Vancouver Jazz International Festival

The Vancouver International Jazz Festival is BC’s largest music festival. It attracts hundreds of artists and over 100,000 Jazz enthusiasts.

In 2025 the festival ran from June 20th until July 1st (which is Canada Day). It’s an amazing event that draws musicians and Jazz fans from around the world. Exact dates for the festival in 2026 are to be confirmed.

This year the festival celebrated its 40th anniversary. Headliner bands included Bill Frisell and Grammy Award-winner Richard Bona.

See the Coastal Jazz website for full details about this festival.

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Vancouver Jazz Festival

The Vancouver International Jazz Festival has been running since 1986. This past year, the festival featured a series of concerts and other events during the last couple of weeks in June. There are usually over 180 events taking place over 12 days. See our article about Jazz Festival Concert Venues for a list of places you can see the performances.

The Vancouver International Jazz Festival ran from June 20th until July 1st, which is Canada Day, in 2025. A hub of the festival is Granville Island, where there are lots of ticketed and free shows at the Revue Stage, Performance Works and Ocean Artworks. There are also shows at other venues around Vancouver, including at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre and Guilt & Company.

Other venues are normally clubs and restaurants as well as theatres, public plazas and parks in Vancouver and on the North Shore. There are lots of free outdoor concerts every year. There are absolutely amazing ticketed indoor ones too. At this festival, you’ll see and hear some of the best of the best.

One of the headliners who performed this year is Grammy Award-winning artist Richard Bona at the Vancouver Playhouse. Other headliners included the Bill Frisell Trio, Delvon Lamarr, Christine Jensen and the New Jazz Underground. There are so many other talented artists too!.

TIP: The free concerts at the festival are awesome. If you like Jazz, though, you’ll also want to check out the ticketed events. Some pretty amazing musicians play and are worth paying to see. See our article about Vancouver Jazz Festival Ticketed Concerts for a list of ticketed events.

Ticketed Jazz Festival Concerts

This year, one of the festival’s headliners is Richard Bona. The 2002 Grammy Award-winning artist performed at the Vancouver Playhouse on Monday, June 23rd. Ticket prices ranged from $50 to $75 each and the show began at 7:30 pm.

The other top headliner who performed in 2025 is Bill Frisell. He played at the inaugural Vancouver International Jazz Festival in 1986. He took to the stage at the Vancouver Playhouse on Tuesday, June 24th. Like the Richard Bona show, tickets cost between $50 and $75 and the show started at 7:30 pm.

Artists and bands who played ticketed shows at Performance Works on Granville Island include New Jazz Underground on June 25th, the Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio on June 26th, and Marquis Hill on June 27th. Nubya Garcia hit the stage on June 28th, followed by the Christine Jensen Quartet on June 29th. They were all great concerts, as were all the dozens of other ticketed performances at the festival this year.

See our list of Vancouver Jazz Festival Ticketed Concerts to find out who played where, or visit the official coastaljazz.ca website.

See the Coastal Jazz website for full details about this festival.

Empanadas Ilegales (Photo by Jorge Posada)

Free Jazz Concerts

In addition to the Jazz performances at bars, restaurants and night clubs throughout Metro Vancouver, there are also free concerts. In fact, this year’s festival featured about 50 free shows. Some take place outside the Vancouver Art Gallery, on Granville Island, in Gastown and at other venues (including in North Vancouver).

See our articles about the Free Jazz Concerts Line-up for a list of free concerts happening this year.

JAZZ FESTIVAL IN FORT LANGELY

The Vancouver International Jazz Festival isn’t the only festival of its kind in the Lower Mainland. The Fort Langley Jazz & Arts Festival is another exceptional event, although much smaller. The Fort Langley festival features both ticketed and free concerts as well as public art displays. It happens on July 23rd to 26th in 2026. Check it out too.

If you like Jazz, you’ll want to attend both of these festivals. They are amazing.

About Coastal Jazz

The Coastal Jazz & Blues Society is the organization behind the Vancouver International Jazz Festival. The non-profit has been operating since 1985. Today, the organization is the biggest not-for-profit music presenter in British Columbia. The Vancouver International Jazz Festival, meanwhile, is one of the largest and most prestigious events of its kind in North America.

Fun Trivia Fact: The Vancouver International Jazz Festival was originally called the Pacific Jazz & Blues Festival.

50/50 Raffle

Coastal Jazz hosted a raffle fundraiser throughout the 2025 festival. It was a 50/50 draw with half of the proceeds going to one lucky winner, and the other half supporting all the free shows put on by Coastal Jazz.

Tickets were available in packages. In 2025 three tickets cost $10, 10 tickets cost $20, 40 tickets cost $40, and 200 tickets cost $100. Sales ended on July 4th and the draw took place the next day.

This year, there were also two early bird draws for other prizes on May 20th and June 10th. Both prizes included tickets to a show, a gift card to a restaurant, and a Vancouver International Jazz Festival swag bag.

Click 50/50 Draw for more information about the raffle.

See the Coastal Jazz website for full details about this festival.

Other Free Summer Music Venues

If you like outdoor live bands, other venues offering various genres of music at different times in the summer include the following:

Friday evenings with music and other entertainment in July and August at North Vancouver’s Civic Plaza, Lynn Valley Village and Parkgate Plaza as part of that city’s Summer Concert Series.
Friday evenings from early May until late September at the Shipyard Night Market in North Vancouver.
Nightly in late August and early September at the Pacific National Exhibition (PNE).
Click Free Summer Concerts for a list of even more free music venues in July and August.

Coastal Jazz puts on other concerts and live music events at other times of the year too, including the Iron Fest series at The Ironworks in Vancouver. See the Coastal Jazz website for a list of what’s coming up.