The San Jose (Calif.) Jazz Festival sets up this weekend with a pretty impressive roster — considering the whole shebang's free. The fun starts Friday night (Aug. 11) with conga maestro Poncho Sanchez's band, then continues through the weekend with alto madman Richie Cole, The Jazz Times Superband, sensational pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba, a band led by singer Kevin Mahogany and guitarist Coryell and much more, including plenty of blues and gospel. Performances on the Concord Records stage will be webcast at www.kcsm.org. For more information, check out www.sanjosejazz.org/festival/lineup.html. ...

As a prelude to Ken Burns' 10-episode "Jazz" documentary, which premieres on PBS stations Jan. 8, Columbia/Legacy and Verve Records are teaming up to release boatloads of CDs on Nov. 7 under the Jazz imprimatur. A five-CD box set will contain music drawn from the documentary, a single CD of music picked by Burns will deliver an overview of jazz history, and each label will release 11 artist compilation discs. That's a grand total of 28 discs. The music will be drawn not only from the Columbia and Verve vaults, but also from several other labels that licensed music to Jazz. ...

How blue can you get? We're not sure of their methodology, but the folks at British pop magazine New Musical Express have compiled a list of the 10 albums most played by the chronically distraught. Frank Sinatra's In the Wee Small Hours (recorded when he supposedly had been considering suicide after splitting up with Ava Gardner) and Billie Holiday's Lady in Satin keep company with suicide-struck acts such as Nick Drake, Joy Division and Nirvana. The #1 depresso album on the list is Big Star's Sister Lovers. ...

Cuban jazz master Chico O'Farrill's next CD for Milestone, Carambola, due in late September, will contain newly recorded versions of two of his landmark pieces: "Aztec Suite," first done in 1960 by trumpeter Art Farmer, and "Afro-Cuban Jazz Suite," recorded by singer Machito in 1949 and featuring Charlie Parker. ...

Saxophonist Jimmy Heath, trumpeters Jon Faddis and Lew Soloff and 14 other former members of Dizzy Gillespie's band will play in the Dizzy Gillespie Alumni All-Star Big Band to begin the 2000–01 jazz season of the Manchester Craftsmen's Guild, which runs Sept. 21–24. The guild, located in Pittsburgh, originally was created in 1968 to promote art and music in the district of Manchester. The series will run until May 20. Other performers include saxophonist Paquito D'Rivera, singer Dee Dee Bridgewater, guitarist Martin Taylor and pianist Diane Schuur. ...

From sea to shining sea: From Aug. 15 to Sept. 15, Global Music Network will present webcasts of the North Sea Jazz Festival. The music webcast site will show performances by pianist Dr. John, singer Lou Rawls, saxophonist David Sanborn, pianist Brad Mehldau and others that occurred July 14–16 in the Netherlands. For more information: (www.gmn.com). ...

Party at Mayor Giuliani's! Pianist Herbie Hancock, saxophonist Branford Marsalis and others will perform at this year's J&R Downtown JazzFest, which runs Aug. 24–26 at New York's City Hall Park. The free event also will include performances by guitarist Jeff Golub and saxophonists Joe Lovano and David Sanchez. J&R Music will host a Tech Expo in its retail complex across the street, at which technology companies will show off their wares and host seminars. ...

South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela, pianist Kenny Barron and drummer Chico Hamilton will headline this year's Sunnyside Jazz Festival, Aug. 26–27 in Tarrytown, N.Y. Located 45 minutes north of the city, the shows will take place on the Washington Irving property. Concertgoers will also be able to visit the house and museum of the "Legend of Sleepy Hollow" author. Other performers include guitarist Gil Parris and saxophonists Jimmy Heath and Sonny Fortune. ...

With acoustic-guitar ace Richard Leo Johnson's new one due from Blue Note next month, it's interesting to note that Fantasy has just reissued a seminal 1972 fingerpicking album by Peter Lang, an associate of John Fahey and Leo Kottke. The Thing at the Nursery Room Window, originally out on the Takoma label, sports extra tracks and liner notes by Lang. ...

Move over Brubecks — the Coryells, consisting of guitarist papa Larry and his guitarist sons Julian and Murali, perform at the Boston jazz club Scullers on Aug. 23. Brian Torff will play bass, Kenwood Dennard drums. The group's CD, The Coryells, is available from Chesky Records. ..

Evidence Records will release four reissues and a double-disc set of previously unavailable recordings from the late, great, space-warped big-band leader Sun Ra on Sept. 26. The CDs include Greatest Hits: Easy Listening for Intergalactic Travel, When Angels Speak of Love, Lanquidity, Pathways to Unknown Worlds and The Great Lost Sun Ra Albums: Cymbals and Crystal Spears. Cymbals and Crystal Spears originally were produced for the Impulse label. ...

In other Sun Ra news, the Atavistic label has released Spaceways Incorporated: Thirteen Cosmic Standards by Sun Ra & Funkadelic, performed by a Chicago power trio of saxophonist Ken Vandermark, bassist Nate McBride and drummer Hamid Drake. Sun Ra started his career in Chicago (after departing Saturn, of course) and was a huge influence on all the creative strands that have emerged from the Windy City, including the Art Ensemble of Chicago. ...

Pianist Jon Jang, Circle of Fire featuring tabla master Zakir Hussain, Melody of China and saxophonist Francis Wong are performing at this year's Asian American Jazz Festival in the San Francisco Bay Area on Sept. 22–24. The event also will be host to the world premiere of "Wave Twister" — an animation film written, produced and composed by DJ Qbert formerly of Invisibl Skratch Piklz and illustrated by graffiti artist Doug Cunningham. Visit www.asianart.org/programs/performances.htm for more information. ...

— sonicnet.com staff report