo building across the street from Plaza de Cesar Chavez.

“Chris dreamed big and he challenged us to dream big, too,” San Jose Jazz Board Chair Julie Ramirez said Saturday.

HEROIC SUPPORT: The San Jose Police Foundation has started a fundraiser to support the families of Community Service Officers Long Pham and Veronica Baer. Pham was struck and killed and Baer badly injured by an alleged drunken driver while helping to direct traffic following a collision in San Jose on Aug. 3.

San Jose Police Foundation Executive Director Ted Trujillo sent an email to supporters about the campaign, saying: “We mourn the loss of Community Service Officer Pham, whose bravery and dedication will forever be remembered. We stand by Community Service Officer Baer and her family, hoping for her swift and complete recovery. Their commitment to protecting our community embodies the true spirit of service and sacrifice.”

The response has been good, with more than $11,000 raised in just a few days. But there’s always room for more, and you can make a tax-deductible donation — and learn more about what the nonprofit does — at sanjosepolicefoundation.org.

TRIBUTE: The valley lost another of its bright community lights in June with the death of Candace Ford Gray, who was the founder and longtime director of PlaneTree Health Library in San Jose. Gray, who had been ill for the past few years, died at age 73 on June 12 in Oregon. Friends and colleagues will be gathering at a private home in Los Gatos to celebrate her life on Aug. 24. If you’re interested in attending, contact Janice Bremis at janice@edrcsv.org.

Gray was tasked with developing a medical library for the public in downtown San Jose in 1987. The result was the Planetree Health Resource Center — which later became the PlaneTree Health Library — which opened its doors in a restored Victorian near downtown San Jose. It later moved to Los Gatos and since 2017 has been entirely online (www.planetree-sv.org).

For her contributions to patient education and to information literacy work, Gray was presented with Planetree International’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006. She retired as executive director in 2015 and relocated to Oregon.

TIMELY TOPIC: In a divisive political year, the meaning and intent of the U.S. Constitution turned out to be the perfect vehicle for a book by author A.J. Jacobs, who you may recall was here in 2019 for Silicon Valley Reads with his book, “It’s All Relative,” about his three-year quest to build the world’s largest family tree.

In his latest book, “The Year of Living Constitutionally,” he set out to live as close as he could to what the founders intended — in the 1790s. The results are as hilarious as you’d expect — petitioning Congress with a message written with a quill on parchment — but he also interviews constitutional scholars on both sides of the originalism/living constitution debate.

The League of Women Voters of San Jose/Santa Clara and the Santa Clara County Library District are hosting an online discussion with Jacobs on Aug. 15 at noon if you’re interested in hearing more about his constitutional adventure. It’s free and open to everyone, and remember the League is a nonpartisan group. You can register at www.lwvsjsc.org/lunch-with-league.