It’s Festival Season, Y’all!

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Crowds chill at the John Coltrane Jazz & Blues Festival in North Carolina.

(Photo: Toni Shaw)

If great art is made in chaos, get ready for some killer festivals this year. In digging into the 2025 festival scene while crafting this guide, one thing is for certain. There are many festivals wondering what’s going to happen, and maybe worrying what the effects things like trade wars — the realm of politics, not art — will play on the summer music travel season. But festival directors DownBeat spoke with have put up a unified front: Control what you can control, and put on an amazing show.

With that, get ready for some great tours and performances at festivals large and small. As the 120-plus festivals listed in the following pages can attest, each has its own charm and sparkle.

We’re continuing to witness the next generation of jazz expansion, local scenes and artists being promoted in dramatic ways in places where jazz interest, education and tradition are growing. Just look at the four festivals featured in this year’s guide. The Denver Jazz Festival will shine a floodlight on the great tradition of musicians who either came from or currently live in the Denver area. The same is true with the Vancouver International Jazz Festival, which has a fantastic DIY scene. Down at the Amelia Island Jazz Festival, Les and Bonnie DeMerle have fashioned a festival that perfectly vibes with the island life. And up in Massachusetts, the Northampton Jazz Festival offers a quaint, hometown touch to go with great music.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE COMPLETE 2025 SUMMER FESTIVAL GUIDE!

So, soak it up. It’s festival season, y’all! Time to get up, get out and get down! DB



  • Coltrane_John_008_copy_2.jpg

    “This is one of the great gifts that Coltrane gave us — he gave us a key to the cosmos in this recording,” says John McLaughlin.

  • 2tx3p_BNJF2025LineupApr11080x1350--1_copy.jpg

    The Blue Note Jazz Festival New York kicks off May 27 with a James Moody 100th Birthday Celebration at Sony Hall.

  • Ethan_Iverson_by_David_Moressi_2024_copy.jpg

    “I’m certainly influenced by Geri Allen,” said Iverson, during a live Blindfold Test at the 31st Umbria Jazz Winter festival.

  • Isaiah_Collier_by_Michael_Jackson_2025.jpg

    “At the end of the day, once you’ve run out of differences, we’re left with similarities,” Collier says. “Cultural differences are mitigated through 12 notes.”

  • Andy_Bey_NYC_2014_by_Steven_Sussman_copy.jpg

    “It kind of slows down, but it’s still kind of productive in a way, because you have something that you can be inspired by,” Andy Bey said on a 2019 episode of NPR Jazz Night in America, when he was 80. “The music is always inspiring.”

    Vocalist Andy Bey Dies at 85

    Singer Andy Bey, who illuminated the jazz scene for five decades with a four-octave range that encompassed a bellowing…


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