Not only is it a fabulous start to the outdoor event season, but also Sunday’s eleventh annual Jazz on Fourth festival is free. One block of Berkeley’s Fourth Street is closed off between Hearst and Virginia. Food, drink, and other merchants line the way, and two stages are filled with homegrown talent, culminating in the finale’s big-band pyrotechnics of award-winning, globe-trotting Berkeley High School Jazz Ensemble. With the school’s small combos providing warm-ups, this year’s acts are R&B great Sugar Pie DeSanto, jazz bassist Marcus Shelby’s Quartet, and trombonist Wayne Wallace’s Latin Jazz Quintet. The whole event is free, but is also a fund-raiser to help send the Berkeley High band to Japan this summer. Noon. FourthStreet.com
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