riverboat jazz festival

• Sustainability
• Ticket sales
• Jazz cruises
• The Jazzgarden
• Riverboats Food stalls
• Local restaurants
• Map of the festival
• Disability conditions
• Transportation

June 26-30 2024

This years festival.

All preparations for The Riverboat Jazz Festival 2022, which will take place on 22-26 June, are running at full speed.

The music program is about to be in place and before the end of February we expect it to be updated and ready for you here on the website. There is so much to look forward to, both from from the danish and international jazz scene. Some artists are well known to the Riverboat audience and others are brand new names to our line up. To us, that is what characterizes a real Riverboat Jazz Festival! All the artists we love and know and the curiosity to experience something we have not heard before. We look forward to presenting you to the entire program for 2020. There will be a total of 160 concerts this year to listen to during the festival. 70 of those take place on our own scenes, 65 concerts are played at a total of 20 external venues collaborating with the festival. 20 concerts take place on the boats while they sail up and down Gudenåen and 5 concerts take place at 5 municipal primary schools

Contact during the festival: Festival office: +45 8680 1617

Tilmeld dig vores nyhedsbrev! Tilmeld Name

• Europe Jazz Network
• EJN manifesto
• EJN board & staff
• Green Rider
• Jazz Panorama
• Clubs/venues
• Organisations
• Artistic proposals

Search form

Riverboat jazz festival, you are here.

Is one of Northern Europe's biggest jazz festivals for classical/traditional jazz.  

• Silkeborg concerts Silkeborg concerts Silkeborg concerts See all Silkeborg concerts ( Change location ) Today · Next 7 days · Next 30 days
• Most popular artists worldwide
• Trending artists worldwide

• Tourbox for artists

Search for events or artists

• Sign up Log in

• Get the app
• Silkeborg concerts
• Change location
• Popular Artists
• Live streams
• Deutsch Português
• Popular artists

Riverboat Jazz Festival – Silkeborg

0 upcoming concerts

Silkeborg, Denmark riverboat.dk/

All the events happening at Riverboat Jazz Festival 2024-2025

Discover all upcoming concerts scheduled in 2024-2025 at Riverboat Jazz Festival.

Riverboat Jazz Festival hosts concerts for a wide range of genres.

Browse the list of upcoming concerts, and if you can’t find your favourite artist, track them and let Songkick tell you when they are next in your area.

Past concerts See all

• Saturday 25 June 2022

Bjarke Falgren and Bjarke Falgren Quartet

Riverboat Jazz Festival , Silkeborg, Denmark

• Friday 24 June 2022

The Kutimangoes

• Saturday 29 June 2019

See all past concerts (8)

• Most popular charts
• Campaigns for promoters
• API information
• Brand guidelines
• Community guidelines
• Terms of use
• Privacy policy
• Cookies settings
• Cookies policy

Get your tour dates seen everywhere.

Riverboat Jazz festival 2024

Doheny State Beach - Dana Point, CA

NOS Event Center - San Bernardino, CA

The Meritage Resort And Spa - Napa, CA

Petco Park - San Diego, CA

Downtown Las Vegas Events Center - Las Vegas, NV

Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino - Las Vegas, NV

Five Rocks - Gering, NE

Typhoon Texas Waterpark - Katy, TX

Retama Park - Selma, TX

Water Works Park - Des Moines, IA

Douglass Park - Chicago, IL

Fair Park - Nashville, TN

Bill Graham Civic Auditorium

Discovery Park

Vibstock - Viborg, Denmark

Musikhuset Aarhus - Århus, Denmark

Hvide Sande Kirke - Hvide Sande, Denmark

Karolinelund - Aalborg, Denmark

Studenterhuset Aalborg - Aalborg, Denmark

Musikkens Hus - Aalborg, Denmark

Dexter - Odense, Denmark

Ungdomshuset - Odense, Denmark

Musikhuset Posten - Odense, Denmark

NASHVILLE NIGHTS INTERNATIONAL SONGWRITERS FESTIVAL - Odense, Denmark

Resonator Festival - Odense, Denmark

Lundsgaard Gods - Kerteminde, Denmark

Skovly Lejr og Kursuscenter - Ribe, Denmark

Fanø Vesterland Festival - Fanø Vesterhavsbad, Denmark

Arena Nord - Frederikshavn, Denmark

Kulturwerkstatt Kühlhaus - Flensburg, Germany

Gimle - Roskilde, Denmark

Gerd's Juke Joint - Joldelund, Germany

Zentralsportanlage Weyhe (ZSA)

Garliner See

Café 't Keerpunt

Salzgitter Lebenstedt

Stadshagenfestival

Blauwe Diamant Vaarroute - Haven bij Super Plus

Noorderlicht Café

Gashouder Westergasfabriek

Sportplatz Battin

Kollektivcafé Kurbad

Kinder- und Jugendzentrum Falkenheim Akademiestraße

Jachthaven Kaageiland

Autotron Rosmalen

Various Venues

Find a Place to Stay: Hotels & Rentals Near Riverboat Jazz festival 2024

• Aarhus Region
• Areas and Cities
• Tourist Information
• Conferences
• Like a Local

Riverboat Jazz Festival

Riverboat Jazz Festival brings more than 100 free concerts to Silkeborg in the lovely Danish summertime. 

Denmark's oldest jazz festival

Since the beginning in 1966, Denmark’s oldest jazz festival has been an extremely popular event with a truly unique atmosphere. The city simply  breathes jazz for 5 days. With swinging parades in the streets, open air stages in the town squares, concerts in nearly every café and on the water, restaurant and venue in town, you won't be able to escape it - but why would you?

If you want to experience the ultimate Riverboat Jazz feeling, you should book a ticket to one of the sailing concerts on board " Hjejlen " - the world's oldest working steamboat - or one of its siblings. 

