It was a cool July night in the City of Grit. My fedora pulled down low over my eyes, I peered out through a haze of cigarette smoke as I slunk down South Tacoma Way. Maybe that's why at first I didn't see the hep cat in the zoot suit. He was layin' back deep in the shadows and burnin' a cancer stick of his own. "What's the haps, brotha man?" I asked, meanin' to breeze past. "You lookin' sharp."

"You see that?" he asked, pointing a long dark finger at an open space near Stonegate Pizza. "I'm tellin' you, they's some crazy bidiness 'bout to go down on this block, and that's the stone truth. This scene gon' be 18-karat come this weekend."

"This block here?" I repeated. "Lay it on me, Jack."

"This here where they puttin' together the Tacoma Jazz and Blues Festival this year, son. That ain't no applesauce."

"Oh, yeah? So tell me the news."

"Man, you know that barnburner Vicci Martinez?"

"Yeah, I seen that chick on some air-check. She's the bee's knees, daddy-o."

"She gon' be here, breakin' it down! But that ain't the half of it, baby. Ol' Junkyard Jane gon' lay down some crazy jive. They got that Creole sound right out the damn swamp. And Mike Vax? Man, that cat can blow a horn with a sweetness! He's down by law, ya dig? They got him playin' wit' ol' Rich Wetzel and his Groovin' Higher Orchestra, 'long with Jiggs Whigham. You know that cat's solid. Then you got that six-piece combo the Randy Oxford Band, Palmer Junction, Little Bill and the Blue Notes. ... They in the mix, baby! This place gon' snap your cap!"

"When?" I asked. "S'posin' I'm cool to get down."

"Saturday afternoon headin' deep into the nighttime, baby."

"Well, that sounds real hot, man, but I'm one of them characters likes to flip his lid on a Saturday night. I gots to have me a belt."

"Man, you fracture me! Don't wig out, though, dad. They added a beer garden this time 'round. You can take five any time you want, get you an edge. You don't gotta bring y'own gutbucket or cut the scene no-how."

"Sounds jake to me," I said," but hey, brotha man, I gots to go see a man about a horse."

"Yeah, cool, daddy-o," he said. "Just makin' sure you know this jam session is in the pocket."

"Oh, I'm booted now. Hand me that skin." So we shook hands, and I turned to ankle down the street. But then it hit me: that cat never told me his name! So I turned round to ask him his moniker ... and man, that brother was nowhere to be seen. I mean, when I say that cat was gone, I ain't sayin' he was hip to the jive, I mean he done dried up! Had I imagined the whole thing? Was it nothin' but bushwa brought on by the giggle water I snorted that night? Nah, that cat was on the level. I just ain't seen him since, and that ain't no phonus balonus, daddy-o.

Here's the 2014 Tacoma Jazz and Blues Festival Schedule

Outdoor Main Stage

1:30-2:30 p.m.: Little Bill & The Blue Notes

3-4 p.m.: Junkyard Jane

4:30-5:30 p.m.: Vicci Martinez

6-7:30 p.m.: The Randy Oxford Band

8-9:30 p.m.: Rich Wetzel's Groovin Higher Orchestra with Mike Vax and Jiggs Whigham

Tacoma Dance Studio, 5412 South Tacoma Way

2-3:30 p.m.: Kevin England Jazz Collective

4-5:30 p.m.: Carole Kapeliela Jazz Trio

6-7:30 p.m.: Malo Castro with Clave Con Jazz

Dawson's Bar & Grill, 5443 S. Tacoma Way

2-3:30 p.m.: Keith Klawitter Jazz Alliance

4-5:30 p.m.: Steve Stefanowicz

6-8 p.m.: Palmer Junction

10 p.m. to closing: The Randy Oxford Band and Junkyard Jane

Stonegate Pizza & Rum Bar, 5419 South Tacoma Way

2-3:30 p.m.: Lance Buller Trio

4-5:30 p.m.: Mitch Reems Combo

6-8 p.m.: Lynda Myers Band

10 p.m. to closing: Rich Wetzel's Groovin Higher Orchestra

TACOMA JAZZ AND BLUES FESTIVAL, 1 p.m. to midnight, Saturday, July 26, South Tacoma Way between South 54th and South 56th, Tacoma, $20-$25, 253.951.8235