There are a lot of summer music events to consider in our city, but none has been able to hit this level of cool as our
GRandJazzFest, a two-day festival that is celebrating eight years this weekend at Rosa Parks Circle.
Presented by DTE Energy Foundation, the GRandJazzFest is West Michigan's only free, weekend-long jazz festival and provides our community an opportunity to hear renowned performers and up-and-coming talent.
The event is family-friendly and includes for kids (and those kids at heart) a face-painting tent, plus a chance to learn how to play the guitar. The festival will also be giving away a free guitar every day, along with games and prizes provided by the Foundation and Mobile GR.
As to the 2019 musical act programming, Saturday night closes out with the Guitar G-Force – featuring Tim Bowman, NILS, and Steve Oliver, but not before Paula Atherton, Bryan Lubeck, Deon Yates, and Tenth World with Kevin Jones & Kelvin Sholar light up the stage all afternoon and into the early evening.
Sunday’s lineup is Organissimo, Tumbao Bravo, GR All Stars, and Urban Jazz Coalition.
And keeping with tradition, returning to open the festival once again this year is one of the area’s favorite acts, the Grand Rapids Jazz Orchestra with Edye Evans-Hyde.
We know you have a lot of musical options in the city these days, but not many opportunities to chill out all weekend long with such an eclectic mix of local and touring acts that celebrate the art of jazz.