VACAVILLE — City officials approached trumpet player Keith Stout 20 years ago about organizing a jazz festival to end the Creekwalk concerts.
The answer was yes. Now, two decades later, Stout still oversees the annual event taking place this weekend in Vacaville.
What started as a one-day festival has expanded to three days, various venues and 250 musicians, ranging from high school students to a special one-time guest, Wynton Marsalis.
“I looked at this as an opportunity to work with musical colleagues from the eye of community enrichment,” Stout said.
Jazz tells the history of the United States, from the slaves who sang spirituals working in the fields to the genre’s home in New Orleans and the introduction of Dixieland jazz, big band, ragtime and even rock ‘n’ roll.
Stout sees it as his, and his generation’s, responsibility to take that history to the next generation.
That’s done through the Vacaville Jazz Society’s free music youth camps, a once-a-week camp for four weeks that ends with a recital at the Jazz Festival. It’s been part of the festival for 15 years.
The seeds have been planted as high school students who participated in the festival in the past have gone to work as performers or music educators.
Stout launched the nonprofit Vacaville Jazz Society with help from the community. He also sought sponsors to help defray the costs. All musicians donate their time and talent.
It took almost a year to organize the first Vacaville Jazz Festival. Stout was determined to keep it going.
It’s not easy.
“Sponsorship is at a minimum,” he said. “It’s a sign of the times.”
Stout saw the demise of the Jazz Festival every Memorial Day weekend in Old Sacramento. When that was gone, organizers tried an electrical festival, only to have that disappear, too.
Pulitzer Prize-winning Marsalis was traveling through the area 10 years ago when he saw an advertisement for the festival. He ate lunch, then approached the Vacaville High School band that was seated and waiting to perform at Nut Tree Plaza.
There was an empty chair in the trumpet section. Marsalis asked the youth next to it, if it was OK to sit in it.
“He drew a crowd and really made an impact on those high school kids,” Stout said.
Stout wed when the Jazz Festival began. He likes to jokingly say his wife married the jazz festival as well.
They have a 16-year-old who also plays trumpet and participates in the festival.
After the Jazz Festival wraps up – Stout will perform – he will work on the Veterans Day program at the Downtown Theatre in Fairfield. In December, the Alive Music Orchestra will host its annual Christmas program. Then, Stout starts work on the 2020 Vacaville Jazz Festival.
The Jazz Festival always includes a military tribute. Stout’s father served in the U.S. Air Force and spent 18 months in Vietnam. It’s important to remember those who served, he said.
20th annual Vacaville Jazz Festival
- 6 to 9 p.m. Friday
- Town Square Plaza
- 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, 1 to 7:30 p.m. Sunday
- Nut Tree Plaza
- Free admission
- www.vacajazzsociety.org
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Amy Maginnis-Honey joined the staff of the Daily Republic in 1980. She’ll tell you she was only 3 at the time. Over the past three decades she’s done a variety of jobs in the newsroom. Today, she covers arts and entertainment and writes for the Living and news pages. She also covers Suisun City and general assignment. Reach her at 427-6957 or amaginnis@dailyrepublic.net. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/amaginnisdr.