Reading Room Exhibit
The idea for Jubilee was conceived in 1973, when members of the Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society organized a committee to investigate the feasibility of holding a jazz festival in Sacramento. They decided on Memorial Day weekend 1974 to hold the first Old Sacramento Dixieland Jazz Jubilee. That first festival featured 21 bands playing at a handful of performance sites in Old Sacramento and West Sacramento. It brought in 3,000 attendees, with 300 volunteers managing the event.
First Event Program, 1974 (front and back)
Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society collection, MS0007
Badges are a popular collectible among the hot jazz set, as we can see by this 1985 Jubilee attendee’s decked-out hat. Instead of paper tickets, Jubilee attendees were given pinback badges to wear all weekend. Folks working Jubilee also received badges, with ribbons attached noting they were a musician, volunteer, or staff. Many people kept their badges as souvenirs, and many were donated to us over the years – we have over 400 in the Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society collection.
Festival attendee, 1985
Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society collection, MS0007
Bill Gunter gives “Big Mama” Sue Kroninger a hand during the 1986 Jubilee International Washboard Concert. Jubilee held what they touted as the “world’s first annual washboard concert” in 1983, piggybacking on other Jubilee concerts at that time that featured many people playing the same instrument (Pianorama, Tubarama, Trombone-a-Rama, Saxaphonia). The washboard concert was a staple of the festival for the next couple decades.
Washboard concert, 1986
Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society collection, MS0007
Hailing from Japan, the Dixieland Saints finished a three-city U.S. tour at Jubilee in 1979. According to a rave review in the Sacramento Bee, piano player Keiko Toyama was the standout at their performances. The Bee noted she had “the wickedest left hand this side of a crooked card game. She brought a packed house at the Bacchus Theater to its feet with some low-down boogie-woogie reminiscent of Freddie Slack."
Dixieland Saints, 1979
Photograph by Skip Shuman, Sacramento Bee Collection, 1983/001/SBPM8802
Igor’s Cowboy Jazz Band brought a little something different to Jubilee, and not just daring balancing acts. The group, led by bassist Igor Glenn, specialized in western swing, cowboy songs with a jazzy edge, and jazz songs with a country bent. There was also yodeling. A favorite among the festival circuit, Igor’s Cowboy Jazz Band was a regular at Jubilee for many years.
Igor's Cowboy Jazz Band, ca. 1985
Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society collection, MS0007
Bill Allred takes a solo during one of the all-trombone concerts he led over the years at Jubilee. First held in 1975, the Trombone-a-Rama featured trombone players from the bands playing Jubilee, backed by a rhythm section. In 1982, the program stated there were “seventy-six trombones and climbing... we could end up with one hundred.”
Trombone-a-Rama, 1983
Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society collection, MS0007
Jubilee was at one point one of the largest music festivals in the country. During its heyday, from the beginning up until the early 1990s, it brought huge numbers of people to Old Sacramento and other venues around town, with upwards of 150,000 attendees. A large group of festivalgoers is seen here on Second Street, looking north from J Street, in 1980.
Festival attendees on 2nd Street, 1980
Photograph by Owen Brewer, Sacramento Bee Collection, 1983/001/SBPM8835
At the 1981 Jubilee, there were 38 venues throughout Old Sacramento, downtown, and West Sacramento. Stages could be found in ballrooms, bars, pizza parlors, courtyards, marinas, and even under the freeway. And then there was the jazz on wheels. Several bands cruised the streets of Old Sacramento playing from the back of the Coors Jazz Truck and the El Jebel Jazzmobile. Here, we see a view down K Street from the El Jebel during a set by youth band the Sacramento Jazz Jubilee Messengers.
Jazz on K Street, 1981
Photograph by Owen Brewer, Sacramento Bee Collection, 1983/001/ SBPM08842
Starting in 1977, STJS crowned an Emperor or Empress of Jazz to reign over each Jazz Jubilee. The individual, chosen by committee, was someone who made significant contributions to the world of trad jazz, including legendary musicians, singers, and radio announcers. The monarch was honored in a coronation ceremony, then, while donning their crown and holding a clarinet scepter, they would lead the annual parade and officially open the festival.
Sacramento Jubilee by Joe Darensbourg, 1978
Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society Collection, MS0007
Emperor Joe Darensbourg, 1980
Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society Collection, MS0007
Sherwood "Shakey" Johnson, 1977
Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society collection, MS0007
Shakey’s Pizza founder Sherwood “Shakey” Johnson was named the first Jubilee "Grand Jubilator” (called the Jazz Emperor or Empress going forward) in 1977 owing to his passion for Dixieland jazz and his hand in its revival in Sacramento. Shakey regularly featured trad jazz at his pizza parlor, opened in 1954 at 57th and J streets, which led to an upswing in the genre’s popularity. This ultimately led to the founding of the Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society in 1968, and the first Jubilee in 1974.
Ernie Goodson, 1985
Photograph by Dave LaBelle, Sacramento Bee Collection, 1983/001/SBPM8881
Ernie Goodson strikes a triumphant pose with his clarinet during a set with Don Goldie and the Jazz Express at the 1985 Jubilee. A self-taught reed player, Goodson performed with several bands in Miami before joining up with trumpeter Goldie in the late 1960s. The Jazz Express were “super socko in their Jubilee debut” in 1983, according to Jubilee organizers.
Poster, 1984
Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society collection, MS0007
The original sign for the 1984 Jubilee in our collection, of which this is a reproduction, is hand painted, complete with faint pencil guidelines that were used to help the sign painter keep their lettering straight.
