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After performing with the San Jose High School Jazz All-Stars at Jazz on the Plazz, June McMahon shared the stage Sept. 20 with the Brubeck Brothers Quartet at Los Gatos Music and Arts’ annual gala. McMahon is pictured here with Chris Brubeck, son of jazz legend Dave Brubeck. (Photo by Debby Rice)

Los Gatos hosts events with a purpose
Debby Rice
PUBLISHED: September 30, 2025 at 7:38 AM PDT

Los Gatos Music & Arts (LGMA) has produced Jazz on the Plazz for 23 years, offering free concerts funded by generous sponsors. Yet its true legacy is education: workshops and scholarships shaping future jazz leaders. San Jose high school student June McMahon embodies this mission. After performing with the San Jose High School Jazz All-Stars at Jazz on the Plazz, she participated in LGMA Brubeck Brothers Workshop, earned a spot at the prestigious Brubeck Jazz Summit and shared the stage Sept. 20 with the Brubeck Brothers Quartet at the LGMA annual gala. Her journey is one example of success.

Jazzy nonprofit closes-out season with a bang

Nine-time Grammy Award winner Herb Alpert is coming to the South Bay

What happens after Jazz on the Plazz (JoP) ends? You attend a “GALA” and wait for next summer, of course.

The producers of JoP, Los Gatos Music & Arts, held their annual GALA and sponsor recognition this Saturday. This year’s event was held at the Addison-Penzak Jewish Community Center (the JCC) in the Fletcher, Krauss, Reinhard Auditorium.

People come to give back to the organization that has provided them with music each Wednesday evening during the summer.

It’s a chance to dress up, listen to some live, improvisational jazz and just chill out.

Many who attended this series-ender said that this had been the best series yet.

People also seemed to be really enjoying the choice of venue for the GALA, as well.

BTW, JoP has been going strong for more than two decades now.

Herb Albert

Nine-time Grammy Award winner Herb Alpert is coming to the South Bay
Legendary trumpeter and composer Herb Alpert, who’s won nine Grammy Awards over the course of his 50-plus-year career, is set to perform in Los Gatos at a benefit concert for Los Gatos Music & Arts, the nonprofit that produces the free Jazz on the Plazz summer concert series. Music & Arts also funds art programs, and jazz camps and workshops for youth.

Offering opportunities for young musicians is a cause that’s dear to Alpert and his wife, Lani Hall, who will perform together at the July 25 Jazz on the Plazz Gala fundraiser.

Alpert’s foundation has endowed the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music and the Herb Alpert School of Music at CalArts. Last year, the foundation also donated just over $10 million to the Los Angeles City College music department to pay music students’ tuition.

Duchess jazz trio
blends great voices

Never underestimate the creative power of a short attention span.
New York jazz vocalist Amy Cervini can focus just fine when necessary. But as a performer, she admits to feeling “very restless,” adding, “I need to do different things all the time. I like to put myself in different musical situations and see what happens.”

Pizarro

Mary Wilson shows why she’s still a supreme talent. Today’s lip-syncing pop stars don’t have a thing on Mary Wilson.
Wilson, one of the founding members of the Supremes, opened her set at the Los Gatos Music & Arts Jazz Gala on Tuesday by sauntering through the crowd singing “Baby Love,” one of her hits with the 1960s group.
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Photos: Los Gatos Jazz Gala!

Annual fundraiser for nonprofit Los Gatos Music & Arts organization featured live Mary Wilson concert, a founding member of The Supremes.

Los Gatos: Jazz on the Plazz benefit offers ‘Supreme’ fun

A founding member of the Supremes, Mary Wilson, is the 2013 Jazz Legend who will be honored at a July 23 Jazz on the Plazz Gala, a fundraiser for Los Gatos Music & Arts. LGMA produces the Jazz on the Plazz and Music in the Park summer concert series. 

Jazz to fill the Plazz for yet another summer

It’s “summertime and the livin’ is easy.” That lyric from Porgy and Bess was made famous by George Gershwin, the legendary composer and pianist whose music is the theme for the 2013 Jazz on the Plazz Concert Series.

Catherine Russell

Sassy, savvy jazz/blues singer Catherine Russell a walking history book
Singer Catherine Russell has a certain feeling for classic jazz and blues tunes: Sassy and suave, she knows the territory. Russell is the daughter of pianist Luis Russell, who was Louis Armstrong’s music director, and bassist/singer Carline Ray, who played with the International Sweethearts of Rhythm during World War II.