Celebrating 25 years of Jazz: The Vancouver International Jazz Festival

It’s a big year for the Vancouver International Jazz Festival as it celebrates its silver anniversary.  For 25 years this festival has been a highlight for music lovers in Vancouver.  This year it continues its tradition of offering a smorgasbord of music that ranges from traditional jazz to electric fusion, hip hop, world music, R&B and folk.

If you can’t afford the big ticket shows, there’s lots of venues around town where you can enjoy the shows for free.  There are also 10 night clubs and restaurants offering lots of excellent music.

Opening weeend, Friday July 25, is the Gastown Jazz mini-festival  (map) and the closing weekend, Sunday July 4 is at the Roundhouse in Yaletown (map).  There’s music all day and night at Granville Island on Canada Day, July 1 (map).

This year there are more shows at the Commodore at Smithe and Granville Street (map) as well as at the newly renovated Queen Elizabeth Theatre, 600 block Hamilton St.  (map) where the festival’s headliners  perform including guitarist singer George Benson and popular teen age vocalist Nikki Yanofsky who made a hit here during the 2010 Winter Olympics.

The Roundhouse is the venue for the Innovation Series, and more conventional sounds can be enjoyed at the Centre in Vancouver for the Performing Arts.  Jazz shows at the Ironworks, Main Street at Alexander on the edge of Gastown (map), begin at 8 pm and there are 8 concerts at Performance Works on Granville Island each night at 9 pm. (map)

For information on all performances, times, locations and tickets see the Festival website at Coastal Jazz

Tickets for individual shows:

Available at the Coastal Jazz Box Office, 295 W. 7th Ave or at Ticketmaster outlets. Tickets for general admission venues available at Zulu Records, 1772 W. 4th Ave. and Highlife Records, 1317 Commercial Drive.

Passes: A $100 4-pack gets you into any four shows at the Centre in Vancouver for the Performing Arts, Commodore or Performance Works.  The Innovation Pass gets you into all Roundhouse Innovation Series shows, and both early and late shows at The Ironworks.

Free shows: At seven Vancouver locations and four North Shore locations as well as at opening weekend in Gastown Jazz, closing weekend Jazz at the Roundhouse and on July 1 at Granville Island.

More information: Full programs for $3 at venue sites, the Coastal Jazz Box Office and Book Warehouse stores.  Free brochures at TD Banks, community centres and libraries throughout the city.

Poster credits: original art by Han Bennink; graphic design by Hanne Lene, Thanks to Coastal Jazz.