Every year, about 50.000 people visit the jazz festival in Silkeborg to experience top shelf jazz musicians from all over the world.

See what others are sharing on Instagram

#riverboatjazzfestival #visitsilkeborg #visitaarhusregion

Share your moments with us :

• Media Center
• Volunteering
• Travel professionals

Touristinformation

• Explore Aarhus

• Exciting experiences
• Host Directory
• Articles and sights
• Your favorites

The Riverboat Festival – a musical gem in Denmark’s Lakeland district

• View of articles
• Articles from MidJutland

Silkeborg - Riverboat Jazz Festival

The Riverboat Festival – a musical gem in Denmark’s Lakeland district If you say Silkeborg, you will inevitably also have to say beautiful lakeland scenery. The lakes are an integral part of life of the town located in the middle of Jutland, just West of Århus. Silkeborg is The town by the lakes, and the lakes have inspired the locals to many events throughout the times, one of them being the Riverboat Jazz Festival. Apart from being Denmark’s oldest jazz festival, it has grown into being one of Northern Europe’s largest festivals for traditional jazz: New Orleans, Dixieland, and Swing jazz. In recent years, however, the festival has also introduced modern jazz and young talents.

Inspiration from the Thames Since the 60-ties, jazz and jazz clubs have been part of Silkeborg’s cultural life. One of the people behind the concerts then went on a trip to London and experienced a musical cruise on the Thames in true Mississippi style... Almost immediately the idea came: If you can play New Orleans jazz on the Thames, then why not on the local river Gudenåen, where river steamers were already running regularly. Shortly after, they got started, and during the initial years, the Riverboat Jazz Festival took part on the three river steamers, that sailed on the lakes at that time.

From local to international Throughout the years, the festival has constantly grown. At the beginning everything took place on ships in the water, but the amount of bands and festival-goers grew in numbers. The festival started taking churches, music venues, bars and restaurants into use, tents were put up, and other creative, ideas for venues developed. During the first 20 years, only Danish bands played, but since 1986, the festival can call itself international. Every year they have been able to attract internationally renowned orchestras and soloists, and the annual amount of highlights have increased.

The popularity of the festival, both among artists and visitors show, that people will travel far to experience this event. Year by year, the amount of orchestras and soloists has grown to number 70-80 ensembles, that have an audience of 40.-50.000 during the five days of the festival. The festival can be enjoyed free of charge, and many volunteers and sponsors make an enormous contribution to making the festival a success every year. All events are free of charge and can be reached within walking distance in the city.

The coming festival takes place end of June You can read more about the programme and the performers on the festival webpage: www.riverboat.dk

Well, Silkeborg is buzzing of events throughout Spring and Summer: Experience some of the greatest Danish musicians at Silkeborg’s rockfestival Nye Hede Rytmer - hot rhythms. The festival is held at Indelukket by the lakes. The woodlands by Silkeborg Spa are swarming with freedom fighters, German soldiers and officers, English soldiers - in fact all the characters you could have encountered at the spa during and just after the German Occupation - at the annual Bunker by Night . During the second part of World War II, Silkeborg Spa was taken into use as German military headquarters. You can also pay a visit to the Country Music Festival offering a variety of Danish and foreign country singers and bands. This festival is held at the openair stage by Indelukket. Are you the nostalgic type and into classical, old cars, the place to go is Automania . Here you can get a good look at sports cars and perhaps the car you remember your Granddad driving once.   Open studio doors where a broad range of artists in Silkeborg and its environs invite the public to come and visit their studios. Here you will get a unique opportunity to see how the works of art are created -and you might find a piece of art, that you would like to bring home.

www.riverboat.dk

Gps: 56.174957, 9.558892

Restaurant - Vrads Station Engesvang Bed and Breakfast - host article When the past came to visit - host article Fuglsø Kro Bed and Breakfast - host article Struer - Humlum BB - host article West Coast Cottage Holiday Apartments - host article The Prison Museum in Horsens Femmøller Beach and Ebeltoft Strandingsmuseum St. George in Thorsminde A 5-star experience in West Jutland - host article The Energimuseet at Tange Lake Verdenskortet - the World Map Djursland - Fyrpasserhuset BB - host article Silkeborg - Sejs BB - host article Ebeltoft - Femmøller Strand BB - host article Ry - Climb mountains in Denmark Horsens - Medieval Festival Mols Hills - The gods must... Gudenåen - Denmarks longest watercourse Djursland - Djurs Sommerland Silkeborg - Riverboat Jazz Festival MidJutland - Hærvejen MidJutland - Land in between Hvide Sande - Art in Hvide Sande Silkeborg - The Highland of lakes Randers - Randers Rainforest

0.75 km fra Silkeborg - Riverboat Jazz Festival

BF Bed and Breakfast, Silkeborg

Nice house in Silkeborg. Near the golf course, forest, harbor and...

1.91 km fra Silkeborg - Riverboat Jazz Festival

BB Landlystvej

Cozy and centrally located house ten minutes' walk from the...

2.03 km fra Silkeborg - Riverboat Jazz Festival

Bavnevej bed and breakfast

Bright rooms with bath and kitchenette in quiet surroundings. Close...

2.47 km fra Silkeborg - Riverboat Jazz Festival

Parkvejs Bed and Breakfast

Located in a charming house in quiet surroundings near woods and...

3.05 km fra Silkeborg - Riverboat Jazz Festival

Helle Kristensen

Welcome to Helle Kristensen rooms in Silkeborg. Beautiful landscapes...

5.63 km fra Silkeborg - Riverboat Jazz Festival

Sejs Bed and Breakfast

We rent a small cottage - basic price plus per person, a double room...

12.32 km fra Silkeborg - Riverboat Jazz Festival

Hedegaarden Bed and Breakfast

New Bed and Breakfast with private bathroom. Located in beautifull...

14.73 km fra Silkeborg - Riverboat Jazz Festival

Kjellerup Bed and Breakfast

Kjellerup Bed and Breakfast is located in quiet surroundings next to...

17.43 km fra Silkeborg - Riverboat Jazz Festival

Tougaard Bed and Breakfast

Tougaard BB offers accommodation in two delightful rooms each suitet...

Bjerringbro

18.11 km fra Silkeborg - Riverboat Jazz Festival

Hedegaarden

The farm is an active farm with lots of activities, something for a...

19.93 km fra Silkeborg - Riverboat Jazz Festival

Kalbakgaard

Kalbakgaard  offers 2 lovely apartments 2-4 people, private...

This website uses cookies

Cookies are used to improve the user experience and register which hosts are clicked on. Read more here: Cookie rules , Terms of trade

Modal Title

Riverboat Jazz Festival

Since the Riverboat Jazz Festival started in 1966 with three small passenger boats sailing on a 2 hour sailing tour of Gudenåen, the festival has grown into an event of great volume in both quality and scope.

Since the end of the 1980s, where the festival got its international flair, it has become one of Northern Europe's biggest jazz festivals for classical jazz.

More than 70 orchestras / soloists perform for about 50,000 jazz fans over the 5 days the festival lasts. Riverboat Jazz Festivals musical profile is still the classic jazz, like New Orleans and Dixieland Jazz, swing and mainstream, but in recent years there has also been room for renewal with national and international younger jazz and young talents.

Three large tents each with space for 1000-1500 people, many eateries and bars in the city center, streets and back yard resounding with infectious jazz - and most of them are free!

This is made possible, due to the three main partners: Silkeborg Kommune, Tuborg and Nordea Foundation as well as a large number of companies and organizations that, through their sponsorship and partnership, help secure the festival's economy.

The rest of the economy is ensured by the public by supporting the bars in the tents and on the boats. The festival is run by a board, as well as by employees at the festival office that deals with planning, booking and a number of practical things that precedes a festival.

The festival office also organizes the work at the festival for the 350 volunteers, making the entire project possible The festival always takes place on the first weekend of the summer school summer holiday and is a musical gem in one of Denmark's most beautiful cities.

Share this page

Practical info, pricerange per day, accommodation, main target group, directions & transport, surroundings, average attendence per day, art disciplines.

• Aarhusregionen
• Byer og steder
• Turistinformation
• Møder og konferencer
• Din lokale guide

Riverboat Jazz Festival

Riverboat Jazz Festival er en af Nordeuropas største internationale jazzfestivaler for klassisk jazz. Her er mere end 70 bands, der giver koncerter overalt i byen, på torve og gader, på vandet og i telte. 

International jazz i særklasse

Til Riverboat Jazz Festival vil du kunne opleve en sand perlerække af danske og udenlandske jazz navne.

Festival i by og på vandet

Festivalen foregår på Silkeborg søerne og Gudenåen, hvor der er mulighed for de traditionsrige sejladser med Hjejlebådene med jazzorkestre ombord. Festivalen foregår også i byens centrum, på torve og gader, på restauranter og værtshuse, i kirker, på spillestedet RAMPELYS, i tre store telte placeret centralt i byen, samt i Kedelhuset, Car Lounge og i Jysk Musikteater på Papirfabrikken. Alt inden for gå-afstand fra centrum.

De fleste koncerter er gratis, men til enkelte særlige koncerter skal der købes billet.

Jazz for alle aldre

Festivalen inviterer også små jazzhoveder og hele familien til at træde ind i jazz'ens verden, når børnejazz-orkestre spiller op til leg i festivalens børneområde "Jazzland".

Her kan du læse meget mere om festivalen.

Se, hvad andre deler på Instagram

#riverboatjazzfestival #visitsilkeborg #visitaarhusregion

Share your moments with us :

• Tilmeld dig vores eventkalender
• Partnersamarbejde
• Media Center
• Analyser og tal
• Bæredygtighed i din virksomhed
• Gruppeforespørgsler
• Udforsk og planlæg

Kultur & attraktioner

Outdoor & fritid

Dette event eller denne kategori kunne vi ikke (længere) finde

Gå tilbage til forsiden , eller se hvad der ellers sker i Silkeborg

Silkeborg bugner af oplevelser:

Fars legestue, inspirationseftermiddag for læsekredse, prøv argentinsk tango gratis, i lyset af gentagelsen - kulturfortælleren peter brandes.

• Site search Search

• Latest Forecast
• Project Tornado

Weather Alert

Special weather statement until wed 6:00 am cdt.

• Copy article link

5th Annual Smooth Jazz on the River Festival Coming to Cairo

Mike Mohundro

Digital Content Manager

• Author email
• Aug 27, 2024

CAIRO, Ill. -- A jazz festival is coming to a southern Illinois community, bringing with it an experience for visitors across the three-state region.

The Harold S. Jones Fine Arts Center announced the 5th Annual Smooth Jazz on the River Festival, a two-day celebration with music to be held at Fort Defiance State Park in Cairo.

The event will take place on September 1-2 from 12 p.m. - 10 p.m.

“We strive to bring the soulful sounds of jazz to Cairo, creating an unforgettable experience that fosters connection and enriches our cultural landscape,” says Harold S. Jones.

Headlining the event is Dr. Felipe Brito Quinet which will be performing on Sunday evening. Dr. Bennett Wood with his Jazz St. Louis ensemble will be on hand as well.

There will be lots of performances, food and local vendors, all free of charge.

For more information, you can contact 618-306-5785.

Download the free WSIL News and Weather apps for the latest stories and alerts sent straight to your mobile device. You may also see us on YouTube for the latest videos.

• Harold Jones

Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily!

{{description}}

Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.

Followed notifications

Please log in to use this feature, more from news 3.

VFW, American Legion in Benton to host Welcome Home celebrations for Vietnam Veterans

• Updated Mar 22, 2023

New Illinois law streamlines property tax burdens

• May 20, 2022

Illinois turkey hunters reach record harvest

• Updated Feb 10, 2023

Sesser-Valier High School gives away desks and cabinets

• Updated Jun 13, 2024

Illinois & Missouri monitoring potential avian flu outbreaks in waterfowl

• Updated Nov 30, 2022

Cash bail elimination process begins January 1st

• Updated Dec 22, 2021

Recommended for you

• 970-728-9788

Composer and percussionist Pius Cheung performs at a previous incarnation of the Moab Music Festival, which this year goes through Sept.14. Visit moabmusicfest.org org to see a schedule. (Photo by Richard Bowditch, courtesy of the Moab Music Festival)

• Richard Bowditch
• Copy article link

Violinist Aubree Oliverson and pianist Eric Zivian at a Moab Music Festival grotto concert. (Photo by Richard Bowditch, courtesy of the Moab Music Festival)

• A music festival like no other

In Moab, an iconic landscape inspires, and the Colorado River supplies this year’s theme

• By Leslie Vreeland Contributing Editor
• Aug 27, 2024
• Aug 27, 2024 Updated 1 hr ago

“The landscape was the entire inspiration for this festival,” violist Leslie Tomkins said. Tomkins, who co-founded the Moab Music Festival and is the artistic director, spends most of the year in New York City. On a vacation to Utah’s red-rock country three decades ago, “I looked at these rocks and formations, and like so many others, I was transfixed by the energy I felt emanating from them,” Tomkins recalled.

“We know how to make something beautiful that human-kind has originated,” by performing works by great composers on musical instruments, she remarked to pianist and conductor Michael Barrett. “Wouldn’t it be amazing to combine (what we do) with a jaw-dropping landscape?”

Offering a mix of “chamber music, traditional, jazz and music by living composers” in settings from “secret wilderness locations” where you have to hike in, to floating concerts, to “a pristine wilderness grotto reached by jet boat,” the award-winning fest lets you listen to — and take in — a stunning variety of landscapes and musical experiences over two weeks each year. The event is timed deliberately, “when it’s less hot, but not cold yet,” as Tomkins put it, and where in some years, “we’ve seen autumn occur,” and the colors begin to change in the sweeping aspen groves of the neighboring La Sals.

The geological feature that carved so much of this landscape is also the theme of this year’s festival.

“The Colorado River ferries us” to the grottoes, “and there are musical raft trips along it, and some of the resorts we perform at are right next to it. It’s been an integral part of what we are” as a festival, Tomkins said.

“We wanted to be able to respond to it musically.”

What was more, “We felt it was important to get the point-of-view of those who are stakeholders, essentially, of the River” in this endeavor. Accordingly, John Weisheit, co-founder of Living Rivers & Colorado Riverkeeper, is the special advisor to this year’s festivities. “John was able to connect us with members of Hopi Nation and their elders, who explained that water is a central part of their religion,” Tomkins said. Performers will include Hopi Flute Chief Howard Dennis (an advisor to Waterkeeper Alliance), “and we were lucky enough to get (Navajo pianist-composer) Connor Chee, who has written a solo piece,” Tomkins said. “Utah-connected composers Maya Miro Johnson and Roydon Tse” have also composed new chamber-works inspired by the river “that we’re really excited to premiere.”

The works will debut at the festival’s first-ever Composition Competition. Also new this year, composer Eve Beglarian (who the LA Times described as a “humane, idealistic rebel”) “brings a new piece about water in tribute to longtime Moab Music Festival artist, bassist Robert Black.”

“The whole point was to bring attention to the river,” as not only an economic engine but a creative muse, and to the many whose lives are centered around it, Tomkins said. “The festival has always placed an emphasis on, and included the chamber music of, living composers.” The program this season simply takes it a step further. “I think it’s an important legacy for the festival to bring music into the world which has been produced because of the festival.”

The Moab Music Festival ranges from ‘A Musical, Moveable Feast’ at Easy Bee Farms — a new venue — on Wednesday, Aug. 28 at 5:30 p.m. with performances of Mozart, Bach, and Brahms, to grotto concerts, musical hikes, a series of Colorado Currents performances at Red Cliffs Lodge and much more. Free community events include a Rocky Mountain Power Community Concert at Old City Park Monday, Sept. 2 at 2 p.m., a screening of the film ‘Maestro’ featuring a discussion with Leonard Bernstein’s daughter, Jamie Bernstein, at Star Hall on Sept. 3, and a “pay-what you wish” concert titled “Robert Black: A Joyful Musical Life from the Bass Line” Saturday, Sept. 7 at Star Hall. The festival runs through Sept. 14. Visit moabmusicfest.org to see a schedule.

Latest News

• Housing authority continues talking about revamping its policies
• Telluride Arts announces Edward A. Powell as new president and board chair
• Milling and paving operations are underway
• Chaffee County rivals unite against THS
• Housing needs assessment survey is open
• Woman trapped in vehicle overnight rescued Tuesday morning
• Ensuring prosperity in the West End
• Mayor files formal protest against recall petition
• Contemporary artist Matias Di Carlo heats up Telluride

Summer 2024 Special Sections

Shelter summer 2024.

• Jun 11, 2024

Telluride Style

• Jun 13, 2024

Latest e-Edition

Telluride daily planet.

• Missing woman found alive after four days in backcountry
• Telluride Humane Society received 100 applications for 'Leo' in seven days — but only three from Telluride
• Telluride Town Council names Zoe Dohnal as new town manager
• 'We finally have our new restaurant, under our own terms'
• The monsoon persists — but the long term pattern is warm and dry
• Telluride Mountain Club trails proposal makes headway
• Local pet sitter charged with animal cruelty
• Bat found at popular swimming hole tests positive for rabies
• The Shed, a new regional youth hangout space, opens soon
• BLM introduces plan for regional campground and day fees

Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos.

