Is the Jacksonville Jazz Festival the best kept secret out there? Three days of music on multiple stages with everything from high profile national acts to local  musicians who are just starting out, from straightahead to sacred and smooth to cutting edge. This festival started up on a small stage in Mayport, a small fishing community that also houses a large Navy base. The organizers were expecting a few hundred people and got more than a thousand, and the festival has been growing ever since. It has survived venue changes, multiple producers, financial setbacks, expansion, contraction, a post 9/11 hiatus, and being subjected to the the whims that mother nature imposes on any outdoor event in Florida. In 2009 the festival was moved from an enclosed park to the streets of downtown Jacksonville and the amount of people who get to experience live jazz music in all its facets has grown from the 10,000 who crowded into the park to 150,000 over the three day event. That's a lot of people checking out this music that is allegedly losing ground in the pop culture dominated music industry. They hear it live in a nonintimidating environment and they become fans for life.

Here are the essential reasons you need to be spending your Memorial Day weekends in Jacksonville. First, the big obvious. The entire festival is free. It is also extremely casual, you can walk around downtown and just stand and watch the musicians play, grab a bite to eat without missing a note, settle in to your lawn chair, sit on the ground, hang with your friends or buy a VIP ticket and get a chair closer to the stage and enjoy. This informality makes it very family friendly, kids are welcome in all areas (except the beer and wine tasting booth, obviously) and there are music oriented programs especially for them throughout the weekend. Accommodations are close by and inexpensive, especially compared to other destination festivals.

It is almost too much of a bounty of wonderful things. With three main stages and several smaller performance spaces it is impossible to see every musician you want to check out, The producers,
The City of Jacksonville Office of Special Events,  are ultra-savvy with the booking. They grab the big names but they also have their ears on the pulse of what is excellent, fresh, cutting edge, and under publicized. There are lots of other activities and events too.  There is a high profile piano competition on the Thursday before the festival proper begins, a competition for young musicians, an art show and sale, wine and beer tasting area, lots of food and merchant tents, lectures and displays in the beautiful main branch of our library,late night jazz jams, Sunday jazz brunches, and downtown merchants offer discounts and jazz oriented events throughout the weekend.

This year's lineup included DMS (George Duke, Marcus Miller and David Sanborn), Herbie Hancock, Natalie Cole, Gentlemen of the Night (Paul Taylor, Marion Meadows, Warren Hill), Boney James, Guitarzzz (Chieli Minucci, Chuck Loeb, Paul Jackson Jr.), Dianne Schuur, Eddie Palmieri Salsa Orchestra, Raul Midon, Roy Ayers, Nestor Torres, Mavis Staples, The Wild Magnolias, Global Noize, Spam All Stars, almost 60 different artists and bands all together. You can see this year's lineup and photos,  and get more information about the festival, the area, and accommodations on the festival website – www.jaxjazzfest.com. There is also a FaceBook page that has updates and lots of videos and photos posted by people who were there, just search Jacksonville Jazz Festival and hit the “like” button.

For those with short attention spans the official information part is over. You can hit the website to see pictures of this years events, watch the videos on the FaceBook page, and start making your plans to come hang out with me at next year's festival. I have a guest room but you'll have to share the bed with a 110 lb American Bulldog. He snores. Otherwise, here are my short takes on the artists I got to see.

Chapter 2: So Much Music, All at the Same Time.

By the time JaxJazzFest 2111 rolls around there will undoubtedly be a way for people to see everyone they want to see by temporarily cloning themselves or actually projecting themselves into two or three places at once. For now it was a matter of choices, hard choices that were inevitably rewarding either way.

This was not a case of saving the best for last either. The festival opened with the Gentlemen of the Night - Warren Hill, Marion Meadows, and Paul Taylor- and Ma Nature got really whimsical. It didn't rain for two weeks before or two weeks after the festival but about 10 minutes before the band was scheduled to hit the stage the sky opened up with winds that inverted umbrellas and blew rain up the sleeves and down the necks of even the best designed rain gear. The hardcore who did not run for cover were rewarded by a set that was entertaining and flat out fun from the first notes of their take on Black Eyed Peas' "I've Got A Feeling."  It was a good night for them and for us as they played hits old and new and some crowd pleasing covers that had us shaking off our rain gear and dancing in the puddles. Most of the main stage crowd stayed on for guitarist/vocalist John Pizzarelli and headliner Natalie Cole but I was headed toward the future as Global Noize was playing at the Jacksonville Landing stage. First a stop at Hemming Plaza, a green oasis in the center of town dubbed the Groovin' Stage for the weekend, to see Joey Calderazzo burning up the keyboard with his trio. This was another example of an magnificent player who comes from the straightahead side but without the snob effect. The music was spontaneous and exciting and his technique was mind-blowing. Then it was time to be transported to the stage by the river and straight into the evolution of this music with award winning producer/keyboardist Jason Miles and his latest adventure, Global Noize. Miles, DJ Logic and Falu take you to a place where jazz intersects with electronica and international rhythms in one delicious melting pot. Miles' keyboard lines recall Joe Zawinul's work with Weather Report - heady stuff sent spinning into danceable grooves with Logic's Turntable artistry and Falu's Middle Eastern inspired vocals. They had the crowd moving and Falu would make eye contact and with the ones who were dancing and mirror their moves. It was real jazz with the academic trappings stripped down and replaced by 21st century sensibilities.

