The Adelaide Jazz Festival (AJF) is a weekend-long program of live performances celebrating the city’s diverse music scene and UNESCO’s International Jazz Day. Presenting a broad range of jazz genres, the program showcases some of South Australia’s finest emerging and established jazz, funk, soul, R&B and swing artists.
“As well as appealing to regular jazz fans, our aim is to surprise, inspire and delight audiences who might think jazz is not really their thing,” says AJF founder and producer, Kaya Blum. “It’s a festival for people with passion for music, not just jazz.”
The line-up includes Soylent Green, nominated for the SoundMerch Australian Music Prize for Best Australian Album 2022 and equal winners of the national ‘Next Gen’ selection at Wangaratta Festival of Jazz and Blues; 10-piece jazz-funk outfit Bend; swing sensation Lucky Seven; instrumental nu-funk band The 6Ft Pelicans; neo-soul/R&B/jazz artist Kara Manansala; and more to be announced.
This is the first time Adelaide joins other Australian capital cities with an annual jazz festival on the calendar. The event will be held across several CBD music venues and provides a vital platform for over 40 local musicians. Central locations and staggered start times for each performance make it possible to catch more than one gig in a day.
Adelaide Festival Centre is also on board as a Creative Partner. Adelaide Festival Centre have hosted a jazz concert for UNESCO’s International Jazz Day since 2017 and will do so again this year as part of the AJF program, with details to be announced soon.
The AJF is supported by the South Australian Government’s Music Development Office See It LIVE program and the City of Adelaide.
“As Australia’s only UNESCO City of Music, it is fantastic to see the inaugural Adelaide Jazz Festival celebrate our state’s talented musicians,”
says Minister for Arts, The Hon Andrea Michaels MP.
“Our Government is committed to boosting the South Australian live music industry and, as a grant recipient of our $10 million See It LIVE package, the Adelaide Jazz Festival is providing an incredible platform for more than 40 established and emerging local musicians,” Michaels adds.
“South Australia is home to a diverse music scene and the Adelaide Jazz Festival is just one of many exciting events popping up on South Australia’s music calendar in 2023.”
Adelaide Jazz Festival
28 – 30 April, 2023
