Transforming Today's World Magazine - JAN 2014 Special Edition Vol 5 Issue 3 | Page 69

The San Antonio Summer Art and Jazz Festival is a crucial
and needed forum in San Antonio. The dedication,
enthusiasm and passion of Anthony Tobias have made
him a treasured and revered San Antonio native. His
contributions have added a new level of greatness to
the talent-laden City of San Antonio. He continuos to
demonstrate amazing courage and commitment to his
community and a graciousness of heart, that have already
left a mark on the world and could only been created by
Anthony Tobias! It is obvious that absolutely nobody else
could have pulled off such an astounding feat- without
any previous training or history in the music business!
The magic Anthony originally experienced, in that tiny
jazz club on that rainy night in S.A, created a spark in his
heart to share the special gift of Jazz music every summer
to the grateful listeners in San Antonio! The San Antonio
Summer Art and Jazz Festival has gained tremendous
support from numerous sponsors, celebrities and public
figures.

“But Anthony is not stopping here! He intends
to produce a HUGE three day festival with 200300 bands replicating a South by South-West
proto-type production, in the great city of San
Antonio.”
There are many mysteries in life for all of us, but Anthony
Tobias had a destiny to fulfill that would bless the City
of San Antonio with the largest Hispanic Jazz Festival in
America! Starting small, the first festival in 2003 would
take place in Anthony’s own back yard with only 100
attendees listening to musical acts Zarabande and La Bella
from San Antonio and The Jon Berry project from Austinwith FREE admission still in effect today! That was only 12
years ago, but the dream quickly evolved into a REALITY
that would take its rightful place in American history. In
2004 Anthony moved the Jazz Festival to Crockett Park
where it became firmly rooted in a San Antonio dynasty
of historic proportions, affecting thousands of people
with the positive sounds of jazz and educating countless
children with a new genre of music they had never been
exposed to before.

His 2013 festival was a two day extravaganza attended
by thousands (still for free) featuring famous greats such
as: Jesse’ J, Grace Kelly, Stacey Knights, Patsy Torres and
Elizabeth Mis. They were joined by many other great
divas in Jazz and were hosted by the lovely Rita Verreos,
comedian Cleto, Mike Valdez, and Albert Flores.
Ms. Verreos also graced the event by being crowned
San Antonio Summer Art and Jazz Festival Queen!
Community support is vital to everyone’s success, so we
would officially like to thank the City of San Antonio for
its support of Anthony’s Jazz festival, as well as The San
Antonio Current, SA Magazine, La Prensa, Bill Miller’s
Bar-B-Que, Office Max, Pizza Hut, Ancira, Sam Ash,
KRTU-91.7 FM Radio and many other “faithful’s” who
continue to make this unique jazz festival possible. But
Anthony is not stopping here! He intends to produce a
HUGE three day festival with 200-300 bands replicating a
South by South-West® proto-type production, in the great
city of San Antonio.

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