Jacksonville Jazz Festival: Andra Day at Ford on Bay (May 23, 2026)

Day two of the massive free Jacksonville Jazz Festival started off with a little problem: After Kim Scott finished her set, a Code Blue was issued for sever lightning storm.

While the Jacksonville Jazz Festival continues, rain or shine, in cases of dangerous weather condition that puts attendees and performers in danger, they will pause the show until it is safe to return. As a result, Eliane Elias The Art of Bossa Nova was cancelled. I am also assuming the Douglas Anderson Jazz Combo, over at the Riverfront Plaza, was also cancelled due to the weather.

Hosts for Saturday’s show was Barbie T (from “Dex & Barbie T Morning Show” on 95.1 WAPE) and Yona Gavino (from Action News Jax).

After the lightning storm moved on, the gates were re-opened at around 5:30pm. With people still coming back in, and the stage was being moved around, it pushed Sheila E. & The E-Train’s set back, forcing them to do a shorten 30-ish minute set (from their standard hour-long set). The frantic setup to get the show back rolling, also meant that Sheila E didn’t get a soundcheck, so she didn’t know if we could hear her or if she sounded bad.

Let me tell you, even on her worst day, she sounded fantastic. E and her E-Train band gave the performance worthy of a headliner, even if it was a truncated set. We got that extended drum solo that E is known for (all energy and all skill!) in the middle of the set. There was one song that a different drummer filled in, and that gave Sheila E a little moment to take a break, with her E-Train covering The Beatles’ song “Blackbird.”

The way the Jacksonville Jazz Festival was set up, there is a massive barrier between the stage and audience. So instead of the audience coming in closer, as what Sheila E asked for, E said, “I’m bringing the show to you.”

With that said, she descended from the stage and started walking and singing in the audience – as they all fumbled to take selfies, videos, or photos of Sheila E as she performs in the crowd.

Of course, Sheila E ended her set with her signature song, “The Glamorous Life.” This was a song written by Prince, and it was the title track to Sheila E’s debut solo album. The song went to #7 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the dance/club charts.

Next up was bassist, singer, and composer, Esperanza Spalding. She is very young now, but she was very, very young (at the age of 16) when she started her career in music! With various awards, including five Grammy Awards, a Boston Music Award, a Soul Train Music Award, Spalding as certainly earned her place in the Jazz world.

Her set was really playful, saying she was casting a spell for our bodies… starting with the hips (“Thang”), followed by the mind (“Dancing the Animal”). She also has weird turn-of-phrases that I’ve never heard before. For example, she said a song was about a “situationship”, and that Sheila E was one of her “sheroes”… right before playing a cover of one of her heroes, Wayne Shorter (“Endangered Species”). I think it is because she’s from a different, younger generation, that is why I’m never heard of these slangs. I’m sure it’s old hat for younger people.

What is funny about Spalding’s set was that she was told she had a shorten set, so they ended her set early with “Black Gold”, a song that she wrote for her brother. After the band took a bow and left the stage, within a few minutes she came back on stage! I guess you can consider this her encore, as she played “Cinnamon Tree” and “When You Dream.”

Andra Day closed out the show. Despite being the most requested artist for Jazz Joy and Roy Global Radio listeners, Day is probably better known recently for portraying Billie Holiday in The United States vs. Billie Holiday… winning Day the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama. That also led to her winning a Grammy for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media for the film’s soundtrack. When she’s not on the movie screen, she can also be found on Percy Jackson and the Olympians as Athena.

You can tell that using her acting experience, that she brings a little melodramatic with the way she dresses, moves, sings on stage. Every movement and lyric tells a story that she’s bringing to life on stage.

What a crazy Girls Girls Girls ending to the second day of the Jacksonville Jazz Festival 2026! Let’s do it again today!

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