Free live music Saturday, June 7
The article below originally appeared in the San Mateo Daily Journal and is being reprinted with permission.
Jazz on the Hill returns 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, June 7, with jazz, blues and Latin music performed on two stages at the College of San Mateo.
Atop a grass hill on the College of San Mateo’s campus, two stages will erect next weekend, returning for the beloved, annual daylong celebration of live jazz music.
Free and open to the public, Jazz on the Hill returns 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, June 7, with jazz, blues and Latin music performed on two stages. This year, organizers are emphasizing the event as a family affair.
Hosted by KCSM Jazz 91, the 24-hour jazz station operating on the campus, the event is an opportunity for daily radio listeners to come together and not only tune in live but tune in in person.
For Robert Franklin, KCSM’s station manager, the success of the event is because “it’s rich, culturally.”
“Music is the universal language,” Franklin said. “This is an opportunity for families to come and enjoy great music and outstanding musicians from the area.”
Kicking off the festival at 11 a.m. on the main stage will be Skylar Tang, a 19-year-old trumpet player and composer from the Bay Area. Tang has played with renowned musicians — including Larry Vuckovich, who is taking the stage at 3 p.m. — and toured with Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Orchestra Jazz Band, according to her website bio.
Until 6 p.m., performances will flip between the main stage and youth stage, providing a range of instrumentalists, styles and levels of expertise. The youth stage debuted last year and garnered a lot of positive feedback, Franklin said.
This year, performers will include Jazz Education Ensemble, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the San Francisco Jazz High School Allstar Combo and the San Jose Jazz High School Allstars.
Part of the value of hosting a youth stage is the effect it might have on young people in the crowd who may be, or aren’t yet, interested in performing live or learning an instrument, Franklin said.
“There’s something about good positive peer pressure,” Franklin said. “When young people see other young people doing things, they become more excited than when perhaps they see an older person do it.”
Another aspect is the ability to provide aspiring musicians a place to experience what it means to perform live for an audience. Jazz on the Hill provides young people a chance to present their art to an audience and get that feel for the connection, Franklin said.
“Before Carnegie Hall or some large international stage, there’s a small stage somewhere in the community where they get their start from,” Franklin said. “Maybe [for] some of those young people, maybe this will be their small stage.”
The night will end with a performance by Afro-Cuban singer Bobi Céspedes, who will perform music that “integrates Cuban folklore and modern elements in an authentic and distinctive sound,” according to her website bio.
Another highlight, Franklin noted, will be Kim Nalley: Three Ladies Sing the Blues.
On-site will also be food trucks, craft booths and organizations from throughout the Bay Area. The event is a serious undertaking and is “an even heavier undertaking financially,” Franklin said, but seeing people come together on the Hill reminds him that “it’s that good work.”
The day after Jazz on the Hill 2025, Franklin and his team will begin planning for the next year. A new effort to fundraise and plan the event will be launched as well. Those in the community interested in becoming involved in “Friends of Jazz on the Hill” will work to increase funding and financial support for the event, Franklin said. More information will be presented at this year’s event.
The goal will remain to provide free, high-quality live jazz to the public for as long as possible, Franklin said, whether attendees are jazz aficionados or have never tuned in to the station before.
“You don’t have to be an aficionado to be inspired by what will be happening on June 7,” Franklin said. “That beautiful sense of community, the coming together of a positive atmosphere, communities coming together — that’s all the hallmarks of a strong community.”