Saturday started without me. I had to go to work. I missed Boney James, McCoy Tyner, BK Jackson, The Flail, and - Raul Midon, who I've been hoping to see live since his first album came out. Midon opened for George Benson and Al Jarreau when they toured behind the Givin' it Up CD, that is quite an endorsement for this up-and coming guitarist/vocalist whose exciting performances and lack of musical boundaries have unfortunately kept him off the airwaves. Luckily someone posted a video on the festival's FaceBook page that was long enough to get a taste of what Midon can do. One man on stage with a guitar holding the audience captivated with his guitar virtuosity, vocal skills,  and the stories he told between the songs. I got there a few hours later, in time to dance in the streets to real Salsa with the Eddie Palmieri Salsa Orchestra on the main stage and get an enthralling glimpse at the music that galvanized a generation of fusion fans from Bitches Brew Revisited - a group of musicians that recreate and explore the legacy of Miles Davis' landmark album. It is the 40th anniversary of this album's release but the music is timeless and was so far ahead of the curve that it is mesmerizing a whole new generation of music junkies that packed the plaza to hear it. I made it to the Landing in time to catch the end of local favorite Noel Friedline's set and downed a huge margarita to get ready for Spam All Stars, another band that blends electronic elements and turntables with Latin funk, hip hop, dub and solid jazz chops. Like Global Noize, they are creating a future framework for jazz based improvisational music and doing it in a way that makes people move. The difference is that Global Noize is keyboard driven and leans toward a more Eastern flavor, Spam Allstars have a sax player with chops even a hardcore jazz snob couldn't deny, a beautiful flute virtuoso who dances as well as she plays, a horn section, they are from Miami and they bring that vibe to their shows – lots of Latin flavor with Caribbean and African on the side. They had the crowd on stun. Most of them had never heard of the band, lots were just hanging out after dinner, by the second song they were crowding the stage, dancing and cheering as the music took over.

Sunday was hot and kept getting hotter. By mid afternoon it would be in the upper 90s.  A small crowd gathered early to hear the gifted young musicians who are part of the Douglas Anderson School of the Arts Jazz Ensemble 1 who showed why they have a cabinet full of awards based on national recognition back at their school. Flutist Nestor Torres followed with a set that started out mellow and ended up sizzling. Then it was time for DMS - Duke, Sanborn, and Miller. Anyone who grew up with contemporary jazz had to be in awe of these three artists and overwhelmed by the fact that they were on stage together. Icons for sure but no pedestal for these guys. They had fun. The level of artistry is something that comes so naturally that they can make this show seem like one great big hang crossed with a dream-driven jam session. It started with my favorite Marcus Miller/David Sanborn song, “Run For Cover,” and just kept building momentum, they played the crowd pleasers but never played down to the crowd. Miller is just beyond belief on bass and got a lot of solo time, Sanborn displayed a sense of humor I have never seen before and Duke is so gifted and melding technique with entertainment. It was a breathtaking show. Herbie Hancock was scheduled to follow on that stage but guitar-geek that I am I headed a few blocks down to see Guitarzzz – what appears to be a one shot gig with Chieli Minucci, Chuck Loeb, and Paul Jackson Jr. They brought a joyous surprise too. Keyboard player Jay Rowe, who does a lot of work with Special EFX, Ken Navarro and other east coast heavyhitters and has several albums of his own.  I had high expectations. These are incredible players individually, what kind of alchemy would happen when they got up there together. Answer – something beyond belief. They all rocked and they all jazzed – stun guitar solos, finely honed chops, funky breakdowns – for me it was the best of the whole three days. It's hard to walk away from a stage where Herbie Hancock is setting up but those of us who did were rewarded with a dream set that undoubtedly turned the heads of a few rock and jam band fans towards a whole new galaxy of axe heroes to discover.

It was still hot and humid as the crowds dispersed from spectacular closers on all of the stages. The music was over, the holiday weekend was winding down, and it was time to pack up the coolers and lawn chairs, say good night to new friends and head home, a little tired from the heat, probably a little red from the sun, and still under the spell of three days of continuous musical discovery. Lots of people carried CD's from the merchandise booths. They will play them in the car on the way home, then over the next few weeks they will start searching the online music stores for more. They will see sidebars on those websites that say “if you like this then try...,” and they will click that link and continue to explore. That is the wonder of this festival. You don't have to be a scholar, you don't have to be “upscale and sophisticated,” you don't even have to like “jazz.” You just show up downtown on a holiday weekend and a multitude of musical doors open in front of you, all with big welcome signs hanging overhead.