From the waves to the redwoods, it's all happening here.

This is the place to be on Tuesday! This weekly jam fest features rotating bands, open jam sessions, vendors, activities and all the dance vibes you can manage. Bring your instrument and your dancing shoes!

It's Monday Open Mic at the Ugly Mug! Sign ups at 5p Beer, Espresso Drinks and Desserts available

🎸 Blues Jam Night! 🎶 Great Music by Amazing Musicians — You Don’t Want to Miss This! Every 1st Monday of the Month No Cover Charge | Fully Stocked Bar | Open Mic Bring your instrument, your voice, or just come enjoy the vibes! 🍗 Southern Fried Chicken & Fish Dinners — starting at $20 (Cash Only) 🍽️ Served from 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM 💙 Donations Appreciated — Proceeds benefit the VFW Relief Program

Monday Night Revels: Heartless is California's premier Heart Tribute Band, inspired by more than 30 years of Rock & Roll magic from sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson. One night only: Monday, August 3 @ 7PM. Santa Cruz Shakespeare's Monday Night Revels are special, eclectic performances held on Monday nights—traditionally a "dark" night with no mainstage plays—at the Audrey Stanley Grove in DeLaveaga Park. These events feature diverse entertainment, including comedy, music, and cabaret-style shows, offering a lively, intimate alternative to the main repertory season.

Vocalist Dr. Kim Nalley has been heralded as “legendary” and a “San Francisco institution.” With an international reputation as one of world’s best jazz and blues vocalists, she has graced concert halls from Moscow to New York’s Lincoln Center. A true renaissance woman, Dr. Nalley has also been a featured writer for JazzWest and San Francisco Chronicle’s ‘City Brights’, a produced playwright, former jazz club owner, and an accomplished stage actress. Dr. Nalley was listed by DownBeat Magazine critics in 2017 as a ‘Rising Star’. She also teaches at the California Jazz Conservancy, UC Berkeley, and Hayward State. Kim Nalley Website Sponsored by Wanda Harris (Ticket Includes 5% City of Santa Cruz Admission Tax)

Brian Fitzgerald is an active member of the Bay Area music scene. An accomplished jazz guitarist and teacher, he draws from a deep musical background and education. He has toured and performed extensively as both a sideman and band leader. He has performed at Monterey Jazz Festival, Cabrillo Music Festival, Los Gatos Fiesta de Artes, Bing Music Series at Stanford, Santa Cruz Jazz Festival, and more. He is the dynamo behind the scenes at Kuumbwa Jazz who handles all the education programs (including their Summer Jazz Camp) and manages all the booked artists.

As with everything we do, we bring the fun! This isn’t your average ordinary trivia. It’s “Bruno’s Style”. We sing, we play instruments, we dance and we drink. Fill up on Tacos and Margs and get ready for a night of fun! ​ If you’re looking for a quiet night with boring trivia for the brainiacs you won’t find it at Bruno’s. With musical clues for our players – we have the most fun trivia around. We turn the music up loud and we make a lot of noise! It’s free to play with prizes for the winners. With $3 tacos and the buy a Margarita or Modelo and get a free taco deal, you’re going to have a great night at the best bar in town. Bring your friends and form a team or come by yourself and make some new friends, you’ll have a blast!

Weekly karaoke night at The 418 Project, inviting singers to take the stage and perform.

Free live music every Tuesday night with the Del Mar Trio at Callahan's in Santa Cruz.

Dance for Parkinson’s at Motion Pacific is a class for people with Parkinson’s Disease and their caretakers. The class is based on the innovative and internationally renowned Dance for PD® program designed by the Mark Morris Dance Group and the Brooklyn Parkinson Group. Trained Dance for Parkinson’s teachers use prompts and multiple dance styles to inspire movement, creative expression, and community. Dancers may sit in a chair, use a barre, or stand. Dance for Parkinson’s at Motion Pacific is open and free to the public. Classes are appropriate for anyone with Parkinson’s, no matter how advanced. Movement modifications will be made available and there is no dance experience required. Dance for Parkinson’s is offered every Wednesday from 1:00pm to 2:15pm, with the exception of the first Wednesday of the month, during which class is not held. Classes are offered in-person, in the Lobby at The 418 Project.

The Plateau Jazz Band plays 20s -40s swing dance jazz at Woodhouse Brewing from 5:30-8:30 on Wednesday July 1st. Listen, lesson, dance, dine and drink. Bob Folker teaches a half hour introductory/intermediate swing dance lesson from 5:30-6, the band plays for the dancers till 7, then Bob teaches a second half hour lesson and the band plays another hour long set of music. Things wrap up around 8:30 or so. Listening is free. Lessons and dance $10 The Plateau Jazz Band is a six-piece traditional jazz band from Santa Cruz, California. They play New Orleans influenced, Preservation Hall inspired, prohibition era swinging dance jazz. Their repertoire includes hot jazz songs like Dr. Jazz & That's a Plenty, blues tunes like St. Louis Blues & St. James Infirmary Blues, and swing dance standards like Blue Skies, Dinah, & I’m Going to Sit Right Down (and write myself a letter).

