After all the gifts are unwrapped and the hot toddies are kicking in, sometimes you just need to get out of the house and get down. While plenty of watering holes will be closed, the Continental will have a wide open dance floor. This James Brown tribute is a bona fide holiday tradition at the Conti. Just a few years ago, Mayer Hawthorne stopped in and played a set, so there’s no way of knowing who might show up. One thing you can count on is hearing some classic cuts from the excellent seasonal staple, James Brown’s Funky Christmas. Admission is free before 10pm.

Funky Christmas
Tue, 8pm, Free
The Continental, San Jose

After all the gifts are unwrapped and the hot toddies are kicking in, sometimes you just need to get out of the house and get down. While plenty of watering holes will be closed, the Continental will have a wide open dance floor. This James Brown tribute—hosted by the Conti in coordination with Motown on Mondays—is a bona fide holiday tradition. Just a couple of years ago, Mayer Hawthorne stopped in and played a set, so there’s no way of knowing who might show up, but you can count on DJs Sake One and DJ Cutso being on the decks to keep everyone rocking around the Christmas tree.

Continental Christmas
Mon, 8pm, Free
The Continental, San Jose

Jazz and funk share similar qualities, anchored by musicianship and the notion of utilizing musical space. Longtime Bay Area rapper Tom Shimura, known by his handle, Lyrics Born, overtly highlights this connection in his songs and live shows.

LB’s crew, Quannum, has producers of astounding influence and musicality; his live performances are internationally celebrated for their exuberance.
“My perspective on jazz and funk, especially from a hip-hop background, is that it’s the musicianship, plain and simple,” he says, relating his own output to his performance August 9 at the San Jose Jazz Summer Fest. “All I listened to when I was younger was music that was sampled and programmed. When I started to dig deeper and actually listen to what was being sampled, the jazz and funk aspects, of course, stand out. There is a concept of togetherness, cooperation, exploration and defiance. There’s also a rebelliousness to both.”

Lyrics Born emerged from a stable of college kids in the 1990s at UC Davis who went on to make some of the most adventurous and colorful hip-hop the Bay Area has ever produced.

Collectively known as Solesides (currently branded as Quannum, both a crew and functioning label) they shared a college radio show, dorm-room music equipment, and unyielding drive. They recorded songs together but their rep snowballed after branching out as individual artists and sub-groups. Key members, after all, include DJ Shadow, Blackalicious and Latyrx, of which Lyrics Born is a member with Lateef the Truthspeaker.

“It’s pretty amazing to think we were just all in a dorm room together and that’s all it took for us to turn this into successful careers,” Shimura says. “We’re all very fortunate. I look back now and I’ve been making records longer than I haven’t.”

There’s a certain sense of kismet to their intertwining histories, all of which are underscored by the Bay Area. LB is pictured on the cover of DJ Shadow’s Endtroducing, a gamechanging, instrumental record that transcended hip-hop, and where Shadow’s legacy will forever stem from.

Blackalicious’ wonderful Melodica EP was recorded and engineered by Dan the Automator, another Bay resident turned successful producer. And the catalyst for Solesides’ initial foray was DJ Zen, now most widely known as Jeff Chang, author of perhaps the most vivid and telling book ever written on hip-hop, Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop.

Hometown pride is especially poignant on songs like “The Bay” where LB rhymes: “We hold a certain love for our own, known as Bay-love. But if push comes to shove we won’t hesitate to raise-up.”

“I didn’t really see the way I grew up as unique until I left,” he says.

“Once I toured the world and other cities and came back, I really saw how special a place this was. I mean, growing up as an aspiring Japanese rapper wasn’t a big deal at all,” says LB, who started his career as Asia Born.

“I grew up seeing Japanese producers, African American rock bands, Filipino DJs, and everyone just doing their thing, so to me it wasn’t unusual,” LB says. “It’s this concoction of climate, culture, politics, art, and music; it’s a perfect storm of progression.”

Regarding the South Bay, LB is more of a native tongue than a native son. “Oh man, San Jose has the best Vietnamese food. You could put on a blindfold and point to a Pho place and it will be better than 99 percent of any place anywhere else. Forget about it. One thing I know I’m gonna do when I go to San Jose, I have to go eat.”

