Montreal Jazz Festival

The first Festival International de Jazz de Montreal was held at 'Man and His World' (the former Expo 1967 World Fair site.) It attracted 12,000 spectators and proved to a highly successful media event. More than three decades later it has become the biggest Jazz music festival in the world.

The Montreal Jazz Festival annually offers about 500 concerts, of which three-quarters are free of charge, hosting about 2000 musicians, give or take a few, from over 20 countries. 2 million visitors arrive from all over the planet to an event which has become the International Jazz rendez-vous and a laboratory for the creation of new talent, most recently contributing to the successes of artists such as Diana Krall and Norah Jones.

From it's modest beginning in 1979, founders Andre Menard and Alain Simard wanted to "launch a Jazz festival of truly International scale. A festival that would bring thousands of American tourists to Montreal," as Simard wrote on his first grant application in 1978, an application which was refused, incidentally, as were others until the 3rd edition of the Festival in 1982. Despite initial disinterest, he didn't give up, going ahead to produce Jazz and Blues shows featuring the biggest names in the biz, including Charles Mingus, Jean-Luc Ponty, B.B. King, Bill Evans, James Cotton, Gary Burton and Pat Metheny.

Among the 2019 scheduled artists were Chick Corea, Christian McBride, Christian Scott, Sheila Jordan, Kurt Elling, Ron Carter, Ravi Coltrane, Dianne Reeves, Chucho Valdes, Brad Mehldau, Brian Blade, Madeleine Peyroux, John Pizzarelli, Joshua Redman, Youn Sun Nah, Snarky Puppy, Patricia Barber, Stacey Kent, Melody Gardot, George Benson, Nikki Yanofsky, Norah Jones, Julian Lage, Kendrick Scott, Kevin Hays, Lucky Peterson, Holly Cole, Helen Sung, Jane Bunnett, Greg Hutchinson, Danilo Perez, Bryan Adams, Buddy Guy, Allison Miller, Antonio Sanchez, Aaron Goldberg, Bobo Stenson, Bebel Gilberto, Ambrose Akinmusire, Robbie Kuster, Francois Bourassa, Frank Lozano, Christine Jensen, Eleni Mandell, Elisapie, Elliot Maginot, Roberto Fonseca, Bears of Legend, Flying Horses, Cinematic Orchestra and the Django Festival All Stars. The 2020 artist line-up will be announced soon.

The 2019 Festival International de Jazz de Montreal was held June 26 to July 6.