Let the Festival Season Begin! (In New Orleans)

The onset of warmer weather can mean only one thing: music festival season is nigh! There may be other joys that Summer brings, but for me it's all about savoring great music in the great outdoors. AccuJazz has a tradition of creating channels dedicated to the jazz festivals we're most excited about, from Montréal to Monterey, and we're getting ready to offer up updated playlists based on all of this year's big fests, too.

The first of the main jazz events to happen each year is the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, taking place this April 27 through May 6. Naturally, that's also the first festival channel we're launching on AccuJazz. (How about you launch the channel now before going on?)

If you visit the festival's official website, you'll see pictures of big-name headliners like the Eagles, Bruce Springsteen and Cee Lo Green. But if you check out the full line-up, you'll notice there is indeed a wealth of exceptional jazz scheduled to take place at this year's event. Our channel (you just launched it, right?) leaves out the Eagles and the Boss in favor of a diverse mix of jazz artists, from Grammy-winning "It" girl Esperanza Spalding to the legendary Herbie Hancock. Of course, there's always a slew of exceptional local New Orleans talent including Ellis Marsalis, Trombone Shorty and the usual line-up of stellar brass bands (Dirty Dozen, Rebirth, and Soul Rebels, for starters).

Whether you're actually planning on attending Jazz Fest or just wish you were, AccuJazz's New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival 2012 channel makes for a great listen. Be sure to look out for more channels as the festival season really gets under way in the next few months.

A Festival of Festival Channels

The summer may be inching ever closer to its inevitable and regrettable end, but some might say the best is yet to come. Three of North America's most celebrated jazz festivals are still ahead of us, and we're shining a spotlight on them at AccuJazz.com.

So far this year we've had channels dedicated to SF Jazz, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, and the Montreal and Newport jazz festivals. Still to come are the Chicago, Detroit and Monterey jazz festivals.

The Monterey Jazz Festival, happening September 16-18 this year, is in a class with Newport as a long-standing fest with a much-celebrated history. In fact, Concord Music Group even created a whole separate label, Monterey Jazz Festival Records, to share some of the fest's greatest recorded moments with jazz fans everywhere. Big-name headliners this year include Sonny Rollins, Herbie Hancock, Terence Blanchard and, ahem, these guys. Some notable acts on smaller stages include Robert Glasper, Donny McCaslin and Steve Coleman. The AccuJazz channel is playing music by most all of the musicians playing, so whether you're planning for a trip to the fest or just wish you could be there, check it out.

For the past few decades, Labor Day weekend has traditionally seen two great Midwestern cities host free, open-to-the-public jazz fests in their downtowns, and this year is no different. The Chicago and Detroit Jazz Festivals are persisting in their populist ideal of bringing world-class jazz to the people at zero cost, and we've got all the artists playing on our channels.

The Chicago Jazz Festival channel features this year's artist-in-residence Orbert Davis (pictured) and his Chicago Jazz Philharmonic as well as a great lineup of local and international artists including Randy Weston, Cassandra Wilson, the Deep Blue Organ Trio, Roy Hargrove, and many more.

The Detroit Jazz Festival channel features their artist-in-residence, drummer Jeff "Tain" Watts, as well as Dave Holland, Jason Moran, Regina Carter, Joe Lovano and many more.

Are you planning on attending any of these festivals? Who are you most excited to see? If you're not going, who do you wish you could go to see?

Check out all of our festival channels at AccuJazz.com.