Ottawa Jazz Festival

Ottawa Jazz Festival
Main Stage at Confederation Park
Genre	Jazz Festival
Dates	June 21–30, 2025 [1]
Location(s)	Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Years active	1980–present
Website	ottawajazzfestival.com
[[Jermaine Holmes - Fri, Oct 11, 2024 at 8pm Flat Earth Society Orchestra - Wed, Nov 6, 2024 at 7:30pm]]

Celebrating its 45th anniversary in 2025, ^[2] the Ottawa Jazz Festival held in Ottawa, Canada continues to be a trailblazer in the music festival scene. It showcases a wide range of jazz genres, including swing, jive, fusion jazz, hot jazz, boogie as well as diverse cultures and traditions. It is the only outdoor music festival in the city's downtown core. The festival highlights "a wide range of Canadian and international musical greats to Canada's capital."^[3] Additionally, it features new and emerging talent covering a spectrum from pop and rock to lush harmonies.^[4] While jazz is the core focus, the festival also includes music from genres such^[5] as such as blues, rock and indie.^[6]

Set against the stunning backdrop of Downtown Ottawa, the festival offers a range of ticketed and free shows in various venues, including Confederation Park, Marion Dewar Plaza, the National Arts Centre and select local clubs. In previous years, the event has drawn up to 300,000 visitors and featured over 850 artists and more than 100 concerts.^[7][8]

The festival was established in 1980 when local musicians Bob Misener, Tony Pope and Bill Shuttleworth came together to organize a weekend of jazz music in Major's Hill Park.^[9] In 1989, the jazz festival relocated to what is now the location of its Main Stage at Confederation Park. In 1996, Catherine O'Grady took over as Executive Producer of the festival. Since her arrival, management has worked alongside the board of directors and a supportive community to achieve a 300% increase in audience attendance.

In 1999, Wynton Marsalis's group, Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, helped the festival achieve a new attendance record with 8,000 people, which helped put the event on the map.

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of the festival.^[10] In place of the event, a virtual concert series named Tenacity was streamed to both domestic and international audiences.^[11] In August 2021, despite many pandemic-related restrictions, the festival returned for a four-day span of live and virtual concerts with over 50 artists performing.^[12] Finally, in 2022, the festival made a full in-person return with a nine-day lineup featuring artists like the Punch Brothers, Kamasi Washington, Holly Cole, Cory Wong, Cory Henry, Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, and more.^[13]

Under the direction of Catherine O'Grady, the Ottawa Jazz Festival has served as a key economic driver for Ottawa's downtown core, leading to increased tourism and boost to local businesses each summer.^[14] Since 2009, the festival has brought in over $448 million in tourism spending.^[15]

The first several decades of the festival's programming were initially shaped by Jacques Émond, and Petr Cancura took over the role in 2011. ^[16]

The festival has showcased numerous dynamic jazz artists on its stages, including Aretha Franklin, Herbie Hancock, Buddy Guy, The Roots, Earth, Wind & Fire, Salif Keita, Dave Brubeck, Mavis Staples, Roy Haynes, Toots Thielemans, Branford Marsalis, Béla Fleck, Kenny Werner, Stanley Jordan, Sonny Rollins, Terence Blanchard, Diana Krall, D.D. Jackson, Maynard Ferguson, Kenny Rogers and John Mayall.

In an effort to spice up long and dreary winters, the Ottawa Winter Jazz Festival showcases a series of unique concerts and collaborations with consummate jazz artists. These shows aim to foster an environment for creative interactions among jazz artists in the off-season and to satisfy the jazz cravings of music enthusiasts.

In 2023, a two-day festival ran in February and featured performances by artists such as Sarah Neufield, Kenny Barron and Thus Owls.^[17][18]

Unfortunately, the 2024 event is postponed and will return in 2025.

Attention music students from a high schools and universities in Ottawa! You have the opportunity to apply for and participate in the Jazz Youth Summit. This program provides intensive training and workshops facilitated by international artists, and offers the chance to perform at the festival. Participants are selected through a pre-recorded audition process and will have the opportunity to work on original material while attending masterclasses by acclaimed visiting international artists. Past clinicians have included Ethan Iverson, John Hollenbeck, Dave Douglas, Maria Schneider, Tim Berne & Aurora Nealand, Joel Frahm, and Michael Winograd to name a few.^[19]

Only nine students, ranging in age from 16 to 23, are chosen for this unique adventure. In 2023, the selected students performed on the Main Stage, opening for the legendary Herbie Hancock on closing night.

At the end of their journey, four out of the nine participants were awarded bursaries from Stingray Music and Stingray Radio, based on merit, as determined by the program's Director and the Festival's Programming Director. The bursaries are intended to support the recipients' music education.^[20]

• The Main Stage at Confederation Park
• The OLG Stage at Marion Dewar Plaza / Ottawa City Hall
• The Azrieli Studio at the National Arts Centre (Capacity - 300) ^[22]
• The Fourth Stage at the National Arts Centre (Capacity - 150) ^[23]
• Late Night Jamming Series at the Lord Elgin Hotel - Grill 41
• Jazz at the Castle at the Chateau Laurier

• [1] "CNN - Where to travel in 2023: The best destinations to visit"
• [2] "DownBeat - Ottawa Jazz Festival Performers Brave the Elements"
• [3] "Elle Canada - 10 In-Person and Virtual Music Festivals and Events Happening Across Canada This August"
• [4] "Exclaim - Brekky Boy Made It Well Worth the Trip"
• [5] "Exclaim - Feist Was Charismatic and Unpredictable in Ottawa"
• [6] “Jerusalem Post - Israeli bands at one of Canada’s most prominent jazz festivals”
• [7] “Narcity - This Ontario City Was Named One Of The Best Travel Destinations In The World For 2023”
• [8] "Narcity - 30 things to do in Ottawa that you have to add to your winter bucket list"
• [9] "NCPR - Music that tells a story at the Ottawa Jazz Festival"
• [10] “Ottawa Citizen - At the 2023 Ottawa Jazz Festival, female Canadian jazz musicians are flourishing”
• [11] “Ottawa Citizen - Remembering Tony Bennett: A Review of his 2001 Ottawa Concert”