Go | Jazz Fest After Dark broadens the Jacksonville Jazz festivities

With the Jacksonville Jazz Fest celebrating its fourth decade with more than a weekend’s worth of main-stage performances and auxiliary programming, another––though relatively new––tradition will commence this week: Jazz Fest After Dark. And while the Jacksonville Jazz Festival certainly leans into eclectic booking by featuring jazz torchbearers like George Benson as well as music icons like percussionist Sheila E. and R&B super-producer Babyface, Jazz Fest After Dark broadens the festivities even more.

Beginning with a performance by Jax-bred drummer (and staple of the city’s burgeoning jam scene) Ulysses Owens, Jr. and the Wildcrafters trio at Manifest Distilling on Wednesday, September 29, the Jazz Fest After Dark programming will take place across nearly a dozen venues in Downtown Jacksonville. Trad jazz, fusion, hip-hop and even genres completely unbound to jazz will get a spotlight throughout Jazz Fest After Dark’s five evenings of late-night fare.

A prime example of Jazz Fest After Dark’s enjoyably scattershot programming is Friday’s schedule; while Duval hip-hop icon Mal Jones hosts his freestyle showcase, the Lyricist Live, on 1904 Music Hall’s patio stage, garage rockers Mercy Mercy and Pool Boi will thrash away inside on the venue’s main stage. Meantime, around the corner at Bay Street’s Justice Pub, local multi-instrumentalist Angel Garcia (LPT, KnightKrawler) teams with singer-songwriter rickoLus for a set of originals and lounge staples before trumpeter and FAMU professor Longineu Parsons takes the stage. Saturday’s Jazz Fest After Dark programming is equally wide-ranging. And things wrap up on Sunday evening at Justice Pub with KnightKrawler,Love Reigns, Dalgoz, Melody Mann and Lil Fiff.

Here’s the full schedule: