The annual Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival (EJBF) (aka Edinburgh Jazz Festival) runs the gamut of jazz persuasions from more traditional Dixie and ragtime bands to up-and-coming stars, from big band concerts to Latin dance music. The EJBF gets the August Festivals season going.
- Full EJBF26 programme out on Tuesday 28 April
- Tickets on sale on Thursday 30 April
Highlights of the EJBF are the free Mardi Gras, with live bands playing in the Grassmarket on the first Saturday of the festival.
The free Edinburgh Festival Carnival also opens on the first Sunday of the Jazz Festival, with a colourful, 800-strong parade down The Mound to Princes Street Gardens. With a New Orleans carnival vibe, that reflects its origin as a purely jazz festival event, the Carnival is a multicultural extravaganza to kick off Edinburgh's summer festival season.
The mainstay of the festival are jazz and blues concerts in small and major venues around Edinburgh, from gigs in the Jazz Bar to artists like Jools Holland and his band in the Festival Theatre and a series of concerts at the Queen's Hall.
The festival also holds a number of community events, in every ward of the city, and has funding from the Scottish government to platform some of the best current Scottish jazz talent.
Online Jazz Gigs
Due to restrictions around Covid-19, like other Edinburgh festivals the EJBF moved to a live-online hybrid model. In 2021, the Assembly Roxy was the destination venue for 20 live EJBF concerts with small, socially distant audiences. It also carried 20 pre-recorded online concerts, each costing £10.
In 2022, the in-person shows returned as the main attraction, but the festival introduced a good-value £10 "Online Festival Pass" which included 20 concerts, “digital exclusives” - including a concert from the festival’s San Francisco partner SFJazz Collective - and behind-the-scenes content.
Box office
Tickets for the EJBF go on sale on Thursday 30 April.