“The Jazz Festival has long been one of Jacksonville’s signature events,” said Mayor Alvin Brown. “It’s a growing tradition that gets bigger and better every year. This year promises to be the best ever. The Jazz Festival is just one more example why downtown Jacksonville is where people want to be.”
Music has been known to bring people together. The celebration of rhythm and notes in the form of a festival can easily draw hundreds or thousands together – to engage, to uplift, and to support a cause.
In early 1980, then Mayor Jake Godbold looked to music, specifically a genre with a strong cultural tie, to bring a community together.
JACKSONVILLE JAZZ FESTIVAL
Saturday, October 24, 1981, was the beginning of a new idea in Jacksonville – a jazz festival, a free outdoor event that would bring people together to support the fledging Mayport community and reintroduce the world to the northeast Florida destination, Jacksonville, Florida.
And people took notice. Expecting only a few hundred people to attend in 1981, event producers were blown away when nearly 25,000 people showed up for the inaugural event.
Dizzy Gillespie headlined the inaugural event. Formerly known as the Mayport and All That Jazz Festival, the Jacksonville Jazz Festival is the stage for one of the largest, free jazz festivals in the nation.
Outgrowing the format of a one-day festival in Mayport, Jacksonville Jazz Festival moved to the Metropolitan Park. There, WJCT, a public broadcasting station, turned the event into a production that aired worldwide.
For the next 15 years, WJCT and partners managed the successful riverfront festival. In 2003, there was the rebirth of the Jacksonville Jazz Festival.
The City of Jacksonville began producing the event, incorporating additional venues, the Florida Theatre and the Ritz Theater, and introducing activities such as an art sale and wine tasting, attracting newer audiences.
In 2009, Jacksonville Jazz Festival footprint expanded introducing a livelier street festival atmosphere along with four stages of entertainment.
PAST PERFORMERS
Jacksonville has seen the likes of: Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, George Benson, Al Jarreau, Diane Schuur, Patti Austin, Branford Marsalis, Count Basie Orchestra, Buddy Guy, Robert Cray, Diana Krall, Herbie Hancock, Ramsey Lewis Trio, Chuck Mangione, Chris Botti, Rippingtons, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, David Sanborn, Pamela Williams, Spyro Gyra, Dianne Reeves, Chick Corea, David Benoit, Boney James, Karrin Allyson, Grover Washington, Jr., Kenny G, Harry Connick, Jr., Natalie Cole, Patti LaBelle, Mavis Staples and Greg Adams.
The tradition continues and the Jacksonville Jazz Festival continues to serve as a catalyst in downtown Jacksonville and a destination for jazz enthusiasts around the world.
For more information about downtown Jacksonville including shopping, restaurants, nightlife, art galleries, parking areas, transportation and more, visit www.downtownjacksonville.org and www.visitjacksonville.com.
JACKSONVILLE JAZZ FESTIVAL
Downtown Jacksonville
630 E. Bay St., Jacksonville, FL 32202
