Madeleine Peyroux, Alex Cuba, Richard Bona Asanté Trio, Eliane Elias, and Artemis are among the headliners at JazzFest this year.
Where:Royal Theatre, Bullen Park, Beacon Hill Park, and moreWhen:June 20-29Tickets:Various prices throughrmts.bc.caor 250-386-6121
The TD Victoria International Jazz Festival has posted its share of wins since 1981, and continues to find new ways in which to operate.
The city’s longest continuously-running music festival tweaked its approach once more following the pandemic, and years later is reaping the rewards. The festival moved on from Centennial Square as an outdoor venue in 2022, landing in Esquimalt’s Bullen Park and the Cameron Bandshell in Beacon Hill Park. The decision proved to be a masterstroke for the festival, with the high-energy Bullen Park series, Funk & Soul in the Township, quickly becoming one of the most anticipated aspects of the event.
Due to demand, organizers with the Victoria Jazz Society, which produces the event, offered early bird tickets for the first time ever this year. “That has been a really nice change, seeing the festival take on a different form each year,” said Kristen Binley, communications coordinator and programming assistant for the festival.
“There is always a bunch of moving parts, and each year seems to have its own, unique vibe.”
Binley has been with the festival since 2017, and has seen its grow exponentially during that nine-year stretch, including the decision to add an extra day of programming in 2023. The festival known simply as JazzFest enters its 41st year on Thursday with 55 performances from more than 180 musicians in 45 bands on tap. Those are big numbers, and always come as a surprise to Binley by the time the final schedule (which is overseen by longtime executive and artistic director Daryl Mar of the Victoria Jazz Society) is confirmed and ready for release.
“We don’t really have a set plan every year,” she said. “We just come up with ideas and say, ‘Hey, this sounds good. Let’s try this.’ ”
Madeleine Peyroux, Alex Cuba, Richard Bona Asanté Trio, Eliane Elias, and Artemis are among the headliners at this year’s festival, which runs June 20-29 on 11 stages in Victoria and Esquimalt. Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio, LowDown Brass Band, Sungazer, The Rumble, Farah Siraj, Lorraine Desmarais, Anthony D’Alessandro Quartet, and Nanaimo-bred sisters Christine and Ingrid Jensen are also part of the programming.
The Royal Theatre, McPherson Playhouse, Hermann’s Jazz Club, Wicket Hall, St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, The Coda, Fathom Lounge in Hotel Grand Pacific, and The Lounge at Archie Browning Sports Centre are also among the participating venues. Performers from North America are joined by ones travelling here from Algeria, Australia, Brazil, Cameroon, Cuba, Italy, Japan, Jordan, and Sweden.
The end result is a big footprint, from a nuts-and-bolts perspective; with an operating budget of $1.3 million, JazzFest is expected to create an economic impact of roughly $5.5 million, according to the organizers, and attract an audience of more than 35,000 people over its 10-day period.
With a schedule that includes several free performances at Cameron Bandshell (June 21-22) and Bullen Park (June 28-29), in addition to free pop-up performances (June 23-26) at The Plaza at Capital Park — located on Superior Street behind the BC Legislature buildings — along with free workshops and clinics at at Esquimalt Recreation Centre, fans are given plenty of options to choose from.
The three ticketed performances are part of the anticipated Funk & Soul showcase, which opens June 27 with the pairing of Chicago’s LowDown Brass Band and Lamarr and his trio at Bullen Park, where the Seattle favourite played in 2022. The series also includes sets by Brooklyn prog-jazz collective Sungazer (June 28) and Grammy-nominated New Orleans supergroup The Rumble (June 29). As the festival’s priorities turn away from the Royal Theatre, where it once hosted the majority of its top-billed acts, Bullen Park is coming into its own artistically and financially.
“It’s a matter of chance every year, from a programming standpoint,” Binley said. “Sometimes a big name will fall into our lap, and we always look for those names. But ultimately it’s about the quality of the music.”
[email protected]