The Vancouver International Jazz Festival is BC’s largest music festival. It attracts hundreds of artists and as many as 500,000 Jazz enthusiasts.

In 2024 the festival ran from June 21st to June 30th. It’s an amazing event that draws musicians and Jazz fans from around the world!

For full details about the festival, see the Coastal Jazz website.

Vancouver Jazz Festival in 2024

In 2024 the Vancouver International Jazz Festival celebrated its 39th anniversary! The festival featured a series of concerts and other events during the last couple of weeks in June. There are usually a couple of hundred concerts at lots of different venues over a 10-day period.

The Vancouver International Jazz Festival ran from June 21st until the Sunday of the Canada Day Long Weekend. A hub of the 2024 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 headlining performers this year is Grammy Award-winning rapper Killer Mike on June 29th at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. Other headliners included Veronica Swift, Julian Lage, SUMAC and Moor Mother. There were so many other talented artists this year 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! For a list of ticketed events see our article about Vancouver Jazz Festival Ticketed Concerts.

Ticketed Jazz Festival Concerts

This year, one of the festival’s headliners is Killer Mike. The 2024 Grammy Award-winning artist performed at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on Saturday, June 29th. Ticket prices ranged from $69 to $99 each and the show began at 7:30 pm.

Other headliners in 2024 included SUMAC with Moor Mother, Veronica Swift and Julian Lage. Poet and musician Moor Mother opened for the post-metal group SUMAC on June 21st at the Fortune Sound Club. At the Vancouver Playhouse, singer Veronica Swift performed on June 24th and Jazz guitarist Julian Lage played on June 25th.

Artists and bands who played ticketed shows at Performance Works on Granville Island included Irreversible Entanglements on June 22nd, The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis on June 23rd, and aja monet on June 26th. Lakecia Benjamin and Phoenix hit the stage on June 27th, followed by Ulysses Owens Jr’s Generation Y on June 28th and We All Break on June 29th. They were all amazing concerts! All concerts began at 7:30 pm and tickets cost $37 per person.

For a list of free concerts, see our article about the Free Jazz Concerts Line-up.

For full details about the festival, see the Coastal Jazz website.

Free Jazz Concerts

In addition to the Jazz performances at bars, restaurants and night clubs throughout Metro Vancouver, there are also free concerts. Some take place outside the Vancouver Art Gallery, on Granville Island, in Gastown and at other venues (including in North Vancouver).

Arguably the biggest and most impressive free concerts are usually the ones at David Lam Park. Thousands of people turn out with their blankets and lawn chairs to enjoy the music, market stalls and beer garden. It’s amazing!

For a list of free concerts happening this year, see Free Jazz Concert Venues.

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 25th to 28th in 2024. 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.

For full details about the festival, see the Coastal Jazz website.

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. For a list of what’s coming up, see the Coastal Jazz website.