North Beach Jazz Festival

"I seriously need a break from grocery-shopping in Chinatown!"

Whether the genre of music is jazz, contemporary, hip-hop, heavy metal, country, and sub-zero and maybe squeeze in an opera tune, depending on my mood, I still love music.

Whenever any part of San Francisco hosts a music festival, I'm there. Local bands and performer(s) play the mastery jazz session to attract locals and visitors. Although I'm not too familiar with any of the unknown local performer's music or materials, but still I love to listen the music and wish them a future success.

With the recent complaints of drunkenness from past festivals, the inside section of the park is alcohol free, but the Union Street side sell alcohol and must be drank on the street, before you enter the park. The festival wants everybody to enjoy the music and have a fun time without any misfortunes.

There are booths, some from neighboring businesses selling souvenirs, clothing, foods and other odds and ends. With the charcoal grill being cooked by the vendors, you can't leave the festival without the smell of the smoke.

I had lunch from elsewhere prior to my appearance to the festival. And there is a booth that sells beignets for $2.00 each. The same booth also sells a unique item that I couldn't deny to try: Frozen Cheesecake with Chocolate sauce on a stick. For $6.00, you get a slice of frozen cheesecake dipped in a chocolate sauce on a skewer. No kidding, that cheesecake was frozen and I suffered a mild brain-freeze after results, but still it was a one of a kind treat.
http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/7CfGUlfLG8X4v8sBACMxDQ?select=gNHl424OD7oaUkovwTMGFw

The event is "free" and plays through the nice sunny weekend.

An annual (although almost canceled in '06) event for San Francisco showcasing the city's rich history of jazz and blues. Events go on for a week with different jazz acts in different venues around North Beach. The fest caps off at Washington Sq Park on the weekend with several stage acts performing for the neighborhood. Flanked by St. Peter and Paul Church and Coit Tower in the distant, this is a perfect way to enjoy a summer day.

Enforcements have been stepped up so be wary of outside alcohol, but nothing a camelbak cant solve. ;) Bring a dirty towel or a mat or simply get your pants moist, grab a spot on the lawn, and enjoy the mellow tunes.

Food is available in the park, but with a variety of delis, restaurants, take out places in both NB and Chinatown, just find a cheapy slice of pie or dim sum. Gfs and I got slices from Golden Boy nearby and got drunk off of my backpack of sangria. Good times! $6 ripoff beer, wine, and other booze available within the park.

Everyone tends to be in a good mood either naturally or from their backpack/baggy of fun! We had a creepy old dude stare at us. The stage was toward his back and he much rather enjoy the entertainment of the 4 of us talking about boys and us complaining over earshot about "Creepy Old Men Staring At US!"

Grab friends, grab booze, grab a picnic, listen to good music.

It was bloody freakin' COLD! I hate typical SF weather of fog, chills, wind and grey clouds...YUCK! Why haven't global warming come through on this weekend?! I might had enjoyed the free live music, food, and drinks more if the weather was more welcoming. Instead, I was like a frozen Popsicle dying to run back to the car to avoid the chills.

This years setup was different from the previous years. The main stage didn't occupy the park in front of the church this year. I guess prior years, the mess was too much to handle for this event. This is my 3rd festival of the season and I think I see the same vendors every where I go. So, the booths go over my head. I was mainly here for the food and music. But with the weather being what it is, all I really wanted to do was get the hell outta SF.

Bad weather altered my mood. Hope never to attend another cold a$$ event again. After all, Summer is here and we should be in short shorts and a t-shirt, not bundled up in a down jacket, scarf, and boots. Ugh.

Laid back, fun and simply down right cool, not only did our kids enjoy themselves, the cops working the event were even a pleasure. We spread out a blanket in the sun (yes, there it was July in San Francisco and there happened to be sun!) in Washington Square Park and delighted in a picnic, our kids' dancing and the cool sounds of jazz music wafting through the air. The founding fathers of San Francisco's Beat Generation would be proud. It was a lot of fun!