Another South Bay tie-in is his recent work with hometown heroes, The Bangerz. For the duo’s latest EP, Latryx used beats produced by the crew who, as comparatively younger rap cats, were understandably thrilled.

Says a humbled Cutso: “Working with LB was surreal at first, because this is someone I grew up listening to. It was also kind of intimidating, in a way, because he worked a lot with DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist, two of my favorite producers. When Lateef jumped into the sessions, it was like a dream come true.”

LB’s take on the experience working with the Bangerz is equally positive: “Man, those Bangerz tracks are some of my proudest recent recordings,” he says.

Lyrics Born headlines this year’s Summer Fest on Friday, lending his gravelly voiced rhymes to the energy of a James Brown show—complete with a live backing band and backup singers.

“The show is more of a fusion of rap, funk, and jazz,” he says. “We do both James Brown songs as well as mine but it’s more paying homage and mixing things up rather than a straight tribute set. Anyone who is a student of hip-hop recognizes that James Brown was the trunk of the tree. And when you think about it in retrospect, it was just perfect for Rap music; same groove, repeated over and over. Sparse yet visceral, simple and sophisticated.”

This year’s San Jose Summer fest just got a little bit funkier with the recent announcement of Friday’s headliners. Performing on the main stage will be 70s funk hitmakers Cameo, San Francisco dance-fusion ensemble Afrolicious and Bay Area rapper Lyrics Born, who will be doing a special tribute to Godfather of Soul James Brown with the Jazz Mafia as his backing band.

Lyrics Born, a frequent collaborator with the Jazz Mafia and local DJ crew the Bangerz, has been a fixture of the Bay Area’s hip hop since his days with Quannum Projects in the mid 90s with collaborators Blackalicious, DJ Shadow and Lateef the Truth Speaker.

Lyrics Born’s live shows tend to be closer to a live funk band experience than the typical MC, DJ and hype man setup at most Bay Area rap shows, so it it will be interesting to see what he brings to the stage this year.

Lyrics Born:

Cameo:

Afrolicious:

Also new for this year, Gordon Biersch Brewery on San Fernando Street will host a stage featuring mostly classic jazz sounds, with a few eclectic, fusion artists in the mix.

The complete Summer Jazz schedule:

FRIDAY

Main Stage
6pm Afrolicious
8pm Cameo
9:45pm Lyrics Born presents Continuum: a Tribute to James Brown

Adobe Blackbird Tavern Stage
7pm Gypsy Allstars: Bamboleo to Bollywood (Jazz+ concert ticket required; $10 advance & gate)
9pm The Clifford Brown & Max Roach Project (Jazz+ concert ticket required; $5 advance & gate)

Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant Stage
6pm Pandit Habib Khan
8pm Round Midnight
10pm The Commanders

Jazz Beyond Stage
9pm Miles Bonny + B Lewis
11pm Mark de Clive-Low presents CHURCH

Kaiser Permanente Salsa Stage
6:30pm Josh Jones Ensemble
8:30pm Louie Romero’s Mazacote

Swing Stage
6pm Swing Dance Lessons
7pm Sons of Jubal
9pm Swing Dance Lessons
10pm Top Shelf Big Band

Special Events
6pm Swing Dance Lessons, Swing Stage
9pm Swing Dance Lessons, Swing Stage

SATURDAY

Main Stage
12pm Mingo Fishtrap
2pm Rebirth Brass Band
4pm Artura O’Farrll & the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra
6pm Pink Martini

Adobe Blackbird Tavern Stage
12pm San Jose Jazz High School All Stars
2pm Raq Filipina
4pm Audiotrópico
6pm Laila Smith Quintet
9pm Yosvany Terry Quartet (Jazz+ concert ticket required; $10 advance & gate)

Bank of the West Next Gen Stage
11am Dixie Dominus Traditional Jazz Band
12pm Mr. Clifford’s Young Jazz Allstars
1pm Midnight River
2pm Monterey Jazz Festival High School All-Star Band
3pm Monterey Jazz Festival Honor Vocal Jazz Ensemble
4pm Folsom High School Jazz Choir
5pm SJSU Combo

