Allen Toussaint will be at the 20th AT&T San Jose Jazz Festival on Saturday, August 8th at 6pm at the Main stage! Only $15!

Read this article about him by Richard Scheinin for the Mercury News

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Coke Escovedo (born Joseph Thomas Escovedo) was as a member of the rock band Santana, and left the band to from his own group Azteca with his brother Pete Escovedo. Their high energy, cutting edge Latin Rock sounded produced two albums, a self-titled debut in 1972 and Pyramid of the Moon in 1973, under the Columbia label.

Congas, bandleader

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Ray Barretto (a.k.a. King of the Hard Hands), was a Grammy award-winning Puerto Rican jazz musician musician, widely credited as the godfather of Latin jazz. He was also the first Latino to record a Latin song which became a "hit" in the American Billboard Charts. 

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Clarinet, saxophone, trumpet, arranger, composer, recording artist, music director, bandleader

Born in the Cayo Hueso section of La Habana, Cuba, Mario Bauza had a special musical talent, and began formal lessons as a child. He studied music at the Municipal Academy of Cuba, and by the age of nine was clarinetist at the Havana Philharmonic Orchestra, where he remained for three years.

Tenor saxophone

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A pioneer hard bopper on the tenor and recognized as one of the masters in the L.A. Central Avenue scene, Edwards leaves a huge legacy of recorded music, stretching from the Forties right through to his death in 2003.

Piano, composer, arranger

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Born in Auckland, New Zealand, composer, arranger and jazz pianist Alan Broadbent began performing professionally at the age of 15, following classical studies. In 1966 he received a scholarship to attend Boston's Berklee College of Music, where he studied composition and arranging. During his tenure at Berklee, Broadbent performed regularly in Boston while traveling on weekends to New York where he studied improvisation with Lennie Tristano.

Conga, percussion

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One of the great Cuban conga players and percussionists to come in the wake of Chano Pozo, he has been a constant source of authentic Afro-Cuban rhythms since his arrival in the early ‘50's.

Trombone

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Slide Hampton's distinguished career spans decades in the evolution of jazz. At the age of 12 he was already touring the Midwest with the Indianapolis-based Hampton Band, led by his father and comprising other members of his musical family.

Timbales, vibraphone, trap drums, congas, piano, vocalist

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Ernest Anthony Puente, Jr., Tito Puente is internationally recognized for his enormous and significant contributions to Latin music as a bandleader, composer, arranger, percussionist, and mentor. Popularly known as the "El Rey del Timbal" and the "King of Mambo", he recorded more than 100 albums, published more than 400 compositions, and won six Grammy awards.

Piano

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Minneapolis-based jazz pianist and composer, Mary Louise Knutson, has been called "one of the most exciting and innovative artists to happen to jazz piano in quite some time." Her debut jazz trio CD, Call Me When You Get There, charted in the Top 50 in the United States and Canada for eight consecutive weeks and earned Knutson the award for Top New Jazz Instrumentalist of the Year from KWJL Radio, California, in 2001.