Binational jazz festival celebrates music on both sides of the border

KPBS On Demand is supported by ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties. The work of the ACLU is about closing the gap between the America that was promised and the America that is. Learn more at www.aclu-sdic.org.

[upbeat jazz music] On today's KPBS Midday Edition, we're having the conversations shaping San Diego. I'm Jade Hindman, keeping you informed and inspired while making you think. [upbeat jazz music] The San Diego-Tijuana International Jazz Festival kicks off. We'll have a preview. Then, our midday movies critics join us with their favorite Alfred Hitchcock films. Plus, we've got your weekend preview. That's ahead on KPBS Midday Edition. [upbeat jazz music] So if you wanna hear the live music of renowned jazz artists, save the date for the San Diego-Tijuana International Jazz Festival. It starts tonight. And here to tell us about what's in store this year are the founders of the festival, Dan Atkinson and Julián Placencia. Dan, Julián, welcome back to Midday.

Thank you. Happy to be here.

Thank you. Very happy to be here.

Glad to have you both here. We, uh, spoke last year about this time, uh, and now you're getting ready to kick off your third edition, so congratulations to the both of you. Uh, how are you feeling as the festival is set to kick off later this evening?

Well, well I'll take that because, uh, that show tonight is on this side of the border, and, uh, uh, it's gonna be packed. We're really excited about the, uh, the turnout for this. We'll be at Courtyard in the East Village from, uh, 5:00 to 9:00 PM with three different bands. And, uh, uh, if I can say quickly about them, this has been our format for the last two years. We have a binational youth band with students from both San Diego and Ensenada, then a band from Tijuana that's making its first US appearance on this program called Colectivo Fronterizo, and then finally, this incredible band from Los Angeles and San Diego called Jungle Fire, and I think you played Jungle Fire on the way in to the interview here.

[laughs] Well, I mean, um, we'll be hearing more about, uh, those performances and Jungle Fire too. Uh, Dan, you've been, you know, a part of the jazz scene here in San Diego for decades. I mean, what, what made you wanna start a yearly jazz festival here?

Uh, well, it's sort of a, a funny coincidence. Uh, when I started my work in jazz in San Diego back in the late '80s, it was just a couple of years after the last really ambitious internationally, international level, uh, jazz festival took place in San Diego. It was in 1984, and it was called the San Diego Jazz Festival. It took place at the Old Globe Theater's outdoor stage. And really since then, no one has done this. So it's been on my mind for, you know, 35-plus years. [laughs]

Wow.

And, uh, um, uh, we really... I, I got to thinking about this through a lot of different inputs and realized we should really do something that's distinctive here, that's about the incredible place that San Diego and Tijuana together is. So we wanted it to be binational in focus and in scope. And, uh, so that's our, that's our mission, is to serve the people of both sides of the border.

That's excellent. Uh, Julián, I mean, when people