Detroit Jazz Festival Garners 1M Viewers

  I  

The Detroit Jazz Festival, which ran during the long Labor Day weekend, reports that about one million people viewed or listened to performances this year.

Sets were streamed from the Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center with only select press representatives, production teams and musicians in attendance for more than 40 hours of music because of the pandemic.

“Looking back, we can now truly appreciate the cultural event we created for the worldwide jazz community and all of the effort to keep our mission of free jazz alive during a global pandemic that sidelined most of the other major music festivals around the world,” said Chris Collins, president and artistic director of the festival, in a press release.

The festival said it measured about 600,000 viewers and listeners on its own platforms, with television and radio pushing the numbers up further.

In 2019, the festival said, there were “1,000 new subscribers to the app/livestreams during the four-day event,” and that average in-person attendance was about 325,000. DB



  • KP2_Print_copy.jpg

    ​Peplowski first came to prominence in legacy swing bands, including the final iteration of the Benny Goodman Orchestra, before beginning a solo career in the late 1980s.

  • John_Hammond_courtesy_johnhammond.com.jpg

    Hammond came to the blues through the folk boom of the late 1950s and early 1960s, which he experienced firsthand in New York’s Greenwich Village.

  • Screenshot_2026-02-03_at_5.17.03%E2%80%AFPM_copy.jpg

    ​“I play what I want and what I like,” said Andrew Cyrille. “I use my knowledge artistically and professionally.”

  • Wynton_Marsalis_by_Frank_Stewart.jpg

    Marsalis will, if he chooses to use it, have a strong voice in perpetuating his vision through a role in choosing his successors.

  • Lettuce_by_Sam_Silkworth_2026_copy.jpg

    Lettuce, from left: Eric Coomes, Adam Deitch, Ryan Zoidis, Eric Bloom, Adam Smirnoff and Nigel Hall


On Sale Now
April 2026
Flea
Look Inside
Subscribe
Print | Digital | iPad