For the past 42 years, jazz lovers across the Alamo City have flocked to Hemisfair for Jazz’SAlive — San Antonio’s free jazz music festival hosted by the San Antonio Park Foundation. This year was no different. Thomas J. Henry presented the 42nd Jazz’SAlive, featuring a star-studded lineup of ensembles, quartets and combos.
Performing Friday night, New York-based Stella Cole had a Laufey-esque quality to her vocals, with incredible pitch control and impressive range. She even asked the audience to send any of the live recordings they had to her publicist, as she jokes some have questioned her authenticity and claimed she might have been the product of artificial intelligence.
Mark Little & Melodious Phunk brought a big-band-sized sound with a combo-sized group. Playing jazz standards and original arrangements, this group perfectly preceded the main act of the night — Endea Owens & The Cookout.
Recently making their “Tiny Desk” debut, bassist Owens and her ensemble capped off Friday night with an electric performance filled with some of the most technically impressive and masterful bass solos of the modern jazz era. Owens’ walking bass lines bopped and skipped over the crowd, ending day one in elegant fashion.
With the extensive range of styles, tempos, compositions and cultures jazz, has enveloped during its long and storied history, this genre of music has become an instrumental part of many people’s lives. For some, it is a hobby. For others, it is a creed. Jazz has bridged generations, brought families together and given many an outlet to express passion.
Sophomore biochemistry major Marcena Aguirre-Low learned about Jazz’SAlive through TikTok. Although she does not describe herself as a jazz aficionado — mostly listening while doing homework or studying — she and her father, Manny Aguirre, came out for a day of free performances and good music.
“I feel like it’s my music. [I’ve been] listening for a long, long time,” Aguirre said. “It relaxes me, keeps me happy, you know. Good vibes.”
While San Antonio is not exactly known for its jazz scene, Jazz’SAlive has attracted some of the most high-level talent in modern-era jazz over the past four decades. So much so, some have even migrated to the Alamo City to attend year after year.
“I’m a New Yorker. I came up in the early 50s listening to jazz, and then, when I used to shine shoes down at the Village Gate, the Village Vanguard, I used to see some of the best Jazz players,” New-York-City-native Benjamine Stevenson said. “I even once saw John Coltrane play his saxophone and smoke a cigarette at the same time.
“I’ve been here exactly nine years. Jazz’SAlive is the reason I moved here.”
Stevenson has attended every Jazz’SAlive since he made San Antonio his home.
Saturday saw several more groups take the stage than the day prior, filling the festival’s 12-hour runtime.
Dimensions in Blue, a premier combo representing the U.S. Air Force Band of the West, brought, fittingly, a militant feel to their performance. Composed of airmen stationed out of Lackland Air Force Base, these musicians performed jazz as close to perfect as this genre — defined by its imperfection — will allow.
In sharp contrast, Nina and the Gypsies took inspiration from the south of France, fusing their culture with the sound of Latin jazz. With a rhythm section defined by bongos and the cajon, their silky guitar riffs and soaring vocals washed over the crowd.
Keeping in theme, Saturday Night’s marquee performance saw Pedrito Martinez take the stage in dominant fashion. Hailing from Havana, Cuba, Martinez’s performance invoked the best musical characteristics of Latin Jazz. Being a percussionist, Martinez’s rhythm section defined this setlist. However, blasting trombones and screaming trumpets helped send jaws to the floor as Martinez closed out Jazz’SAlive — leaving it all out on the stage.
This festival is a must for any Alamo City native, transplant or tourist. When Jazz’SAlive renews for 2026, make plans, request off work and enjoy two days of outstanding — and free — performances.
