North Beach Jazz Festival

Founder and producer Alistair Monroe created the North Beach Jazz Festival in 1995 as a vehicle for celebrating the legendary jazz history of San Francisco, and for introducing jazz of all types to a new generation of listeners. Since then, the festival has become one of the nation's most up-and-coming musical gatherings, and has hosted top talent such as Carlos Santana, Pharoah Sanders, Carl Craig, Bill Summers, Roy Ayers, Ray Obiedo, Pete Escovedo, Kermit Ruffins and Poncho Sanchez. Although the festival has grown significantly since its debut eight years ago - last year's festival hosted over 75,000 people.