Celebrated as BC’s Best Live Event in 2023, Nanaimo’s 9th Annual International Jazz Festival expands their event to four weekends this year turning September into a month-long live musical feast for locals and visitors.
International performing artist Holly Cole headlines in the Port Theatre September 13 with regional and touring acts performing in pubs, clubs, dining rooms, churches and at free open-air concerts in Maffeo Sutton Park. The annual Jazz Parade will also entertain along the Waterfront Walkway replicating a bit of New Orleans’ Mardi Gras spirit.
Seventeen performances in September will honour the broadest jazz genre with acts like The New Groovement, a ten-piece Vancouver band with a big following across North America for its hip-hop styling and syncopated rhythms. Local Indigenous, emerging artist Keanu Ienco offers a vast stylistic contrast with his quartet proving why he’s so widely recognized and nominated for many awards. Marc Atkinson Trio, well-known to Islanders, will offer modern jazz sounds before Mambo Mardi Gras wraps up the weekend with their high-powered R & B leanings – all this from just from four of the nine acts that will grace the free open-air concert stage at Maffeo Sutton Park on September 13 & 14.
Ticketed shows include ‘Stealing Dan’ at The Queen’s in an act applauded across North America for incredible accuracy depicting this crossover act with reviewers acclaiming, “they don’t pay tribute, they simply channel Steely Dan”. Following that, a ‘Drag Jazz Cabaret’ at the Nanaimo Bar stars Josh Holloway as ‘Celeste’, a first-ever for the Festival Society.
Other performances include a ‘Jazz Jam’ at The Vault, a late show that’s now a tradition on its own. Three dinner shows are on the menu this year highlighting The Lighthouse on downtown Nanaimo’s waterfront and North Nanaimo’s Simonholt Restaurant — quickly building a reputation for its “sometimes chill, sometimes bumpin’” Sunday evening shows. The Festival winds up with Arrowsmith Big Band in an epic closing act to 2025’s Festival.
Free Open-Air concerts in Maffeo Sutton Park will run September 13 & 14 with food trucks and vendors. On Sunday, the Jazz Festival shares the park with the 2nd annual Family Fun Fest offering free activities, games, attractions, and community kiosks for families.