Sorry, there are no recent results for popular commented articles.

Featured Businesses

Fine rug wash, kastle keepers, montrose auto body, partners by design, john tyler law firm, bustang / outrider, norwood storage and warehousing, structural healthworks, telluride storage, juju & damon window washing, aspen tree service, steve’s professional painting, richardson construction, law office of peter ricciardelli, p.c., find a local business.

How the DC JazzFest went from ‘a sketch on a paper napkin’ to its 20th anniversary

This year’s DC Jazz Festival , which kicks off on Wednesday, will be the 20th. It’s a big milestone for what was once quite literally just a napkin scribbled with notes. “We’ve come a long way,” Sunny Sumter, the festival’s executive director, said in an interview. “Can you imagine? [DCJF founder] Charlie Fishman and [his wife] Stephanie Peters spent countless hours working on making an annual citywide event out of a sketch on a paper napkin.” 

Those hours bore fruit. The festival has gone through many permutations, from a modest weekend celebration to a weeks-long, citywide affair that incorporated organizations and genres across the jazz spectrum, with headline concerts that were largely free to the public.

The pandemic took a toll on the festival’s support network, and after moving from mid-June to late August, it has downsized in recent years. The DCJF is now largely contained in one packed weekend of ticketed music on the Southwest waterfront, even as its programming — under the guidance of artistic director Willard Jenkins — has remained bold, presenting a diverse view of jazz’s present state.

– Read CapitalBop’s guide for what to catch at the 2024 DC Jazz Festival –

The DC JazzFest is now an institution in the District. Each Labor Day weekend, thousands of spectators descend on the Wharf in Southwest D.C. to hear the music emanating from the piers and indoor stages tightly packed into the commercial strip.

The path to where DCJF is today has been a long one, widening and narrowing, meandering all across the capital to reach a present that’s still in flux. 

Duke Ellington Jazz Festival: The beginnings

The famous napkin was from Cashion’s Eat Place , a now-defunct Adams Morgan restaurant that was a favorite of Fishman’s. He was then a music and arts event producer who had managed Dizzy Gillespie in the legendary trumpeter’s final years. Born in Brooklyn, Fishman had been in D.C. for 30 years and was all too aware of a big hole that existed in its cultural life.

“Going around the world with Dizzy, you could go to Montreal, you could go to Nice, and then you go into small towns and villages, and there was jazz,” Fishman recalled in a 2017 interview . “It was ridiculous that the capital of the United States of America, which invented the music, didn’t have a jazz festival.”

Over dinner at Cashion’s, circa 2003, Fishman and Peters, an attorney, outlined the festival they wanted to see. They would call it the Duke Ellington Jazz Festival, in honor of the District’s greatest musical scion, and from the beginning they planned it as a citywide festival, drawing upon neighborhood venues and musicians all across the city, with educational and family components as well.

They took these ideas to Bob Peck, a friend who was then president of the Greater Washington Board of Trade; Peck helped them get meetings with the Washington Post , the office of then-Mayor Anthony Williams, and other potential stakeholders. Fishman was able to raise seed money, and the Duke Ellington Jazz Festival officially incorporated in 2004. 

Its first actual event took place a year later: Sep. 28-Oct. 2, 2005. There were three headlining concerts: two nights at U Street’s historic Lincoln Theater with Dave Brubeck and Chico O’Farrill, and a free all-day concert at the National Mall’s Sylvan Amphitheater with Wallace Roney, Chuck Brown, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band and the Wayne Shorter Quartet. 

But that wasn’t the whole story. Fishman fulfilled his citywide concept by working with venues around the city to incorporate their jazz offerings into the festival program, a component that the festival would come to call “Jazz in the ‘Hoods.” That first year thus included performances in 18 venues across the city, including the Kennedy Center, the Natural History Museum, Bohemian Caverns and 10 other restaurants, bars and clubs along the U Street corridor.

Expansion and a Name Change

The fledgling DCJF grew quickly. More and more local venues signed on to the Jazz in the Hoods program. Fishman enlisted Paquito D’Rivera, a Cuban-born clarinetist and protégé of Gillespie’s, as the festival’s artistic director, and Sunny Sumter—a vocalist who had performed in the first festival, but also a public policy coordinator—as director of partnerships.

“I talked to the Phillips Collection, to the Atlas [Performing Arts Center, on H Street NE], the National Gallery of Art,” Sumter recalls. “Major institutions around the city. My job was to bring them together in some form or fashion to support the festival.”

It worked. The festival was able to scale up for its fourth edition in June 2009 (moved up from the fall dates of previous years), which was a tribute to New Orleans. It encompassed 11 days, 50 venues and 100 performances across all four quadrants of the District. There was a Jazz ‘N Families Fun Day at the Phillips Collection, featuring activities and performances for children; a gala at the French Embassy with D’Rivera and New Orleans clarinetist Dr. Michael White; a celebration of the Marsalis Family at the Kennedy Center (which became a 2010 live album, Music Redeems ); and the two-day National Mall concert (featuring Terence Blanchard, Donald Harrison and other New Orleans greats before daily audiences of 25,000 people), broadcast live on New Orleans’ WWOZ radio.

Yet 2009 was also a turning point for the DCJF. It lost its earmark in the D.C. annual budget, forcing it to look elsewhere for funding. It was also the festival’s final year using the Ellington name. The Washington Sports Authority and Washington Tourism Board had changed their names to Events DC and Destination DC, respectively; following their lead, the festival decided to rebrand itself with the city’s name.

“From that we were able to really institutionalize the Jazz Festival,” Sumter recalls, “and to build the stakeholders from around D.C. that may not necessarily be jazz fans, or want to support a jazz organization, but want to support a cultural institution that brings people from all around the world to D.C.”

