X

About Us
Upcoming Events
LIVE!
Videos
Press Room
Archive
Donate

X

Stay In Touch

No thanks. I've already subscribed or I don't want to.

Detroit Jazz Fest

The world’s largest free Jazz festival

About Us
Upcoming Events
LIVE!
Videos
Press Room
Archive
Donate

Search for:

Search for:

Detroit Jazz Festival

Detroit Jazz Fest video lead placeholder

Detroit Jazz Festival

1925 - 2022 "Angel of Jazz" Gretchen C. Valade

Watch the LIVE Stream

Jam Session - Piano player

LIVE Video

Watch LIVE Now for Free

Jam Session - Sextet

Open Artist Submissions

2023

3_2-dfj2021sun-9782-duo

Become a donor

Help keep the Jazz Fest Free

3_2-dfj2021sun-9373-duo

FAQ's

Get the answers to our most common questions.

3_2-dfj2021sundk-2218-duo

VIP PASSES

VIP Access & Opening Night Party

3_2-DJFF-8425-duo

Sponsorships

Available Sponsorships for the Detroit Jazz Festival

Dedicated Senior Medical Center

Instagram @detroitjazzfest

Tonight's Jazz After Hours is a Rewind edition, fe

Tonight's Jazz After Hours is a Rewind edition, featuring a Detroit all-star house band and guests, including @omarsosamusic, Cuban keyboard artist and composer. Originally airing in April 2022, it's well worth a revisit. Catch us at 9 p.m. ET on Facebook Live or YouTube. Cool #jazz for a cold night (at least here in #Detroit).

Jazz artists! Now's your chance to play at the wor

Jazz artists! Now's your chance to play at the world's largest free #jazz festival. Submissions are open for the 2023 Detroit Jazz Festival. Sept. 1-4.

The Open Submission Application at the #Detroit Jazz Festival offers professional artists at any stage in their career (in any jazz-genre/historical model) the opportunity to submit ensemble details and audio files for a paid performance slot at the 2023 Detroit Jazz Festival.

The deadline for artist submissions is June 1, 2023. Follow the link below.⬇️ And good luck to all. #jazzartist

https://detroitjazzfest.festivalpro.com/form/LfmCKNDGggLOpXBMhMEo/67

It's tonight! Jazz From the Cellar kicks off 2023

It's tonight! Jazz From the Cellar kicks off 2023 with an hour of music from the Signal Quartet, starting at 9 p.m. Eastern on Facebook Live or YouTube, plus WDET, 101.9 FM. Hope you'll join us! #jazz #detroit

Make a note: Signal Quartet are hometown #Detroit

Make a note: Signal Quartet are hometown #Detroit artists who played at the 2022 Detroit #Jazz Festival, and you can see them on YouTube or Facebook Live at 9 p.m. Friday January 20 for the first Jazz From the Cellar of the year. (Radio listeners can hear us on WDET, 101.9.)

Check out the Signal Quartet, #Detroit hometown ar

Check out the Signal Quartet, #Detroit hometown artists who played at the 2022 Detroit #Jazz Festival, this Friday, as Jazz From the Cellar kicks off the new year. Facebook Live or YouTube, 9 p.m. ET, January 20. Or listen at WDET, 101.9 FM.

It's Jazz From the Cellar time for January. Join u

It's Jazz From the Cellar time for January. Join us this Friday on Facebook Live at 9 p.m. Eastern for an hour of great #jazz music from the Signal Quartet. #detroitjazz Alternative opportunities to experience: YouTube or WDET, 101.9 FM

In 1964, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave the openi

In 1964, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave the opening speech at what came to be known as the Berlin Jazz Festival. These were his words:

"God has wrought many things out of oppression. He has endowed his creatures with the capacity to create—and from this capacity has flowed the sweet songs of sorrow and joy that have allowed man to cope with his environment and many different situations.

Jazz speaks for life. The Blues tell the story of life’s difficulties, and if you think for a moment, you will realize that they take the hardest realities of life and put them into music, only to come out with some new hope or sense of triumph.

This is triumphant music.

Modern jazz has continued in this tradition, singing the songs of a more complicated urban existence. When life itself offers no order and meaning, the musician creates an order and meaning from the sounds of the earth which flow through his instrument.

