North Carolina Jazz Festival 2025

North Carolina Jazz Festival is an annual event taking place in Wilmington every February. The festival gathers thousands of jazz lovers on the banks of the Cape Fear River. All concerts begin at the Hotel Ballast Ballroom at 7:30 pm.

North Carolina Jazz Festival runs for four days with four-and-a-half-hour concerts featuring seven sets with six or seven musicians per set. The event has attracted some of the greatest traditional jazz musicians from around the globe, such as Art Hodes, Milt Hinton, Kenny Davern, Keter Betts, Bobby Rosengarden, Tony DiNicola, Bucky Pizzarelli, Ed Polcer, Houston Person, Wycliffe Gordon, Duke Heitger, and Johnny Frigo. Recent lineups included Emily Asher, Ehud Asherie, Herman Burney, Shaye Cohen, Adrian Cunningham, Kevin Dorn, Bruce Harris, Nate Najar, Nicki Parrott, Houston Person, Chuck Redd, Jonathan Russell, Rossano Sportiello, Nicki Parrott, Bruce Harris, Adrian Cunningham, and Houston Person.

North Carolina Jazz Festival runs from 7:30 pm to midnight each night. On Saturday, there's also a Patron Branch from 10:30 am to 2 pm, with star musicians playing for the pleasure of the public.