Temecula Jazz Fest

Music fans turned out for shopping, a parade and, of course, live music at this weekend's annual Temecula Valley International Jazz Festival. The festival ends Sunday with several events, including Ruby and the Red Hots, a youth jazz festival, and a “wrap party jam session."

Now in its fifth year, the festival started Thursday with a series of free and paid concerts throughout Old Town by musicians including the Gerald Wilson Orchestra, saxophonist Richie Cole and vocalist James Torme, son of the late Mel Torme.

Aside from the live music, Saturday's festivities featured a New Orleans-style parade along one block of Main Street, leading into a performance by the Stewart Undem Dixieland Band. The band, outfitted in red-and-white-striped jackets and black bowties, led off the parade with a rousing rendition that had onlookers on the sidewalk clapping along.

They were joined by several other groups, including students from the Musicians Workshop and children marching in hats made of twisted balloons. Three other performers on five-foot-tall stilts and decked out in outrageous New Orleans-style costumes towered over those attending the festival, and young pageant winners handed out Mardi Gras beads.

“It's been fun," said Rikayah Crawford, 16, of Murrieta, who was named Teen Miss Inland Empire in February. “The music's been great."

Before the parade, partygoers heard a concert from the Musicians Workshop student performers, mostly jazz beginners with a year or two of experience who spent a week learning to play jazz.