Jazzin’ Up The Island

The Amelia Island Jazz Festival provides a rich, diverse cultural offering to the Amelia Island area by exposing thousands of people of all ages and backgrounds to the sounds, excitement and vitality of great jazz.

The Festival presents world-class jazz in many styles, including swing, bebop, Dixieland, big band, Latin, and contemporary. During the week-long festival, held in October each year, music is performed by jazz greats as well as fresh, up-and-coming young talent. Performances are staged in several venues around Amelia Island and the charming courtyard of St. Peter's Episcopal Church. The Amelia Island Jazz Festival helps preserve the American art form Jazz by increasing the exposure and awareness of the music genre to the general public.

A Brief but Rich Festival History
Founded in 2001, the Amelia Island Jazz Festival is very young as far as music festivals go. But this Festival has come a long way in a very short time, and shows strong potential to become a world- renowned musical event. In fact, the Amelia Island Jazz Festival seems to be following the footsteps of such festivals as the Monterey and Newport Jazz Festivals. Like the renowned jazz festivals, the Amelia Island Jazz Festival benefits from the vision and energy of a veteran jazz professional who instantly gives the Festival a rich heritage:

Les DeMerle, Artistic Director. Under the leadership of Les DeMerle, the Amelia Island Jazz Festival has delivered jazz greats to enthusiastic audiences on Amelia Island:

• Buckwheat Zydeco
• Nicole Henry
• Doug Cameron
• Ramsey Lewis
• David Sanborn
• Christian Tamburr
• Harry Allen
• Marcus Printup
• Bill Allred Classic Jazz Band
• Richie Cole
• Longineau Parsons
• Frank Tiberi
• Barry Greene
• Woody Herman Sax Section 
• Bobby Pickwood

Results
This type of participation, including over 1,000 area residents and visitors who attended the 2011 Amelia Island Jazz Festival, clearly demonstrates that people of all ages and backgrounds want to hear and learn about jazz. In fact, the results from the 2011 Festival demonstrate a high level of community involvement:

• Free Concert in Amelia Park
• 100 Artists performed
• 60 student musicians
• 95 volunteers
• 45 area businesses and individuals sponsored financially
• 50 area businesses advertised
• 54 area businesses and individuals sponsored in-kind
• Nassau District Schools partnership
• Amelia Island Montessori School partnership
• Savannah Grand partnership

It's clear that the Amelia Island Jazz Festival attracts visitors to the area, inspires and educates the public about jazz, and spreads a very positive word about Amelia Island.