A weekly beginning hip hop house dance class. Participants will learn foundational movements, rhythms, and combinations in a structured, studio setting.

With a nearly decades long contemporary folk career, Alela Diane’s work is akin to the changing of the seasons: a quiet, but extraordinary facet. Woven in with lovely guitar melodies, her ineffable voice soothes the listener with buoyant lilting and haunting harmonies. The lyrics in her latest album, Who’s Keeping Track of Time, unveil her intimate fascination with the mystery of the changing seasons and passing moments. Gentle rhythm and soaring strings accentuate Alela’s slow but steady lyrical honesty. Vulnerably grasping at how time comes for us all, Alela’s music serves as a comfort to the weary heart. -Shelly Novo; Good Times Santa Cruz

Calling all music lovers! Join our Music Club to jam, perform, and connect with fellow musicians. Everyone is welcome—come be part of the rhythm!

Ripatti & Rose - Live at Chaminade Resort & Spa

5:30-7:30pm As the lead guitarist for the China Cats and Painted Mandolin, Matt Hartle has established himself as the preeminent jam band guitarist for Santa Cruz and the Bay Area. You can also find him hosting a weekly deep dead jam, where he welcomes Bay Area players for Grateful Sunday shenanigans. Matt's unique voice and intricate playing style always gets the audience on their feet and feeling their groove. You'll be dancing to songs from legends like Jerry Garcia, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, as well as rock, blues, jazz, americana, and of course some Matt Hartle originals.

Join us at Bargetto Winery in Soquel on Thursday evenings for Live Music and Wine! 6-8PM No cover charge. Wine by-the-glass for purchase. Food will be available for purchase. Open seating, no reservations required. No outside food is permitted. For more info please call: (831) 475-2258

In 2026, jazz is often considered an old person’s genre. Let’s face it, it’s not like the jazz clubs are the hot spots all the kids are clamoring to get into. However, Sylvia Cuenca is trying to change that. A powerhouse drummer from the San Francisco and New York scenes, Cuenca is bringing together multiple generations of musicians together to play original numbers as well as standards throughout America’s past. Featuring saxophonist Rico Jones, pianist David Kikoski, Wallace Roney Jr. on trumpet, and bassist Essiet Okon Essiet, they are showing every generation why jazz will never go out of style. -Mat Weir; Good Times Santa Cruz

Purchase tickets here Show 8pm // 21+ ***This is a standing room general admissions show. There will be a limited number of chairs located in the back of the concert hall. Seating will be first come first served. Bar and food will be open at 5pm.

Anthony Arya plays the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk with his band on the Colonnade stage Thu August 6th 8:30-9:30 pm.

Make the MAH your first stop this weekend with FREE First Friday. Explore all three floors of the museum and see our latest exhibitions, check out our giftshop, and hangout among art and history! Then stay into the night dancing to live music out in Abbott Square. First Friday hours are 12-8pm. See you then!

On August 8th, composer Clarice Assad’s new commissioned work, Kontrol, will premiere at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music. The afternoon before, Assad will join D. Riley Nicholson, Executive Director of the Cabrillo Festival, and Pranav Anand, Faculty Director of The Humanities Institute, for a pre-rehearsal discussion about the inspirations for the piece, which explores impacts of AI on musical creation and performance, both now and in the near future. Stay afterward for the final rehearsal of Kontrol before the premiere on the 8th. Free and open to the public.

Free summer block party in Midtown Santa Cruz featuring live music, food trucks, local artists, makers, and family fun.

Offshore Sounds First Friday in Santa Cruz. Late hours at the record shop with local vinyl DJs and new arrivals.

5:30-7:30pm Local Honey is a Santa Cruz-based band that drips with honey sweet harmony and hums with tight, inventive musicianship. Local Honey's repertoire pays homage to some of the the big voices of the last seven decades, including Big Mama Thornton, Rachael Price, Gladys Knight, Stevie Nicks, Grace Slick, and Amy Winehouse, among other divas. They seek out feel-good songs with strong vocals and infectious beats and make them their own. Though Local Honey is a new band, all of them are veterans of the Santa Cruz and Monterey music scenes. Members have worked with Honeytone, Ten O'Clock Lunch, Come Together, Backyard Birds, Menage, and Bay Bop. Over the years they've played in different combinations at many venues, including Michael's on Main, Chaminade, Davenport Roadhouse, Hallcrest Vineyards, Joe's Bar and the Food Lounge.