It is no wonder that so much of the search for identity among American Negroes was championed by Jazz musicians. Long before the modern essayists and scholars wrote of racial identity as a problem for a multiracial world, musicians were returning to their roots to affirm that which was stirring within their souls.

Much of the power of our Freedom Movement in the United States has come from this music. It has strengthened us with its sweet rhythms when courage began to fail. It has calmed us with its rich harmonies when spirits were down.

And now, Jazz is exported to the world. For in the particular struggle of the Negro in America there is something akin to the universal struggle of modern man. Everybody has the Blues. Everybody longs for meaning. Everybody needs to love and be loved. Everybody needs to clap hands and be happy. Everybody longs for faith.

In music, especially this broad category called Jazz, there is a stepping stone towards all of these."

(Watch our page for an MLK Day playlist later today.)

Gretchen Valade didn't just care about jazz today.

Gretchen Valade didn't just care about jazz today. Her $9.5 million in gifts to @waynestate, for the study and performance of this uniquely American music, ensures that tomorrow's players and composers will be supported in their journey. The Gretchen C. Valade Jazz Center will be the monument to a legacy that "expanded Wayne State’s commitment to excellence in the arts and humanities," its president said. https://giving.wayne.edu/story/wayne-state-remembers-gretchen-valade-and-her-commitment-to-jazz-45775

Our president and artistic director, Chris Collins

Our president and artistic director, Chris Collins, speaks to @fox2detroit about our departed angel and benefactor, Gretchen Valade. Copy/paste and watch it here: https://www.fox2detroit.com/video/1162340

If you missed this profile of Gretchen when it was

Statement on the passing of Gretchen C. Valade fro

Statement on the passing of Gretchen C. Valade from the Detroit Jazz Festival Foundation:

With a very heavy heart, we are saddened to announce the passing of Our Angel of Jazz, Gretchen C. Valade. We join the world in mourning her death, and celebrate her lifelong contributions to the Detroit community, specifically her unwavering commitment to the propagation of Detroit’s jazz legacy and the preservation of the Detroit Jazz Festival Foundation and the Detroit Jazz Festival, the world’s largest admission-free jazz festival.

We will continue to honor Gretchen’s vision and legacy through our mission of jazz for everyone in Detroit and around the world.

Instagram post 17952313991207076

Instagram post 17952313991207076

Latest News

News

Gretchen Valade

Statement on the passing of Gretchen C. Valade from the Detroit Jazz Festival Foundation

January 3, 2023January 3, 2023

DJF Editor News, Press Release

With a very heavy heart, we are saddened to announce...

News

Human Music

Winners announced – 2022 Collegiate Combo Competition & 2022 Youth Jazz Vocal Competition

August 8, 2022August 8, 2022

DJF Editor News, Press Release

Congratulations! The Detroit Jazz Festival Foundation celebrates the artistry, craftsmanship...

Main Festival

2021 Annual Report

August 1, 2022August 8, 2022

DJF Editor Main Festival

Here’s the most recent Annual Report for the Detroit Jazz...

Main Festival

Carhartt Stage

Detroit Jazz Festival 2022 Program Schedule

July 23, 2022September 3, 2022

DJF Editor Main Festival, Press Release

News

2022 Detroit Jazz Festival VIP Passes Available Now

July 5, 2022August 8, 2022

DJF Editor News

VIP Passes are now on sale. OPENING NIGHT PARTY...

News

Juneteenth Freedom Day

Juneteenth

June 20, 2022June 20, 2022

DJF Editor News

The Detroit Jazz Festival is proud to support and celebrate...

Thornetta Davis

Tenth World featuring Kevin Jones and Kelvin Sholar

Kenny Garrett Quintet

Calvin Brooks The C Breeze Organ Trio

Joe Lovano Nonet

Dennis Coffey Trio

Dee Dee Bridgewater and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra

Detroit Jazz Fest All-Star Combo

Dwight Adams

Stay Tuned

info@detroitjazzfest.org
(313) 469-6564

For over 40 years, the Detroit Jazz Festival Foundation has celebrated Detroit’s rich history of jazz music by providing year-round concerts and educational programming, and of course, organizing the world’s largest free Jazz festival, featuring world-class talent, over Labor Day weekend.

Quick Links

Events
Artists
FAQ
Video Archive

© 2023 Detroit Jazz Festival Privacy Policy Press Contact Us