\u00a0<\/strong>subsequent rise in international tensions made the weekend festival an even more timely reminder of the power of music to transcend borders and to uplift and unify musicians and audiences alike.<\/p>\n\u201cWe are proud to host this in such a pivotal time,\u201d said Gina Lopez, the CEO of California Center for the Arts, Escondido.<\/p>\n
Tad Parzen, a festival underwriter and the CEO of the Burnham Center for Community Advancement, noted from the stage that the festival has been several decades in the making. He also announced the launch of the nonprofit OneSD, which is designed to bridge differences and bring people together at a time of intense polarization.<\/p>\n
\u201cSan Diego and Tijuana can be the pluralistic capital of the world,\u201d Parzen said.<\/p>\n
The ease with which music can transcend borders was demonstrated by virtually every performer Saturday.<\/p>\n
Lucia sang in both English and Spanish, while Cavassa sang in English and Italian. Castillo and O\u2019Farrill, who is the professor of Global Jazz Studies at UCLA, addressed the audience in Spanish and English.<\/p>\n
\u201cMusic doesn\u2019t have borders, and neither should the world,\u201d said Castillo, who this year shared in a Best Latin Jazz Album Grammy Award win with O\u2019Farrill for their album \u201cFandango at the Wall.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/SUT-L-MUSIC-JAZZFEST-1005-01_0bcd46.jpg\")
The three-day 2025 San Diego Tijuana International Jazz Festival concluded its Saturday edition with a joint performance by Arturo O\u2019Farrill & The Afro-Latin Ensemble and the Fandango Fronterizo Colectivo. (Manuel Cruces Camberos)<\/p>\n
Highlights abounded Saturday, starting with trumpeter Trujillo\u2019s set-closing number, the aptly named \u201cVolkano.\u201d The 24-year-old Lucia, whose band featured the terrific pianist Edward Simon, sang the 1932 bolero \u201cVeracruz\u201d with the same elan she brought to the 1930 George and Ira Gershwin gem, \u201cBut Not For Me.\u201d<\/p>\n
The posthumous 100th birthday tribute to James Moody was introduced by his wife, San Diego Realtor Linda McGowan Moody. \u201cI hope you continue to support this so that we will forever have a San Diego\/Tijuana jazz festival,\u201d she told the 1,000-plus audience.<\/p>\n
The tribute to her late husband opened with a luminous version of \u201cAutumn Leaves\u201d and concluded with a suitably sly \u201cBennie\u2019s From Heaven,\u201d which featured a delightful vocal by drummer Nash.<\/p>\n
What the producers of the San Diego Tijuana International Jazz Festival have in store for 2026 remains to be seen. But this year\u2019s edition set the bar admirably high for an event well worth celebrating in both its namesake cities \u2014 and beyond.<\/p>\n
Originally Published: October 5, 2025 at 4:30 PM PDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The San Diego Tijuana International Jazz Festival scored so well and often on Saturday that first-time attendees may…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":280794,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,1370,5424,3549,7264,1072,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-280793","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-latest-headlines","12":"tag-music-and-concerts","13":"tag-san-diego","14":"tag-sandiego","15":"tag-things-to-do","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-united-states-of-america","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","20":"tag-us","21":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115324929217102991","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280793"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280793\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Saturday's](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/SUT-L-MUSIC-JAZZFEST-1005-01_3b69c6.jpg\")
Saturday\u2019s tribute to sax giant James Moody featured an all-star band at the San Diego Tijuana International Jazz Festival. pictured from left are trumpeter Gilbert Castellanos, drummer and singer Lewis Nash, bassist John Clayton, saxophonist David Sanchez, pianist Gerald Clayton and flutist Holly Hofmann. (Beth Wood)<\/p>\n