Manly Jazz is a popular annual festival held in Manly, a northern Sydney waterfront suburb, which can be reached from the city by ferry. During three days, Manly Corso, the main pedestrian street in town, the scenic Manly beach, and multiple indoor venues across the town get filled with top-quality music and entertainment. The festival has both free and ticketed concerts on offer. During in-venue concerts, attendees can enjoy food, drinks and relax to soothing jazz tunes.
Overall, Manly Jazz spans over four stages and many live performances from over 70 artists. Thousands of jazz aficionados arrive from all over Australia to see established and novice jazz bands showcasing their talents. The lineup of the festival ranges from classical jazz to funk, Gospel, Latin, fusion, blues, swing, roots, and world music.
Held since 1977, the Manly Jazz Festival pays tribute to Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong by holding special performances honoring those jazz legends. Previous lineups of the festival included an Australian trombonist Dan Barnett, bassist Rodney Whitaker, guitarist Ray Beadle, jazz violinist George Washingmachine, bands like Crawfish Po Boys, Cumbiamuffin, and Queen Porter Stomp.
