Twin Cities Jazz Festival
*The event has already taken place on this date: Sat, 06/25/2022
Please help us keep this calendar up to date! If this activity is sold out, canceled, or otherwise needs alteration, email mindy@kidsoutandabout.com so we can update it immediately. If you have a question about the activity itself, please contact the organization administrator listed below.
Newsworthy notables for the 2022 Twin Cities Jazz Festival:
In addition to the three outdoor stages, at least 25 indoor clubs, bars, and studio venues across town will host performances – the most stages in the festival’s history!
Approximately 300 musicians from age 16 to 77, from teenager Brandon Goldberg to Benny Jones, Sr. from Tremé Brass Band, are included in this year’s line-up.
Friday’s headliner is piano prodigy Matthew Whitaker. Blind since birth, Whitaker has performed at Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and, when he was 10, he was the opening performer for Stevie Wonder’s induction into the Apollo Theater’s Hall of Fame.
The legendary Tremé Brass Band of New Orleans will march into Mears Park as headliners for on Saturday, June 25.
Led by snare drummer Benny Jones, Sr., the band is a recipient of a 2006 National Heritage Fellowship awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts, which is the country’s highest honor in the folk and traditional arts.
Pre-Festival shows will be held in Mears Park and in four venues on Thursday, June 23 (cover charges may apply).
Can’t make it to the shows in-person? Join us virtually – for free!
The live streaming of Day 1 (June 24) will start 6 p.m. CT with the Emmet Cohen Trio featuring Bruce Harris, followed by the Matthew Whitaker Quintet starting at 8:30 p.m.
Day 2 (June 25) will begin at 6 p.m. CT with the Brandon Goldberg Quintet, followed by the Tremé Brass Band at 8:30 p.m.
Sign up is requested. Visit TwinCitiesJazzFestival.com to do so.
Free Clinics Led by Festival Headliners at MacPhail Center for Music:
June 24 – Matthew Whitaker, 1 p.m., Emmet Cohen & Bruce Harris, 2:30 p.m.
June 25 – Brandon Goldberg, 10:30 a.m.
Youth Performances:
June 25 – Walker West Music Academy and MacPhail Center for Music, Jazz88 Main Stage, Noon – 1:30 p.m.
June 25 – MN Jazzed Youth Stage at Creators Space, 1:30 – 6:30 p.m.
NEW Historic Walking Tour – Lovable know-it-all and inveterate hipster “Sister Celeste” will provide walking tours of jazz spots, past and present, in downtown Saint Paul. Seven 90-minute tours will be held June 23 – 26 for $25 each. For tickets, visit TwinCitiesJazzFestival.com.
*Times, dates, and prices of any activity posted to our calendars are subject to change. Please be sure to click through directly to the organization’s website to verify.