{"id":282500,"date":"2026-05-24T02:50:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T02:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/282500\/"},"modified":"2026-05-24T02:50:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T02:50:09","slug":"jacksonvilles-annual-jazz-festival-is-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/282500\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacksonville\u2019s annual Jazz Festival is back"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Jacksonville\u2019s annual Jazz Festival is back<\/a>, and this year, it\u2019s featuring a new stage: Jazz in the Plaza.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople can walk along the river walk to get to the Riverfront Plaza for what we\u2019re calling Jazz in the Plaza, featuring local artists,\u201d said Alex Alston, executive director of the city of Jacksonville\u2019s office of sports and entertainment.<\/p>\n

The event\u2019s other main stage is Ford on Bay. Throughout the weekend, the stages will host more than two dozen jazz musicians from across the country.<\/p>\n

On the stage Saturday was Kim Scott, Eliane Elias The Art of Bossa Nova, Sheila E. & The E-Train, Esperanza Spalding, Andra Day and more.<\/p>\n

Alston says that Friday saw over 12,000 people \u2014 more than the festival\u2019s highest daily total last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a vibe, you know. You come out, you enjoy the music, you enjoy the river, enjoy the friends, the camaraderie,\u201d Alston said. \u201cWe got some food trucks out here, we got some vendors, just a good time to come out and enjoy it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Robert and Sherry Coleman traveled all the way from Northern Virginia to attend the festival for the second year in a row, but they say the event needs some work.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s an excellent event; you come in, it\u2019s free of charge, however, the vendors [have] just very long lines,\u201d Robert said. \u201c[We] went to the shortest line [and] it took about 30, 40 minutes to get through.\u201d<\/p>\n

His wife, Sherry, says they attended the event yesterday, but when they tried to set up their chairs in the same spot today, they were told to move.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey need to have everybody on the same sheet of music, all of their staff, everybody who works in the venue,\u201d Sherry said. \u201cThey need to know what\u2019s going on and how to conduct themselves when they\u2019re dealing with the general public.\u201d<\/p>\n

The festival has been happening for more than four decades. Admission is completely free.<\/p>\n

To find a list of Sunday\u2019s performers, parking information and more, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<<\/a><\/p>\n

[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/a>]<\/p>\n

[SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/a>] <\/p>\n

Click here<\/a> to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here<\/a> to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here<\/a> to stream Action News Jax live.<\/p>\n

Action News Jax Top Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Jacksonville\u2019s annual Jazz Festival is back, and this year, it\u2019s featuring a new stage: Jazz…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":282501,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[344,347,9236,1099,28,119415,348,116,351,120182,118,117,120180,120181,119414,120183,13871,349,16629,350,346,345],"class_list":["post-282500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-action-news-jax","tag-cbs47","tag-concert","tag-festival","tag-florida","tag-ford-on-bay","tag-fox30","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-fl","tag-jacksonville-free-concert","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-jax-jazz-fest","tag-jax-jazz-festival","tag-jazz-fest","tag-jazz-in-the-plaza","tag-jazz-music","tag-northeast-florida","tag-riverfront-plaza","tag-southeast-georgia","tag-wfox","tag-wjax"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282500\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/282501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}