Gone To The Fillmore Jazz Festival
July 03, 2011 Filed in: Music
"For me, music and life are all about style."
--Miles Davis
Since 1985, the Fillmore District of San Francisco hosts a jazz festival on Independence Day weekend. In the 1940's, this area of town used to have dozens of jazz clubs that featured performers like Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Billie Holliday. The spirit of the street lives on for the weekend. It runs along Fillmore Street from Jackson down to Eddy.
The festival had a bunch of booths, much like many other festivals I've been to in the past, with food and drinks as well as arts and crafts.
I also liked that there was a San Francisco Giants Dugout Store booth at the event.
The one distinguishing difference is the presence of musicians and stages. Even before the performers were ready to play, big crowds were waiting well in advance.
This festival was crowded. Actually, it was ridiculously crowded. There were moments when we were just walking up the street, and we couldn't move much at all. It was jam packed.
One of the things I really liked about the event was that there were groups that weren't on a stage playing music on the street, and crowds would gather around them to hear and see them. I think this is the true intention of the festival, and I really appreciated the spontaneity of this.
I must admit that I'm not a huge jazz fan, but I can definitely see myself coming back to this another year.
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