The DC Jazz Festival premiered as such in 2010, with the keynote concert moved to George Washington University’s Lisner Auditorium. It moved back to the Mall in 2011, and its umbrella of partner organizations widened, working with jazz advocate Vernard Gray to incorporate the River East series, presenting music at locations in the oft-overlooked neighborhoods east of the Anacostia River, and with veteran local presenters Transparent Productions to bring more avant-garde performances to the festival. (CapitalBop also curated some of its first major shows as part of the DCJF, presenting cutting-edge artists like Tomas Fujiwara, Darius Jones and the JD Allen Trio in its DIY-leaning D.C. Jazz Loft Series, which ran for the ensuing 10 years.)

The Jenkins Era

By 2014, the DCJF was firmly established on the city’s annual calendar. It had also become a bit stale, relying on perennial bookings like Roy Hargrove, Anat Cohen and Roberta Gambarini. Following that year’s festival, Fishman retired, and the DCJF board decided to move in a new direction. They hired Willard Jenkins , a D.C.-based jazz journalist, advocate and producer (and now a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master) who had directed Cleveland’s Tri-C Jazz Festival, as the new artistic director.

“I try to be as comprehensive as possible with an event of this size,” Jenkins told CapitalBop, explaining his vision. “For example, I think if you’re going to have a great festival, you better have some major voices. You’ve got to well represent the tenor saxophone tradition. You’ve got to have a certain number of true designated masters. I also think that you have to have significant emerging artists. And, of course, being a community as we are that is rich in resident jazz musicians, you have to represent the continuum here in this community.”

This approach was immediately apparent in 2015, Jenkins’ first year on board. The lineup included fresh additions like the Bad Plus, Joshua Redman, Gretchen Parlato and Lionel Loueke, esperanza spalding and the Cookers, along with local favorites Allyn Johnson, Kris Funn and the Bohemian Caverns Jazz Orchestra. 

With Jenkins’ arrival came a renewed push for innovation. In 2015 the DCJF found a new home for its signature outdoor extravaganza in Yards Park, along the Anacostia Waterfront. The year after, the festival introduced the DCJazzPrix: a musical competition focused on working bands. The winner would be offered a spot on the following year’s festival program. The festival was garnering wider acclaim and prestige across the United States and around the globe. In 2018, the DCJF took up new performance hubs both indoors (at City Winery in Ivy City) and out (at The Wharf in Southwest).

All these elements converged into the DCJF’s largest, most successful edition yet in 2019. The numbers tell the story: Over 110 artists performed in nearly 40 venues across 11 days, attracting 120,000 spectators.

“It felt like all the stars had aligned,” said Sumter, who became the festival’s executive director in 2014. “We had lots of Jazz in the Hoods experiences happening citywide. People were calling us saying, ‘Can we use our loft space? Can we use our church?’ And then we had this culminating tentpole weekend at the Wharf, with two days at the Anthem featuring Snarky Puppy and John Batiste. It was record-shattering.”

The festival had even bigger plans for 2020.

The COVID Effect

We all know what happened next. The budget and momentum the festival had amassed from its 2019 blockbuster disappeared into the fog of a pandemic. The DCJF, like everything else, was forced into a socially distanced world. Sumter, Jenkins and their staff (which they were able to retain) did well with those very limited resources, producing two series of livestreamed concerts and curating a virtual festival of archived and remote performances.

This allowed the festival to rally in 2021: reduced to a single weekend and a single location, delayed from June to September, more reliant than usual on local artists, but alive and kicking. 

It’s had to adapt to profoundly changed circumstances. The budget has been depleted, since donors are still recovering money lost from the lockdowns. A number of important music venues never reopened after COVID, decimating the Jazz in the Hoods component. Yet each year since its return, the DCJF has put on a consolidated but still-full festival event, primarily based at the Wharf but each year expanding its footprint a little bit further. (The DCJF acquired office space at Arena Stage in 2022, which has allowed it to use some of the theater spaces there for concerts as well.) Labor Day has become its new permanent spot on the calendar. 

These adaptations are reaping dividends. The 2023 festival, Sumter said, was completely sold out. “People then started coming in from all over the world and staying in hotels,” defying the DC tourism industry’s ongoing struggles, she said. “Butts in seats and butts in hotel rooms.”

They’re not resting on these laurels, though—and they’re not conceding that the glory days are behind them. “Charlie’s initial vision of the DC Jazz Festival being a citywide celebration, being in the neighborhoods—we do have to go back,” Sumter said. “The jazz festival is a community festival in addition to being an international festival. And we do miss that.”

For 20 years, the DC Jazz Festival has consistently set a high bar for itself. And, even if it’s had to readjust for changing resources and circumstances, it has consistently cleared that bar. Looking over its past, we can take a lesson not to discount its future.

• DC Jazz Festival

You May Like This

Cb’s guide to the 2024 dc jazz festival.

The 6 D.C.-area record stores that will scratch your vinyl itch

5 D.C. jazz picks for August 2024

The Carlyle Room has closed after two years of trying to bring music back to downtown D.C.

Through Cats’ Eyes: joy and resistance in jazz through the lens of violinist Jamie Sandel

On ‘everything at once,’ hypnotic trio Dream Feeder builds a world of gentle nurturing

Join the Conversation →

LIVE JAZZ | R&B | SOUL | BLUES | NEO-SOUL

ABOUT THE FESTIVAL

    3 days   +   3 venues   = 1 great weekend .

Curtis King, founder and president of The Black Academy of Arts and Letters, Inc. (TBAAL), has traveled around the country for over 16 years to frequent and study major music festivals, specifically festivals of a jazz nature. For over forty-seven (47) years, TBAAL has entertained millions of patrons from around the globe in its downtown Dallas location, The Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center. True to its mission, this major multi-discipline cultural arts conglomerate, fosters, cultivates, perpetuates, preserves and promotes the arts and letters of the African, Caribbean and African-American experience. TBAAL serves over 450,000 arts enthusiasts annually and is an iconic centerpiece for the city of Dallas’ artistic and cultural diversity offerings to its citizens and tourists worldwide.

