CeeLo Green & Ledisi to Headline San Jose Jazz Summer Fest 2022

Silicon Valley's premier annual music event, San Jose Jazz Summer Fest 2022 returns for its 32nd festival season from Friday, August 12 through Sunday, August 14 in and around Plaza de César Chavez Park in downtown San Jose, Calif. Renowned as one of North America's foremost music events with its dynamic multi-day programming, San Jose Jazz presents a riveting artist lineup for one of the summer's major San Francisco Bay Area outdoor music festivals.

SJZ Summer Fest 2022 features nearly 100 acts across more than eight stages with acclaimed headliners CeeLo Green, Ledisi and others soon to be announced performing on The Sobrato Organization Main Stage. SJZ Summer Fest 2022 serves as a platform honoring the vibrancy of the jazz art form with marquee performances by lauded artists as well as influential trendsetters pushing the genre into new territories within today's popular music. Limited three-day festival passes are now on sale at Early Bird prices here.

San Jose Jazz Summer Fest 2022 is thrilled to officially announce today its initial round of confirmed artists including CeeLo Green; Ledisi; Judith Hill; Javon Jackson's "Charlie Parker at 100," Ft. Gary Bartz, Charles McPherson & Donald Harrison; The Brubeck Brothers; Telmary & Friends; Joel Ross; Takuya Kuroda Quintet; Bobby Watson, Curtis Lundy, Jeremy Pelt, Cyrus Chestnut & Victor Jones; Lemon Bucket Orkestra; New Orleans Suspects with Erika Falls; Tribute to Clifford Coulter; Jazz Organ Fellowship Tribute to Tony Monaco; Jazz Organ Foundation Celebrates Dr. Lonnie Smith; Diunna Greenleaf; Aki Kumar; Memphissippi Sound; 7th Street Big Band; Tribal Gold; Silvana Astrada; Erica Falls; ADG7, and many more acts to be announced soon!

"San Jose Jazz Summer Fest 2022 will greater reflect the trajectory of our flagship annual music event as we climb out of the pandemic and return to the look and feel of SJZ Summer Fest that music fans have come to love," says San Jose Jazz's Executive Director Brendan Rawson. "For 2022, we've looked closely at our role as a cultural organization and the responsibility we have to the residents of the South Bay. We are very passionate about providing top tier programming that's both global in scope as well as reflective of San Jose. We greatly look forward to welcoming back patrons to a larger footprint than in 2021 with over eight stages of exciting outdoor and indoor concerts."

Artistic Director Bruce Labadie, one of the event's founders, programs the artists for SJZ Summer Fest with the help of locally based co-curators.

Labadie comments, "Attendees of SJZ Summer Fest 2022 can expect the same experience as years past with a wide variety of outstanding artists set to perform on our stages. We're working closely with the city to ensure a safe environment for all while many of today's best acts perform throughout downtown. Live concerts will be centered around Plaza de César Chavez Park with our favorite vendors offering delicious foods and beverages, and creative crafts. With three outdoor stages and five indoor stages, there is excellent programming that will appeal to an array of music fans."

San Jose Jazz steps forward to help bring the city of San Jose back to life and rebuild its inclusive community through cultural collaborations with many longstanding partners of the festival. While The Sobrato Organization Main Stage ignites with GRAMMY Award-winning artists, the Blues/Big Easy Stage in partnership with Jay Meduri of the legendary South Bay venue Poor House Bistro features blues and New Orleans acts in the South portion of Plaza de César Chavez Park. San Jose Museum of Art Stage puts the spotlight on emerging youth talent performing free shows on Saturday, Aug. 13 and Sunday, Aug. 14.

The historic 1936 venue Montgomery Theater brings its elegant décor and great acoustics to SJZ Summer Fest as one of four premier indoor concert spaces for national and regional artists. Additional indoor venues include the Hammer Theatre, Hammer4, and SJZ Break Room. Local curatorial and performance partners also include Mosaic America, Bloco do Sol, Jazz Organ Fellowship, Little Village Foundation, and Universal Grammar.