Big Easy Stage
1:30pm Mitch Woods & His Rocket 88’s
4:30pm Zydeco Flames
7:30pm Frank Bey with Anthony Paule

Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant Stage
12pm San Jose Jazz Allstar Big Band
2pm Slide Madness
4pm Sammy Miller & the Congregation
6pm No Bones About It
8pm Dara Tucker
10pm Bebop

Jazz Beyond Stage
8pm Audiotrópico
10:30pm Full Crate & Mar

Kaiser Permanente Salsa Stage
12:30pm Futuro Picante
2:30pm Orquesta Soboricua
4:30pm Pa’l Bailador
6:30pm Edgardo & Candela
8:30pm Ricardo Lemvo y Makina Loca

San Jose Rep Stage ($10 per day)
12pm Dafnis Prieto Proverb Trio
2pm Grace Kelly Quintet
4pm Charlie Hunter & Scott Amendola
6pm Dr. Lonnie Smith Trio
8pm Ben Vereen (Jazz+ concert ticket required; $20 advance & gate)

Silicon Valley Stage
1pm Brian Ho Trio
3pm Joel Behrman Quintet
5pm Jim Norton and Brilliant Corners Play Bill Evans
7pm Primary Colors with Nate Pruitt: a Tribute to Ray Charles, Nat King Cole and Joe Williams

Swing Stage
11am Los Gatos-Saratoga Big Band
1pm Swing Dance Lessons
2pm Ron Gariffo Orchestra
4pm Swing Dance Lessons
5pm Millennium Sounds Orchestra
7pm NASA Ames Jazz Band
9pm Arturo O’Farrill & the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestrao (Jazz+ concert ticket required; $10 advance & gate)

YP Blues Stage
12pm Legally Blue
3pm Murali Coryell
6pm Tony Furtado Trio
9pm Rebirth Brass Band

Special Events
10am Latin Jazz Brunch Poolside, Fairmont Hotel ($25 sold at the door)
1pm Swing Dance Lessons, Swing Stage
1:30pm Big Easy Parade, Main Stage
4pm Jazz Mass, Cathedral of St. Joseph
4pm Swing Dance Lessons, Swing Stage
9pm Latin Jazz Jam with the John Santos Sextet, Bank of the West Next Gen Stage

SUNDAY

Main Stage
12pm Yosvany Terry Quartet
2pm Prservation Hall Jazz Band
4pm Javon Jackson with Les McCann and Special Guests
6pm TBA

Adobe Blackbird Tavern Stage
12pm Aaron Lington Quartet Plays the Music of Stevie Wonder
2pm Tammy Hall Quintet
4pm Derrick Hodge
6pm Transcendental Ensemble
9pm The Cookers (Jazz+ concert ticket required; $15 advance & gate)

Bank of the West Next Gen Stage
11am Monta Vista High School Jazz Combo
12pm Archbishop Mitty Jazz in the AM
1pm Kind of Blue
2pm Room 107 Vocal Jazz Ensemble
3pm San Jose Jazz High School All STars
4pm Synchronicity
5pm VCHS Jazz Combo

Big Easy Stage
1:30pm Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers
4:30pm Motordude Zydeco
7:30pm The California Honeydrops

Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant Stage
12pm Gordon Biersch Big Band
2pm Times 4
4pm Natalie Cressman
6pm The JurassiC

Jazz Beyond Stage
9pm Derrick Hodge (Jazz+ concert ticket required; $10 advance & gate)

Kaiser Permanente Salsa Stage
12:30pm Latin Jazz Youth Ensemble of San Francisco
2:30pm Carlos Caro – Vission Latina
4:30pm Pellejo Seco
6:30pm Wil Campa y Su Gran Union

San Jose Rep Stage
1pm Le Jazz Hot
3pm The Cookers
5pm Stacey Kent
7pm Preservation Hall Jazz Band

Silicon Valley Stage
3pm Touch of Brass Big Band
5pm Joe DeRose and Amici
7pm Sasha Dobson Duo

Swing Stage
11am Full Spectrum
1:30pm Swing Dance Lessons
2:30pm Footnotes Big Band
4pm Swing Dance Lessons
5pm South Bay Big Band Jazz
5pm Lyratones