Dallas, known as “the can-do city” and a “city that works,” is the steady pulse and heartbeat of a major growing American metropolitan area that prides itself on being a new frontier and maverick of the southwest for exciting and creative innovations. Many people are unaware that Oscar, the Academy Award statuette, was named from Texan Oscar Pierce, whose niece worked in Hollywood for the Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences. 

When she saw the gold statuette, she reportedly said, “Why, that looks just like my Uncle Oscar.” History like this is a testament that Texas continues to be a beacon of light and fertile ground for transplants, immigrants and settlers to hang their permanent hats on a thriving city like Dallas!

Dallas, accessibly located in the center of the country, is a prime spot for an exciting national festival to attract tourists. Simultaneously, it gives Dallas/Fort Worth residents an opportunity to partake in a major music festival and to see on three stages some of the world’s best national and international mainstream, cutting-edge, traditional and contemporary artists and performers.

Like the 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023 festivals, this year’s festival will also feature an array of renowned music artists from around the world where patrons will experience a gumbo of jazz, blues, R&B, soul, pop and neo-soul music. Also, there will be a showcase stage for Promising Young Artists from the Dallas/Fort Worth area schools and music programs in day-long back-to-back performances.

For three days, the 2024 festival attendees will browse and shop at vendor booths, and experience delectable and diverse food. Produced by TBAAL, the Riverfront Jazz Festival promises to be one of Dallas' annual major attractions for patrons, tourists and Dallas citizens.

RIVERFRONT JAZZ FESTIVAL FOUNDER

And PRODUCER

HONORARY CHAIR

      grammy award winner      erykah badu.

Virtual Tour

Experience University of Idaho with a virtual tour. Explore now

• Discover a Career
• Find a Major
• Experience U of I Life

More Resources

• Admitted Students
• International Students

Take Action

• Find Financial Aid
• View Deadlines
• Find Your Rep

Helping to ensure U of I is a safe and engaging place for students to learn and be successful. Read about Title IX.

Get Involved

• Clubs & Volunteer Opportunities
• Recreation and Wellbeing
• Student Government
• Student Sustainability Cooperative
• Academic Assistance
• Safety & Security
• Career Services
• Health & Wellness Services
• Register for Classes
• Dates & Deadlines
• Financial Aid
• Sustainable Solutions
• U of I Library

• Upcoming Events

Review the events calendar.

Stay Connected

• Vandal Family Newsletter
• Here We Have Idaho Magazine
• Living on Campus
• Campus Safety
• About Moscow

The largest Vandal Family reunion of the year. Check dates.

Benefits and Services

• Vandal Voyagers Program
• Vandal License Plate
• Submit Class Notes
• Make a Gift
• View Events
• Alumni Chapters
• University Magazine
• Alumni Newsletter

SlateConnect

U of I's web-based retention and advising tool provides an efficient way to guide and support students on their road to graduation. Login to SlateConnect.

Common Tools

• Administrative Procedures Manual (APM)
• Class Schedule
• OIT Tech Support
• Academic Dates & Deadlines
• U of I Retirees Association
• Faculty Senate
• Staff Council

University of Idaho News

University Communications and Marketing

Fax: 208-885-5841

Email: [email protected]

Web: Communications and Marketing

U of I’s Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival Presents Four Nights of Swinging Music

April 13, 2023.

MOSCOW, Idaho — University of Idaho’s 56th annual Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival  April 19-22 will fill the ICCU Arena with harmony and rhythms, as budding musicians and award-winning professionals perform on the Moscow campus.

From an evening of big band music by 15 women from The DIVA Jazz Orchestra, to world beat percussion, Grammy Award-winning artist Marcus Miller and much more, the festival offers four evenings of music and performances. Along with world-class musicians, the festival includes elementary, junior high, high school and college student performances during the day, as well as workshops open to the public.

The festival, which honors the music, dance and history of jazz, is one of the largest and oldest educational jazz events in the world. Recent festivals have attracted approximately 150 schools and nearly 5,000 students to the Moscow campus.

“We have an incredible line up of diverse and eclectic musicians,” said Navin Chettri, manager of the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival. “After two years of recovering from the pandemic, it’s thrilling to be back fully in person. Moscow will be filled with a musical and magical buzz.”

Below is a schedule for evening performances. View schedules for all workshops  and student performances  online.

Hamp’s Gala: 7 p.m., Wednesday, April 19, at the Administration Building Auditorium:

• The traditional evening kick-off concert features student ensembles from the Lionel Hampton School of Music.

World Music Celebration: 7 p.m. Thursday, April 20, in the ICCU Arena:

• Habib Iddrisu, Ghanaian drummer and dancer.
• Marshall Gilkes, one of the world’s preeminent trombonists.
• U of I Jazz Band I, under the direction of Vern Sielert.
• U of I Jazz Choir I, under the direction of Dan Bukvich.
• World Beat Ensemble, under the direction of Navin Chettri.

The DIVA Jazz Orchestra and säje: 7 p.m. Friday, April 21, in the ICCU Arena:

• The DIVA Jazz Orchestra is a big band group composed of 15 female musicians.
• säje is a Grammy-nominated group of five women known for their smooth vocals.

Marcus Miller and Lionel Hampton Big Band featuring Jason Marsalis: 7 p.m. Saturday, April 22, in the ICCU Arena:

• Marcus Miller, two-time Grammy Award winner and UNESCO Artist for Peace.
• Lionel Hampton Big Band featuring Jason Marsalis, one of the longest-running jazz orchestras in music history. Marsalis is a jazz drummer, vibraphone player, composer, producer, band leader and member of the Marsalis family of musicians.

