Three days, 12 stages and 120 performances: San Jose Jazz Summer Fest is here.

The New York Times hailed it as “the greatest jazz melange in the Silicon Valley,” in addition to listing it as one of this summer’s essential festivals. An impressive wrap for one of the Bay Area’s largest and most popular festivals. Brendan Rawson, the Executive Director of San Jose Jazz, says: “I think it does capture the essence of San Jose, across 12 stages we have such a wide range of styles and bands from places like Ukraine, Cuba and Japan. The international character of jazz is very much in alignment with what Silicon Valley is about nowadays.”

The festival will take place Aug. 12 -14 and incorporate many different styles of jazz, from the traditional New Orleans sound to Latin and next gen, there is something for every jazz fan to enjoy. The lineup combines local celebrities like Dr. Aaron Lington and the Bay Area Salsa All-Stars with big names like Kemit Ruffins & The Barbecue Swingers and Galactic, both of which will be headlining this year.

In addition to the obvious draw of great music, the festival also brings out plenty of talented food and art vendors. Past festivals offered choices of Jamaican cuisine, shaved ice, Indian, barbecue, Chinese and gyros. This year there will be 35 food vendors total. Art vendors will sell the typical T-shirts and CDs, but there are also many who sell handcrafted items that make for perfect gifts or keepsakes.

There will also be events taking place around the city in honor of the popular jazz fest. Jazz Mass will return to St. Joseph’s on Sunday, two film screenings at Camera 12 on Saturday and Sunday, and the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles will have a special exhibit by local artists inspired by jazz music. Club crawls also return this year to Chacho’s, Deluxe, Hedley Club and Scott’s Seafood playing music from 9pm till at least midnight, all free to the public with or without a festival wristband.

Tickets and more information regarding the San Jose Jazz Summer Fest lineup can be found here.