Supported by Abierto Funds from the City of San José, the Latin Tropical Stage will be a free, community venue this year. It remains a pillar of San Jose Jazz Summer Fest 2022 with Latin and salsa music lovers traveling to downtown San Jose from the far stretches of the West Coast for a chance to dance to incredible acts performing timba, son, mambo, and Jíbaro. San Jose Jazz Latin Music Coordinator and Latin Tropical Stage curator Betto Arcos is an expert on Latin American and global music, and is celebrated for his reporting on NPR, PRI "The World," and the BBC. Arcos curates the finest Latin and salsa acts with free shows on August 13 & 14, 2022 (salsa lineup will be announced in the coming weeks).

Housed on South 1st Street inside San Jose Jazz's downtown office with a multi-media digital video wall featuring the latest in HD technology, The SJZ Break Room hosts three days of indoor shows with all live performances projection-mapped with Ultra-Short Throw Projectors onto high-end projection fabric mounted on motorized rollers. Sound from outdoor speakers and projections fill a 35 x 14 feet bank of floor to ceiling windows, providing a unique outdoor concert experience on San Carlos Street in addition to the wristband-accessed live indoor shows (100-person capacity venue).

CeeLo Green (Friday, August 12 @ 9:30pm)

Five-time GRAMMY Award-winning singer/songwriter-producer, TV personality, actor, and pop culture icon CeeLo Green is a certified gold artist for his 2011 single "Forget You" (AKA "F---K You") and his hit single "Crazy" with Gnarls Barkley (with Danger Mouse) reached #1 on various music charts worldwide. CeeLo Green initially rose to fame as a member of the southern hip-hop group Goodie Mob. In 2015, CeeLo released his critically-acclaimed solo album, Heart Blanche, and in 2020, he collaborated with Dan Auerbach (of The Black Keys) for his 6th solo album, CeeLo Green is Thomas Callaway. CeeLo has also completed four seasons as a coach on NBC's hit show "The Voice," and is the author of his memoir "Everybody's Brother."

Ledisi (Sunday, August 14 @ 6pm)

2021 GRAMMY-Award winner Ledisi is a 14-time GRAMMY nominated powerhouse vocalist who has garnered three Soul Train Music Awards, an NAACP Theater Award and thirteen NAACP Image Award nominations. Most recently, Ledisi received two LA Alliance Ovation Award nominations, one for "Best Featured Actress in a Musical." Born in New Orleans and raised in Oakland, CA, Ledisi has truly earned a place in the pantheon of the greatest singers of her generation.

Ledisi is a favorite of former President Obama as well as a long list of icons including the late-Prince, Patti LaBelle, Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, Chaka Khan, and many more. No stranger to the film and television world, Ledisi landed a role in her first feature in 2008, singing in the George Clooney directed film, Leatherheads. In 2015, she portrayed the great Mahalia Jackson in the Oscar-nominated movie, Selma and had a notable performance in Gabourney Sidibe's Shatterbox Anthology film, The Tale Of Four. Ledisi secured her first television role playing the legendary Patti LaBelle on the hit BET series, American Soul. She also starred in the BET+ drama, Twice Bitten. In 2021, Ledisi landed the starring role in the film Remember Me: The Story of Mahalia Jackson. To cap off an amazing year, she will also portray the incomparable Gladys Knight in the long-awaited film based on Neil Bogart's career, Spinning Gold, the story of Casablanca Records.

Lemon Bucket Orkestra (Friday, August 12 -- Montgomery Theater @ 9pm)

Lemon Bucket Orkestra performs music from their latest album, IIHTS, which draws from a myriad of folk traditions across Eastern Europe. IIHTS is a song cycle inspired by a century old Slavic prison ballad that tells the story of a young rebel coming home after laying it all on the line. The group's work draws emotional weight from the band's personal experiences with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and also highlights the dozen-strong ensemble's party-punk roots and attitude, which has developed since their formative days busking on the streets of Toronto.

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