Ticket Information Individual evening and package tickets are available at uitickets.com or can be purchased in person at the box office located at the Bruce M. Pitman information desk, 709 Deakin Ave., Moscow. The ICCU arena box office will open at 6 p.m. each night for walk-up sales.

Media Contact: Kelly O’Neill Communications Specialist, Department of Theatre Arts & Lionel Hampton School of Music 208-885-6465 [email protected]

Download Adobe Reader

About the University of Idaho

The University of Idaho, home of the Vandals, is Idaho’s land-grant, national research university. From its residential campus in Moscow, U of I serves the state of Idaho through educational centers in Boise, Coeur d’Alene and Idaho Falls, nine research and Extension centers, plus Extension offices in 42 counties. Home to nearly 11,000 students statewide, U of I is a leader in student-centered learning and excels at interdisciplinary research, service to businesses and communities, and in advancing diversity, citizenship and global outreach. U of I competes in the Big Sky and Western Athletic conferences. Learn more at uidaho.edu .

• Work & Careers
• Life & Arts

In Moscow, Authorities Stage a Festival of Summer as Some Fret About Ukraine War

FILE PHOTO: A woman takes part in an event to unfold a large-size Russian state flag during celebrations of National Flag Day in Moscow, Russia August 22, 2024. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/File Photo

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A world away from eastern Ukraine's drone-filled battlefields, authorities in Moscow have tried to turn the Russian capital into a summer chill-out zone despite Europe's biggest land war since World War Two raging 1,000 km (621 miles) to the south.

Streets and squares are lined with giant pots containing trees and flowers, a programme of open-air pop-up events like theatrical performances has been organised, and the capital's leafy boulevard ring and parks are full of young people taking part in outdoors sports such as badminton and beach volleyball.

With the sound of breezy music performed by young buskers often heard on the street and cafe terraces busy with people enjoying the sunshine, there are few clues that Russian forces are locked in grinding battles in eastern Ukraine and that Moscow is trying to expel Ukrainian forces from Russia's Kursk region some 600 km (372 miles) away.

Yet interviews with more than half a dozen people showed some Muscovites are deeply worried by the fighting and find their own reality incongruous.

"Yes, we live in an awfully relaxed and disgustingly calm way," said a woman called Margarita who was out for a stroll and said she had recently moved back to Russia after relocating to Montengegro when Moscow launched its war with Ukraine in 2022, something it calls a special military operation.

"It (the lifestyle) gnaws at my conscience terribly but I can't do anything about it right now," she said with an embarrassed laugh.

A HOLIDAY EVERY DAY

Relaxing with a female friend on a sun lounger in a park overlooking the Moskva River, Anton, who did not give his last name either, appeared relaxed. But he said he thought what was going on around him had been stage-managed.

"I see that the authorities in Moscow are generally trying to hold various events, like the 'Moscow 2030' festival, to distract people from this (the war) as much as possible, to show that life goes on, that life is a holiday. In principle, this is part of the cognitive war," he said.

"As I understand it, they also want to show Ukraine that we have a holiday every day, that food festivals, various events and exhibitions are held, while you have people packed into buses and sent to the front line by force."

He was worried, he said, that Russia had got itself "too deep" in Ukraine and that it was getting harder to extract itself.

Across town at a ceremony on Thursday to honour Russia's national flag day, Yulia Maslova, a resident of Kursk, where Ukrainian forces punched through the border on Aug. 6, was anything but relaxed.

Visibly emotional, she said her relatives had been evacuated from Kursk for safety reasons.

"The situation is very difficult now (in the Kursk region), there is an evacuation going on from the border areas, to save children, to save elderly people," she said.

Olga, a pensioner walking through Moscow's Chisty Prudy park, said that though everything looked calm on the surface and cafes and restaurants were working as usual, Ukraine had attempted to attack Moscow with drones this week.

"They shot them down naturally. But the point is that they flew here," she said.

Asked if she felt calm, she said: "Of course not. I'm taking medication. I already had a heart attack because of this (the war), when it all started."

Out near the river, a woman called Yana said fear had been ever present in the background for the last few years, but that she and her husband - like many Russians - were just getting on with things.

"Our plans haven't changed much," she said. "Our plans are to raise a child, educate him and keep living."

(Reporting by Reuters Moscow Buro; Writing by Andrew Osborn; Editing by Conor Humphries)

Copyright 2024 Thomson Reuters .

Photos You Should See - July 2024

Join the Conversation

Tags: Ukraine , Russia , Europe

America 2024

U.S. News Decision Points

Your trusted source for the latest news delivered weekdays from the team at U.S. News and World Report.

Sign in to manage your newsletters »

Sign up to receive the latest updates from U.S News & World Report and our trusted partners and sponsors. By clicking submit, you are agreeing to our Terms and Conditions & Privacy Policy .

You May Also Like

The 10 worst presidents.

U.S. News Staff Feb. 23, 2024

The Best Cartoons on Donald Trump

Aug. 27, 2024, at 3:39 p.m.

Joe Biden Behind The Scenes

Aug. 20, 2024

GOP’s ‘Parallel’ Probe of Trump Shooting

Laura Mannweiler Aug. 27, 2024

2024 Election Improving Consumer Moods

Tim Smart Aug. 27, 2024

Trump Pledges Space National Guard

Laura Mannweiler Aug. 26, 2024

The Week in Cartoons Aug. 26-30

Aug. 27, 2024, at 3:40 p.m.

Economy, Campaign Enter Critical Period

Tim Smart Aug. 26, 2024

Trump on Defense After DNC

Cecelia Smith-Schoenwalder Aug. 23, 2024

RFK Jr. Campaign Comes to Bizarre End

Aneeta Mathur-Ashton Aug. 23, 2024