Jul 17, 2025 12:44 PM
DownBeat’s 73rd Annual Critics Poll: One for the Record Books
You see before you what we believe is the largest and most comprehensive Critics Poll in the history of jazz. DownBeat…
Jazz stars will shine on Miami’s bayfront.
(Photo: Courtesy Bayfront Jazz Festival)The inaugural Bayfront Jazz Festival will take place at Miami’s Bayfront Park with live jazz on April 30 and May 1.
Said to kick off Miami’s “post-COVID recovery calendar,” it will be one of the first major live musical events in the city this year.
The first Miami festival of its scale, the Bayfront fest celebrates current and future giants of jazz with a lineup that includes Roy Ayers, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Chucho Valdés, Gonzalo Rubalcaba and Aymée Nuviola and Mark Guiliana’s Beat Music. The concerts will host 1,500 people and will respect all COVID-19 sanitary rules of social distancing, according to organizers.
Hosted by Melrose Media, the Bayfront Jazz Festival will take place on UNESCO’s International Jazz Day, intended to raise awareness of the virtues of jazz as an educational tool for empathy, dialogue and enhanced cooperation among people.
The FPL Solar Amphitheater, where the festival will be housed, is situated in the middle of the Bayfront Park, directly on the oceanfront.
Tickets can be purchased via Ticketmaster. A ticketed livestream video will also be in place online through EluvioLIVE. All payments will be accepted, including crypto currencies, to purchase the live streaming.
A portion of the proceeds from the concert will be given to hospitals fighting COVID-19.
“Artists and audiences crave live music in an outdoor venue, and we had to fight to make that event happen,” said Manuel Molina, managing director of Melrose Media. “We took engagements with the venue and the city to protect our audience with masks, gels and social distancing.”
The Chucho Valdés Quartet and the Roy Ayers Quintet will perform April 30 starting at 7:30 p.m. Eastern. Dee Dee Bridgewater & The Memphis Soulphony willl perform May 1 with Mark Guiliana’s Beat Music and Gonzalo Rubalcaba and Aymee Nuviola.
For more information, check out bayfrontjazz.com. DB
James Brandon Lewis earned honors for Artist of the Year and Tenor Saxophonist of the Year. Three of his recordings placed in the Albums of the Year category.
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