(Scroll down for full list of performers for 2022, with videos)
When: Friday nights 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM, June 3 to August 26, 2022.
Where: Gabrielson Park, adjacent to the Sausalito Ferry landing area. (See map and more details below the videos.) Lawn Area Seating Rules: If you plan to watch for free from the lawn, only blankets and low-back beach chairs are allowed so that everyone can see the Sausalito music in the park.
This year’s best-known Sausalito Jazz and Blues by the Bay performers:
- Internationally acclaimed blues and swing vocalist Lavay Smith, who has played a leading role in the revival of swing music in the US and abroad.
- East Bay Funk pioneers Lydia Pense and Cold Blood. Janis Joplin– to whom Pense was frequently compared as a fellow Bay Area blues vocalist — launched their national success when she recommended Pense and the band to impresario Bill Graham.
- Eugene Huggins, a local treasure who closes Sausalito Jazz and Blues by the Bay each year.
Cost: Free if you just stand and listen or sit on the grass! Tables may also be reserved for a fee. Click here for the city’s detailed page on costs for single and full-season tables and how to sign up online.
Food: Community groups will be selling food and beverages. You can bring your own meal to Sausalito Jazz and Blues by the Bay, but please clean up and recycle.
2022 Sausalito Jazz and Blues by the Bay Schedule
We have links to musicians’ websites and videos of their performances below.
June 3: Zydeco Flames.
June 10: Katie Knipp (Blues)
June 17: Alpha Rhythm Kings
June 24: Lavay Smith. Apart from her vocal talents, Smith has a worldwide reputation for her academic expertise in swing music and other mid-20th century forms, for which she’s received honors here and in Europe. In years when we’re lucky, her calendar allows her to return to Sausalito Jazz and Blues by the Bay. In addition to her performance here, she is headlining SFJazz this year with a Herbst Theatre tribute to legendary singer and songwriter Peggy Lee.
July 1: Lydia Pense & Cold Blood. In the early 1970s two East Bay blues and funk bands emerged to gain international recognition: Tower of Power and Lydia Pense & Cold Blood. Pense was discovered by Sausalito denizen Janis Joplin, who recommended her to rock impresario Bill Graham in 1968. 50 years later they retain a powerful and authentic sound, and in addition to Sausalito Jazz and Blues by the Bay they’re returning to Yoshi’s in Oakland again later this year.
July 8: David Gerald
July 15: Alicia Gomez (Do you know where we could find a video of one of her performances?)
July 22: Bait and Switch Blues Band
July 22: Tracorum
August 5: Jenny Kerr
August 12: Randy McAllister
August 19: Mo’Fone (who, like Smith, are also appearing at SFJazz this year)
August 26: Eugene Huggins Our traditional closing night performance for virtually the entire run of Sausalito Jazz & Blues by the Bay. Some folks in town will recognize his cover of another local band’s song in the video below, recorded here at a past year’s closing night…)
What to Wear: Dress in layers. On some Friday afternoons the breeze off the Bay is cold and you’ll want to bundle up. Other times it’ll be hot and sunny. (I know, I know… this is the 247th time I’ve added “Dress in layers” to a post or article on OurSausalito.com.)
Replays: Sausalito Jazz and Blues by the Bay concerts are recorded and rebroadcast each week on Radio Sausalito on AM1610, which can also be accessed online and via podcast.
Questions about this year’s Sausalito Jazz and Blues by the Bay: Sausalito Parks & Recreation, 415-289-4198.