Poster, 1988
Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society collection, MS0007
Where there’s music, there’s dancing, and at the 15th Jubilee in 1988, festival organizers came up with a plan to meet the demand for dancing on the uneven surfaces typically found at the outdoor venues. Jubilee volunteers constructed 170 4x8 wooden panels that interlocked to form portable dance floors. That year’s program listed 28 venues with space for dancers.
Poster, 1975
Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society collection, MS0007
The first Jubilee lost money, but the Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society decided to do it again anyway. For the second Jubilee in 1975, they went bigger, with nearly three times as many bands playing at more venues around Old Sacramento and West Sacramento.
Poster, 1976
Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society collection, MS0007
Where do you go to buy Jubilee tickets? Shakey’s, of course. Founded by Dixieland aficionado Sherwood “Shakey” Johnson, Shakey’s Pizza was Sacramento’s year-round home for live trad jazz music and a sponsor and contributor to the festival.
This short film, created for the Center for Sacramento History's yearly Sacramento Archives Crawl event in October of 2025, features highlights from the 1992 Jazz Jubilee.
From the films:
KCRA-TV "All That Jazz" Live with Bette Vasquez and Harry Martin, 1992
Huell Howser's California Gold, 1992
Sacramento Jazz Jubilee by Bob Byler, 1992
Poster, 1977
Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society collection, MS0007
The 1849 Scene, the grassy area on Front Street between I and J, was a regular venue for Jubilee. In 1977, it was in need of rehab (folks had taken to calling it “the Pit”), and a joint effort was launched between Jubilee volunteers, city and state agencies, and local businesses and organizations to get the space into better shape in time for the fourth Jubilee. The 1977 program notes that though they got close, the work wasn’t quite done in time for Jubilee and there would be “no grass until next year!”
Poster, 1981
Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society collection, MS0007
This poster is signed by trumpet player Bill Borcher, one of the founders of Jubilee and its longtime director. Also a founder of the Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society in 1968 and the Oregon Jazz Band in 1947, Borcher lived in Oregon and Sacramento throughout his adult life, and in the 1950s was the head basketball coach for University of Oregon. The Oregon Jazz Band, considered the longest-running trad jazz band, played every Jubilee until Borcher’s death in 2003.
Poster, 1982
Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society collection, MS0007
For lovers of trad jazz, Sacramento certainly was the “Jazz Capitol of the World.” Sacramento was an epicenter of the continuation of the West Coast Revival of trad jazz, with the music heard at Shakey’s beginning in the 1950s, the Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society’s monthly concerts starting in 1968, and the Jubilee held from 1974 to 2017. It continues today with the annual Hot Jazz Jubilee and the passing of the torch to the next generation with STJS’s successor, the Sacramento Jazz Education Foundation.
Poster, 1989
Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society collection, MS0007
As Jubilee grew, it provided a free shuttle service to get folks to all the venues, which were located between West Sacramento and Cal Expo. By the 16th year, there were regular loop shuttles, eight express buses that departed from “4th & Jazz” (Fourth Street between J and K) to specific venues, and the option to ride the city’s relatively new light rail line for free by flashing your Jubilee badge.
Object Cases
A man takes a break outside of the Firehouse Lot venue to check the program at the 1985 Jubilee. Located in the Firehouse Restaurant’s parking lot, the Firehouse Lot was one of several smaller “cabaret” venues that provided a more casual experience than a seated concert in a large ballroom. Cabaret sets gave musicians a chance to sit in with other bands, and attendees the opportunity to see their favorite musicians up close in a relaxed, spontaneous environment.
Reading the program, 1985
Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society collection, MS0007
Jubilee was an entirely volunteer-run festival, and it required a legion of volunteers to make it happen. The 10th festival in 1983 had an estimated 2,500 volunteers, two of whom we see here selling food and drink tickets. Volunteers also worked the box office, tended bar, managed concert sites, served food, set up and took down venues, and performed general grunt work. In return, volunteers who worked at least 18 hours got free access to the festival, a T-shirt, and pre- and post-festival volunteer parties.
Volunteers, 1983
Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society collection, MS0007
A typical scene at Jubilee: crowded sidewalks, folks clambering up stairways to get a glimpse of the band, and people smiling and dancing. This crowd at the 1980 festival is gathered under the balcony stairs of the Sazerac Building at the northwest corner of J and Second streets, delighting in the sounds of the Resurrection Brass Band.
Dancing couple, 1980
Photograph by Frank Stork, Sacramento Bee Collection, 1983/001/SBPM8840
Is there such a thing as too many tubas? Not at Jubilee. Tubarama, touted as the world’s largest tuba concert, featured up to two dozen tubas and consisted of most of the tuba players performing in bands at the festival. Multi-instrumentalist Jim Maihack, right front, led the concert in 1982. Tubarama, known the first few years as Tubaville, was held for several years.
Tubarama, 1982
Sacramento Bee Collection, 1983/001/SBPM8868
The redevelopment of Old Sacramento was just beginning when Jubilee started. Photos from early Jubilees show rundown streets and buildings juxtaposed with gleeful crowds. In 1977, the vacant Enterprise Hotel on Second Street between I and J was spruced up with a Jubilee sign and functioned as a venue and Jubilee staff headquarters. Within a few years, the building would be restored to resemble its original 1883 facade as the Hall, Luhrs & Co. Building.
Hanging a banner, 1977
Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society collection, MS0007
Resurrection Brass Band members take a break from playing at an early 1980s Jubilee. The 18-piece New Orleans-style marching band from Los Angeles led the opening parade at Jubilee for many years and was the resident roaming band, playing in the streets throughout the festival weekend. Members of the band consisted of transplanted New Orleans jazz veterans and Los Angeles musicians.
Resurrection Brass Band, ca. 1983
Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society collection, MS0007