Dec 26, 2025
3 min read
Year in Review: From San Diego and Tijuana to Abu Dhabi in 2025, jazz has grown around the world and points in between.
Jazz 2025 has been filled with moving celebrations, new groundbreaking artists, and noteworthy anniversaries.America's Richest Tijuana Tijuana International Jazz Festival and its best life and clubs have been here and far, far away.
How far?On April 30, concerts were held in San Diego and in more than 190 countries for the 14th annual UN-sponsored International Jazz Day.It culminated in an all-star concert in Abu Dhabi featuring artists from 14 countries.
Many of these artists have performed in San Diego multiple times.They include: The Dee Singers Dee Bridgewater, Etienne Charles, Kurt Elling, Ruthie Foster, José James and Dianne Reeves;guitarist John McLaughlin and John Pizzarelli;Perez;saxophonist David Sánchez;
Music legend Herbie Hancock dives into AI while his all-star album with Kendrick Lamar is revamped
Hancock has spearheaded International Jazz Day since its inception.He will do it again when the 2026 edition is held in his hometown, Chicago.The 85-year-old keyboard giant, who also directs UCLA's Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz Performance, toured Europe and the United States this year.He will begin his next concert tour on April 14 in Los Angeles.
A number of legends were celebrated posthumously this year in celebration of their 100th birthdays, notably Milo Davis, Oscar Peterson, Celia Cruz, Roy Haynes, Art Pepper and former San Diego rock and flute great James Moody, who were once again honored in memory and at all-star concerts in New York and Escondido.Block.")
James Moody 100: Music of the season celebrating near and far
"Moody @ 100" was unveiled on the second of three days of the 2025 San Diego Tijuana International Jazz Festival, featuring top international and national artists in a one-on-one concert in addition to the sin of the city with its name.
Moody, who died here in 2010 at the age of 85, was greeted on stage at the California Institute of the Arts in Escondido by a talented group.It featured two Grammy Award winners - bassist John Clayton and saxophonist David Sanchez - as well as important San Diego jazz artists Gilbert Castellanos on trumpet and Holly Hofmann on flute.
The festival, funded with nearly $400,000 in seed money from Qualcomm co-founder Irwin M. Jacobs, is the brainchild of Daniel Atkinson of San Diego and Julian Plascencia of Tijuana.
Atkinson, a major influence on the region's cultural scene, this year celebrated his 36th year curating jazz programs at the La Jolla Athenaeum Library of Music and the Arts and his 26th year hosting the Athenaeum Jazz Concert Series at the Scripps Institution.Anticipation is already building for the 2026 edition of the San Diego Tijuana International Jazz Festival.
The San Diego Tijuana International Jazz Festival is in its second year
Trumpeter Castellanos, who played in two editions of the San Diego Tijuana International Jazz Festival, celebrates his own birthday in 2025.
This year he became the 10th curator of the San Diego Symphony's Jazz at The Jacobs series, where he drew a sold-out audience to his Nov. 29 set of John Coltrane's "Blue Train."Castellanos' Aug. 3 performance of Miles Davis' "Porgy & Bess" drew a large crowd to The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park, the symphony's outdoor concert venue.This year also marks the eighth anniversary of the Young Lions Jazz Reserve.It was Castellanos, who nurtured many outstanding musical talents here.
Much credit goes to the La Jolla Music Association, which, following in the footsteps of the La Jolla Athenaeum, continues to bring top jazz artists from around the world to concerts at the state-of-the-art Baker-Baum Concert Hall, the nearby JAI cabaret venue, and the Balboa Theater in downtown San Diego.
In Del Mar, the three-day San Diego Jazz Festival celebrates its 36th anniversary;the 2026 edition is February 20-22.All ages Dizzy in Bay Park turns 24 this year, while award-winning singer Leonard Patton's jazz lounge celebrates its fourth anniversary.Leo's celebrates its third anniversary with free weekly Sunday evening jazz concerts and jam sessions.
Tio Leo's, The Jazz Lounge and Dizzy's showcase major local, regional and national artists.The fact that San Diego hosts weekly jam sessions almost every night of the week at different venues speaks to the vitality of jazz here.
This year also saw sax legend Charles McPherson – a San Diego resident since the late 1970s – celebrate his 86th birthday with performances across the country, including two summer concerts at Lou Lou in North Park.McPherson will be featured in the Jazz at Jacobs concert led by Castellanos on Feb. 14, called "Songs of Lovers."
Another saxophonist, Brian Levy of San Diego, performed at The Jacobs' Blue Train concert with Castellanos on Nov. 29.Since becoming chair of SDSU's Department of Jazz Studies in 2023, Levy has helped to dramatically increase enrollment and organize concerts by national artists, including McPherson.
As in previous years, nearly every major jazz event was enthusiastically promoted by KSDS 88.3 FM, the award-winning radio station that has been broadcasting from its studios at San Diego City College for more than 50 years.
The station suffered a major blow in July when federal government cuts to public broadcasting took about $220,000 from KSDS's budget, reducing about 20 percent of its annual budget.More than $100,000 to help plug the hole.
Thanks to critical support from the San Diego Community College District, KSDS continues to broadcast jazz 24 hours a day on the airwaves and online.Along with KPBS, it is one of two public radio stations in San Diego.Its importance as a vital jazz outlet cannot be understated.
As the year draws to a close, veteran drummer and vibraphonist Chuck Redd has canceled the annual Christmas Eve jazz concert he's hosted at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts since 2006. He did so to protest the facility's recent name change to the Trump Kennedy Center.
Redd's move comes less than six months after acclaimed pianist and composer Jason Moran stepped down as the Kennedy Center's artistic director of jazz after 14 years.Moran wrote on social media: "Thank you to the composers, comedians, choreographers, performers, skaters, painters, artists. photographers, sculptors, science, film crew, etc... These young people make the stage beautiful. With that, I bowed out on Friday."
On September 11th, the server was released to Kevin Struts, who is now set up to lead the 3-2 Gray Juzil Promise - Carty Juzilist on April 18th.
From a more mainstream perspective, 2025 will see the release of not one but two films about Keith Jarrett’s epic 1975 piano concerto, composed in Cologne, Germany.
One of them, "Köln '75," was recently shown at the Digital Gym in San Diego as a feature film while the other, "Lost in Köln," is a documentary about Jarrett's famous performance, released as "Köln '75" by ECM Records in March, 1975, and remains the solo piano album that has ever sold it.
Both are worthy contenders if the San Diego Tijuana International Jazz Festival adds a film component in 2026, the year the Santa Monica International Jazz Festival will begin.It will be held May 1-9 and is the brainchild of bassist Stanley Clarke and will be choreographed by Oscar winner Debbie Allen.no players announced.
