The best day in January – aside from my birthday – is January 19. Between Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service and the Downtown Jazz Fiesta, there’ll be enough to do and celebrate downtown. Especially if you’re into food trucks or consider yourself a jazz aficionado.
The Tucson Jazz Festival will host an all day family friendly event from 11am to 5pm at Fifth Avenue between Broadway and Congress Street.
Two stages – the Connect Stage located in the courtyard of Connect Coworking at 33 South Fifth Avenue, and the MLK Stage at Toole and 5th – will feature 12 bands with food and drink available from six different local food trucks.
Featured food trucks include:
- Jozarelli’s – An Italian food truck with its own large flat screen attached to the rear
- The Twisted Tandoor – Delicious Indian food
- BBQ Rush – Self explanatory
- Burgerrito – a mashup of a burger and burrito
- Bella’s Gelato – Nothing but that sweet, delicious, creamy goodness
- Pin up Pastries – More desserts
Food trucks aside, I recently read an interesting article about a speech that Dr. Martin Luther King gave at the 1964 Berlin Jazz Festival:
Jazz speaks for life. The Blues tell the story of life’s difficulties, and if you think for a moment, you will realize that they take the hardest realities of life and put them into music, only to come out with some new hope or sense of triumph.
This is triumphant music.
Modern jazz has continued in this tradition, singing the songs of a more complicated urban existence. When life itself offers no order and meaning, the musician creates an order and meaning from the sounds of the earth which flow through his instrument.
Full disclosure: I’m currently working for the Tucson Jazz Festival. So, I get to do things like give away free tickets. Email tucsonjazzfest@gmail.com for a chance to win a pair of tickets to see Gabriel Espinosa and Hendrik Meurkens on Jan. 22 at the Rialto. Write your name and number in the body, but you must write “Tucson Foodie sent me…” in the subject line to qualify. Good luck.
For more information, VIP and advance tickets for the festival visit TucsonJazzFestival.org.
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