{"id":423356,"date":"2026-08-04T06:18:27","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T06:18:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/423356\/"},"modified":"2026-08-04T06:18:27","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T06:18:27","slug":"in-photos-uptown-jazz-festival-tradition-continues-with-dancing-vibrant-music-and-connection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/423356\/","title":{"rendered":"In Photos: Uptown Jazz Festival tradition continues with dancing, vibrant music and connection"},"content":{"rendered":"

Residents gathered at Houghton Park Saturday afternoon with two objectives: to listen to renowned jazz artists and to boogie.<\/p>\n

Even with the 85-degree heat, hundreds of locals made themselves at home during the 15th annual Long Beach Uptown Jazz Festival. Some sat back and watched the show in their canopies; others went to the front row and danced as trumpets and drums pierced the evening air.<\/p>\n

Ninth District Councilmember Dr. Joni Ricks-Oddie hosted the event, while additional members of the Long Beach City Council and citywide leaders attended the festival \u2014 with some even dancing along with the crowd.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"District 9 councilmember, Dr. Joni Ricks-Oddie, (right) dances with Long Beach residents during Morris Day & The Time during the Uptown Jazz Festival on August 1, 2026 at Houghton Park. (Samuel Chacko | Signal Tribune)<\/p>\n

The Uptown Jazz Festival was launched in 2011 by then-councilmember Steve Neal<\/a>, who was in attendance this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe goal of this event was to be a community-building event to bring our neighborhoods together in a beautiful environment with friendship, fun and fellowship,\u201d Neal said to the audience.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As the evening came to a close, more people flooded the dance floor, boasting handheld fans to keep themselves cool.<\/p>\n

The main event, Morris Day & The Time, opened dramatically with punchy drums and guitar as locals put their hands up in the air and sang along with the \u201880s soul group.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Their infectious energy matched the crowd in their opener, \u201cCool,\u201d with the crowd screaming, \u201cC-O-O-L!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Morris Day, the lead vocalist of Morris Day & The Time, gestures an \u201co\u201d with his hand as the audience sings the song \u201cCool\u201d during the Uptown Jazz Festival on August 1, 2026 at Houghton Park. (Samuel Chacko | Signal Tribune) <\/p>\n

That punchy feeling continued into their performance as they danced along with the crowd. Morris Day & The Time ended their performance with a somber Prince tribute, singing \u201cPurple Rain,\u201d while clips of Prince played on the jumbo screen.<\/p>\n

The screen read, \u201cThank you, Prince. We luv u!!!!\u201d as photos of Prince and the group flooded the big screen behind them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Jerome Benton dances as videos and photos of Prince play on the big screen during the Uptown Jazz Festival on August 1, 2026 at Houghton Park. (Samuel Chacko | Signal Tribune)<\/p>\n

\u201cHow many of y\u2019all miss Prince out there?\u201d Jerome Benton of Morris Day & Time asked the audience, as the crowd screamed, \u201cYES!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do too; we thank God for him. We really do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Long Beach residents hit the dance floor and show off their moves during the Uptown Jazz Festival on August 1, 2026 at Houghton Park. (Samuel Chacko | Signal Tribune) <\/p>\n

\"\"Members of Biscuits and Gravy Live sing and preform during the Uptown Jazz Festival on August 1, 2026 at Houghton Park. (Samuel Chacko | Signal Tribune) <\/p>\n

\"\"Couples, residents and locals dance Saturday afternoon during the 15th annual Long Beach Uptown Jazz Festival on August 1, 2026. (Samuel Chacko | Signal Tribune)<\/p>\n

\"\"Wearing a Los Angeles Dodgers hat, Gabrielito Gonzalez sings passionately as La Verdad opens up the Uptown Jazz Festival on August 1, 2026 at Houghton Park. (Samuel Chacko | Signal Tribune) <\/p>\n

\"\"Andre Holmes plays the keyboard for Morris Day & The Time as the band preforms during the Uptown Jazz Festival on August 1, 2026 at Houghton Park. (Samuel Chacko | Signal Tribune) <\/p>\n

\"\"Torrell \u201cTori\u201d Ruffin, member of the Morris Day & The Time band, plays the guitar during the Uptown Jazz Festival on August 1, 2026 at Houghton Park. (Samuel Chacko | Signal Tribune) <\/p>\n

\"\"Even with the humid heat, Long Beach residents dance as four bands play music during the Uptown Jazz Festival on August 1, 2026 at Houghton Park. (Samuel Chacko | Signal Tribune) <\/p>\n

\"\"Residents of all ages show their excitement by dancing to the variety of music during the Uptown Jazz Festival on August 1, 2026 at Houghton Park. (Samuel Chacko | Signal Tribune) <\/p>\n

\"\"Morris Day (left) and Jerome Benton (right) dance with one another as the 80s soul funk group Morris Day & The Time play during the Uptown Jazz Festival on August 1, 2026 at Houghton Park. (Samuel Chacko | Signal Tribune)<\/p>\n

\"\"Morris Day extends his golden microphone for the audience to sing lyrics of one of his songs during the Uptown Jazz Festival on August 1, 2026 at Houghton Park. (Samuel Chacko | Signal Tribune)<\/p>\n

\"\"Locals all over Long Beach show off their dance moves during the Uptown Jazz Festival on August 1, 2026 at Houghton Park. (Samuel Chacko | Signal Tribune)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Residents gathered at Houghton Park Saturday afternoon with two objectives: to listen to renowned jazz artists and to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":423357,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[168942,42041,131,133,132,139462,166327,167484],"class_list":["post-423356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-15th-annual-uptown-jazz-festival","tag-houghton-park","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news","tag-morris-day","tag-morris-day-the-time","tag-uptown-jazz-festival"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=423356"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423356\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/423357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=423356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=423356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=423356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}