Charlottesville Jazz Festival 2026
Join us June 4-7 for the first annual Charlottesville Jazz Festival!
What’s Happening?
In conjunction with the 50th anniversary of Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall, JazzFest2026 will offer audiences a chance to enjoy nationally and internationally acclaimed artists and many of Charlottesville‘s finest musicians over four days of club, concert, and featured performances.
Multiple stages in the Downtown Mall area will host special events with outstanding artists and the festival will feature a two-night/multi-venue Club Circuit with no cover charges.
The Charlottesville Jazz Festival’s mission is to bring people together through the spirit of jazz—celebrating its culture and qualities of innovation, improvisation, and collaboration.
JazzFest 2026 will foster those qualities for the benefits they offer both the art form and the community.
To view the current schedule, click here.
Learn more! Click on these topics for details…
Charlottesville native – and international sensation – vocalist, Veronica Swift, headlines the festival Saturday evening, June 6th!
Swift has established herself as one of her generation’s iconic voices in jazz.
She recorded her first album at age nine, and since then has enjoyed a career spanning two decades which saw a 2nd place win at The 2015 Thelonious Monk Jazz Competition, a twice-a-year residency at Birdland Jazz Club, joining [trumpeter] Chris Botti’s touring band, as well as touring with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and the Benny Green trio. She has appeared with Michael Feinstein, recorded with Jeff Goldblum, and traveled the globe as she leans into the leading edge of jazz and other genres that capture her energy, ingenuity, and creative essence.
Her 2021 album This Bitter Earth received a 5-star review – and the cover – of DownBeat magazine. In 2024, she was honored with a French knighthood as Chevalier in the Order of Arts and Letters.
Swift was raised in Charlottesville, Virginia, as part of a family of renowned jazz artists. Her parents are singer Stephanie Nakasian, and the late jazz pianist Hod O’Brien.
Now making her home on the west coast, her 2026 album, titled “Home,” will be released in June. With songs like “I Miss the Mountains,” “Home” from “The Wiz,” and “I’m Comin’ Virginia,” Swift explores longing to return to her beloved Appalachia, her place in the country that is her home, and the complex challenges of this time as we question our roots.
“…never heard someone scat with so much vocabulary and authenticity in bebop… highest echelon of jazz vocalists”
—Trumpeter Chris Botti (recording artist, four times No. 1 on Billboard jazz albums chart)
“Veronica Swift is a woman of many voices, and she uses every one of them to refract a dizzying kaleidoscope of moods” — DownBeat
An All-Star collective of many of the region’s finest jazz artists, led by trumpeter John D’earth, opens for Swift that evening.
Young Lions of Jazz Matinee
Saturday also features a “Young Lions” Matinee at The Paramount, with a host of family friendly and fascinating activities.
Area educators will present both a multi-high school and a middle school jazz band in concert. You won’t want to miss a special performance with elementary school musicians – or a chance to hear outstanding students from the UVA jazz music program as well.
- During the spring semester, public school band directors will select and rehearse a multi-high school orchestra for the festival’s Young Lions Matinee at The Paramount, Saturday June 6.
- The Paramount event will also include trumpeter John D’earth leading a cadre of his 5th and 6th grade students from Walker Upper Elementary School, as well as a performance by the Lakeside Middle School band.
- A performance by UVA students led by faculty member Mike Rosensky is also planned for the Matinee.
- The event invites audience members to join a presentation by saxophonist and UVA professor Jeff Decker. Decker will discuss how, although it was initially used to suppress or distort blackness, the packaging required by the introduction of larger, long-playing record “albums” eventually provided an opportunity for African American artists to carve a space for the presentation of agency and identity previously denied them.
- Finally, a student-led instrument “petting zoo” is planned to encourage young attendees to experience, firsthand, the instruments they’ve been listening to throughout the Matinee.
To help mark the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Navy Band Commodores jazz ensemble kicks off a FREE festival big band evening June 5, as part of Ting Pavilion’s “Fridays After Five” series. The concert also features saxophonist Charles Owens with R4nd4zzo (Randazzo) Big Band, including many of Richmond’s finest jazz artists.
“We are both thrilled and honored that The ‘Commodores’ chose a performance at the inaugural JazzFest in Charlottesville amidst extraordinary demand for appearances during America 250 celebrations nationwide.” — Steven Brecker, JazzFest organizing committee
Sunday features JazzFest founder, guitarist Royce Campbell – internationally acclaimed for his work with Henry Mancini, Marvin Gaye, and Quincy Jones – and his trio at the festival’s “Founder’s Brunch” at Vault Virginia.
A special Vault concert on Sunday afternoon brings vocalist Ali Webb and her fine ensemble to the JazzFest stage.
Watch for Veronica Swift‘s mother, sensational vocalist Stephanie Nakasian; guitarist Charlie Ballantine and his trio, a favorite of Charlottesville audiences; and the Robert Jospe Trio featuring pianist Daniel Clarke, bassist Paul Langosch, and “Jos” on drums – all at Downtown Mall area concert venues.
Closing Jam Session
JazzFest 2026 will close with a celebratory jam session at Miller’s Downtown, Sunday evening.
Downtown Mall Events
Working with Friends of Charlottesville Downtown, as part of its 50th Anniversary celebration of the Downtown Mall, JazzFest supports the galleries, bookstores, other retailers, theaters, restaurants, and diversity of fine local businesses that bring the Mall to life.
Watch for special offerings! JazzFest welcomes art exhibits, book and record events, dance events, films, special menus, window displays, or other jazz-inspired activities.
June 4 and 5, many of Charlottesville’s most celebrated artists and bands will be featured each night in JazzFest’s Club Circuit of popular downtown restaurants and bars – no cover charge!
- Ivan Orr
- Will Evans & Angelica X
- Jim Howe
- Jeff Massanari
- John D’earth
- Thomas Kehoe Quartet
- Adi Meyerson Band
- The Hard Modes with Greg Weaver
- Vibe Riot
Join the CJS mailing list and listen to wtju, 91.1 fm or wtju.net for the latest updates.
Festival passes and tickets to individual shows will go on sale in early May.
Join the mailing list to be notified when they are available!
Love jazz? Be part of the magic! Festival volunteers welcome!
Please visit our volunteer sign-up sheet and click “Sign Up.”
We will be delighted to work with you on these opportunities – or to create a package of customized benefits that best serve your needs. Please contact Gary Funston, Charlottesville Jazz Society and WTJU: M: 434-249-6191; Josh Peltz, Cville Jazz Productions: M: 434-249-4072; jazzfest@cvillejazz.org.
As a new, non-profit venture, JazzFest2026 asks: Love jazz? Help fuel the fire with your donation! Please scroll to “General Donations” and add JazzFest on your donation form.
“First and foremost, this is a celebration of the immense pool of jazz talent that we are fortunate to foster here – and that people come from far and wide to enjoy. In fact, we’re reaching out to people from our immediate neighbors and area rural communities to audiences throughout the mid-Atlantic region.”
—Charlottesville Jazz Society President, Gary Funston
We Thank our Sponsors and Patrons
JazzFest 2026 is grateful for the generous support received from the Dave Matthews Band/Bama Works grant program through the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation, from the City of Charlottesville “Vibrant Community Fund,” from the The Caplin Foundation, from John and Kate Byrne, and from loyal supporters of the Charlottesville Jazz Society.