YP Blues Stage
12pm Livia Jean Slingerland: Youth Blues Band Contest Winner
3pm Paula Harris & the Beasts of Blues featuring the Big Ass Brass
6pm Fountain Blues All Stars

Special Events
10am Gospel Brunch, Fairmont Hotel ($35 sold at the door)
11:30am Jazz Mas, Cathedral of St. Joseph
1pm Swing Dance Lessons, Swing Stage
4pm Swing Dance Lessons, Swing Stage

Maceo Parker has played with some of the most iconic and eccentric personalities in music history. As James Brown’s sax man, he helped write the rules of modern R&B. As the musical director of George Clinton’s Parliament-Funkadelic, he led a sonic revolution in the ’70s. As part of Prince’s band, he’s helped him become one of the most in-demand live acts of this century. He’s worked on projects with everyone from Keith Richards to Perry Farrell of Jane’s Addiction.

The question is: how does he do it? How does he collaborate with pop’s oversized personalities without setting off a war of egos?

Duh, he’s Maceo.

“I’m easygoing,” said Parker by phone after winding up his extended New Year’s Eve duties. “I’ve got a real long, long, long, long chain before you get me out of my thing. I’m just one of those guys, I’ll open the door for you, you can go in the elevator first. If there’s a long line of cars, I’ll stop and let you in. I just do that.”

If Parker’s cool runs deep, it has also spread wide. “One of the things I never envisioned really is so many parents naming their kids Maceo,” he says. “Man, all over the world, I’m telling you. It’s crazy, really crazy. There was one time I had three little Maceos on stage. One of the left side of the stage, one in the center, one on the right. None of them knew each other, but they were all Maceo because of me.”

Parker has been recording with his own various bands off and on since the early 70s, winning a “Jammie” for Best Jazz Album in 2009 for his most recent album, the Ray Charles tribute Roots & Grooves.

When he comes to Montalvo in Saratoga on Wednesday, he brings a reputation for transcendent live shows that can stretch on for hours. He’s so known for epic partying he had to do four straight nights through New Year’s Eve last month, at Yoshi’s in San Francisco.

“People know what we’re going to bring, they know what we do. You’re going to get your party on, your dance on. That’s what we’re about,” says Parker. “I’m there for the people. They made a choice to come where I am, and I want to make it really worth their while. I’m there trying to give one hundred percent.”

It’s a work ethic that was certainly impressed upon him at a young age; he was only 21 when he started playing with Brown in the ’60s. Though the soul and funk icon was a careful arranger, he also relied on his legendary sidemen like Parker and trombonist Fred Wesley to keep his sound cutting-edge.

“When it came to ‘Maceo, time for you to blow,’ then I had to play what I hear, which is what is inside of me,” he remembers. “It was exciting, it was a little challenging. But then again, it wasn’t that much, because I was just playing me. Fred used to say ‘Man, I never seen anybody wake up out of a deep sleep and play as funky as Maceo.’ It’s all natural.”

It was a bit of a culture shock when he hooked up with Clinton’s spaced-out, psychedelic P-Funk crew, but he quickly made his mark.

“I really cherish the time I was with him. It was like a cult kind of thing, the following. It was cool, but coming from James Brown it was like ‘Whoa! Whoa! No, you can’t say that! No, you can’t do that! You can’t dress like that! You have to wear some kind of shoes. C’mon!’ I’m telling you, man, I was really thrown. Like, ‘what in the world is going on?’”

Parker has drawn from all of those experiences, but when he got the chance to set his own musical agenda, he discovered as a bandleader that the sound he really wanted to channel wasn’t so different from the one he had started out with in the first place.

“I’ve always had my concept of how I want to do it. It sort of resembles James Brown a little bit, because let’s face it, that turned out to be me, too,” he says. “It was James Brown, but it was also me.”

Rather than end up what he calls a “jack of all trades, master of none, “ he pushed his funk-based sound as hard and far as he could.

“That’s what I set out to do, and that’s what I did,” he said. “I guess it shows.”

Maceo Parker plays Wednesday, Jan. 11, at Montalvo Arts Center at 7:30pm; $44/$49.