Rotterdam North Sea Jazz Festival

The North Sea Jazz Festival was created by Dutch Jazz promoter Paul Acket, who in 1976 started what would become the most prestigious Jazz festival in the world. From an initial audience of about 9000, the festival has grown into an international spectacle, with 16 stages presenting 220 acts over a period of three days and over 100,000 people in attendance held in Rotterdam, Netherlands. A second installment of the North Sea Jazz Festival is now held on the island of Curacao.

The annual event was pronounced "The World's Best Jazz Festival" by JazzTimes magazine in 1990 and in '92, the International Organization of Festival Organizers awarded the yearly celebration their prestigious "Fidof Dipolma." Over the past 30 years, participation has continued to grow with literally tens of thousands of musicians and hundreds of thousands of fans coming from around the globe.

The North Sea Jazz Festival has become world-renowned for the many musical genres which it offers each year, ranging from traditional New Orleans Jazz, Swing, Bop, Free Jazz, European House, Fusion, Avant Garde and electronic Jazz to Blues, Gospel, Funk, Soul, Grove, HipHop, R&B, World Beat and Latin.

Among the 2019 performing artists were Chick Corea, Bobby Mcferrin, Joshua Redman, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Diana Krall, Houston Person, Burt Bacharach, Gilberto GilSteve Gadd, Gary Bartz, Ravi Coltrane, Charles Tolliver, Chucho Valdes, Orquesta Akokan, Curtis Harding, Rag'n'bone Man, Joe Jackson, Stefon Harris, Tower Of Power, Jose James, Noordpool Orkest, Blood Orange, Anita Baker, Robert Glasper, Chris Dave, Derrick Hodge, Yasiin Bey, Christian Sands, Joey Defrancesco, Billy Hart, Jamie Cullum, Macy Gray, Shai Maestro, Lizz Wright, Becca Stevens, Camila Meza, Mats Eilertsen, Ben Sluijs, Melissa Aldana, Steffen Morrison, Jacob Collier, Daryl Hall & John Oates, Ben Wendel Seasons Band, Dafnis Prieto Big Band, the Aarhus Jazz Orchestra, Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw and many more.

The 2019 event was held July 12 to 14.