Find out more at:
http://nbjazzfest.com/

What Jazz? The NB Jazz fest seems to be more a pure promotion/liquor sales effort than anything resembling a Jazz fest.

Similar to another reviewer here, I've always joked that they should be honest and call it the "North Beach 'whoever we could book' fest". It appears to be exactly that, and it is indeed dominated by world music, forgettable blues bands, and one or two bands that have that sort of elevator music "Kenny G" sound that you can pickup on 103.7FM -maybe those one or two bands constitute a watered-down homage to "jazz" each year?

I've wondered how the promoters can call this a "Jazz" fest...checking out the promoter's website they appear to be a "fest" promotion company, with fests addressing all sorts of "genres" all over the city each year, not a promotion group connected to Jazz or Jazz-related music. But, over on the NB Jazz Fest site, fluffy platitudes abound about the significance of the fest. -Oh, and the BS meter really spikes when you read the claim that the NB Jazz Fest "has been lovingly referred to as 'the soul of San Francisco'".

I live in NB and skipped town for last year's fest (and will again this year, yay!) but neighbors and a friend who house-sat confirmed that the music was again weak and there was just no Jazz to speak of.

Jazz fans who attend would likely be disappointed and see this event as a promotion group's efforts to cash in on the name of the fest. Hey, I love to rake in the dough as much as the next guy, but lose the lie in the title ("Jazz" Festival). Lying Liars!

I think June's North Beach Fest is a better & more interesting event musically, with no claims of being something it's not, and it integrates more nicely into the neighborhood too, with artists & vendors spreading out beyond the just the park itself.

It was the perfect day to host an event like this- the weather was gorgeous! We stumbled across the North Beach Jazz Festival as we were driving by and decided to look for parking to check it out. This was a FREE event, which was awesome! There were many different booths that sold food, beer, clothing, jewelry, bags, sunglasses, etc... There was a lot of people enjoying themselves: laying down on the grass, sitting on chairs, benches eating, drinking and enjoying the music. The cops were even enjoying themselves: taking pictures with tourists and the locals.

I bought a pair of stylish shades for $10.00 (Cheap!) - a cute dress and shirt for $60.00 (was suppose to be $65.00 but the lady gave me a $5.00 discount! :)

5 days of Jazz related events in North Beach? How could this not get 5 stars?

Day 1: Jazz on Grant- almost every restaurant, bar or lounge on Grant Avenue in North Beach will host a different Jazz artist. How fun is that?

Day 2: Latin Jazz Night

Day 3: Jazz Forward- futuristic jazz artists

Day 4: World Jazz in the Park- and the park they mean is Washington Square Park

Day 5: Jazz and Heritage in the Park

All the above are free, but also know that there are events and shows you can pay to get into.

We went to Day 4 yesterday, World Jazz in the park and it was great. The park was all set up with booths of food and local vendors, surrounding the stage and grass area where you can sit, nosh on some food and enjoy your beverages. We preferred to stay in the 21 and over area, close to the beer, wine and sangria tents.

So pretty much the perfect day, 7 friends drinking beer and sangria, and one of us drinking Jack on ice, hanging out in the sun, listening to some music ( though honestly, we agreed that most of it wasn't even jazz) and talking.............I couldn't ask for a better Saturday.

If you need something to do today (Sunday, July, 29th) go to the Jazz Festival. Or go next year, just look at the website for when it is.

Corporate-run crap with cheesy suburban bar bands (mostly blues, none are jazz) provide an excuse to sell beer in the park which is completely trashed. I'm all for drinking in the park with friends, but a few thousand bridge and tunnel - no thanks.

Perhaps one of the funnist things to do in the City! Great music, lots of people and right in the middle of North Beach. It's a lot of fun and great place to have a few glasses of wine and some great food.

I usually attend "Jazz on Grant" and must agree that there are very few pure jazz bands in the mix. There is definitely something for everyone but you have to look closely for the "real" jazz bands or performers. I remember one year the best band we heard we found at the end of the night and wished we had seen them a lot earlier.