It was 26 years ago that the San Jose jazz festival began and today it has morphed into a 3-day festival. This year’s San Jose Jazz Summerfest (Aug 7-9, 2015) will feature over 100 performers spread across 12 stages spread across 12 blocks in downtown San Jose. It is not just jazz that you get to hear during the festival, but soul, funk, blues, salsa, zydeco and other genres of music.

We spoke to Bruce Labadie, the art director of San Jose Jazz Sumemrfest, who was also part of the original group that started the jazz festival. Labadie shares what you can expect to see at this year’s jazz festival. We also spoke to him about his work at Mountain Winery and Montelvo Art Center, both are located in Saratoga. He has worked with hundreds of artists in his 40 year career and shares some intereting anecdotes about Ella Fitzgerald, Benny Goodman and BB King.