Wilmington gives a warm welcome to all of the jazz lovers attending our 40th annual North Carolina Jazz Festival on January 23rd to January 25th, 2020! This historic city located on the bank of the Cape Fear River has many interesting shops, art galleries, museums, and restaurants, as well as a movie studio, nearby beaches, plus Revolutionary and Civil War sites to explore during your days here.
We will fill your evenings with exciting performances by some of the greatest traditional jazz musicians from around the globe!
This year we are bringing you some jazz musicians new to our stage, along with some of our long time favorites. Our opening night featured guests are Veronica Swift with the Emmet Cohen Trio. Veronica is one of the “Rising Stars” of the jazz world, and often performs at Birdland, Lincoln Center, Mezzrow , and other well known jazz spots in NYC, as well as having a busy jazz cruise and touring schedule. Veronica has been to the North Carolina Jazz Festival before—-not as a musician, but as a youngster when her parents were performing here! Stephanie Nakasian and the late Hod O’Brien have been featured performers here several times. Veronica is definitely an “apple who has fallen close to the family tree”! Her style is her own, but the influence of her parents is there. Her repertoire is based on The Great American Songbook Standards , with some bebop and vocal classics as well.
The weekend All-stars also include some second generation jazz musicians – Ben Polcer will be joining Bruce Harris in our trumpet section. Ben is the son of Ed Polcer, who was a part of our festival for many years, and vocalist Judy Kurtz. Ben is now living in New Orleans and is involved in the jazz scene there and performs at many jazz festivals across the country.
The festival takes place at the Wilmington Riverside Hilton and the events range in price from $15 to $225.
