Jazz Fest

The Melbourne International Jazz Festival (MIJF) returns to Southbank in June to once again reach the hearts of people across Melbourne and Victoria.

Featuring more than 350 Australian, international and emerging artists, the festival, now in its 22nd year, will take place in 25 venues across Melbourne from intimate jazz clubs to vibrant cafe gigs and free community events.

As usual, Southbank’s world-class Hamer Hall at Arts Centre Melbourne and the Melbourne Recital Centre will light up the festival with major headlining performances.

The 2019 festival will be launched on May 31 with Gershwin Reimagined. Hamer Hall will host the amazing vocals of Laura Mvuala and the festival favourite hip-hop artist Jose James. They will be performing a series of Gershwin works as interpreted by conductor, composer, producer and musician Troy Miller.

On the same night, Melbourne Recital Centre will play host, for the first time, to a five-time Grammy winner Billy Childs with his quartet, Dayna Stephens, Alex Boneham and Christian Euman. They will perform from the album Rebirth, which was rewarded the Best Jazz Instrument Album at the 2018 Grammy Awards.

Next up, on June 5, Lisa Fischer, with her magnificent vocals, will be take to the Melbourne Recital Centre stage with Caribbean jazz-rock fusion band Grand Baton. They will be transforming originals and recasting rock anthems from the famous Led Zeppelin and Little Willie John.

For more than four decades, Lisa Fischer was one of the most in-demand backup singers for artists like Beyonce, Nine Inch Nails and The Rolling Stones and many others and now has taken the centre stage.

On June 6, the festival will once again feature Vince Jones: a leading jazz vocalist and a musical storyteller. He will be transforming the stage with a selection of songs from his remarkable 20-album international career.

A singer, songwriter and trumpeter, Jones is America’s leading jazz vocalist. Starting his jazz career as a bebop trumpeter player, he is an outstanding interpreter and composes songs in a contemporary jazz style.

The festival will close on June 8 and 9 at Arts Centre Melbourne with the much-awaited Herbie Hancock, the master of modern jazz and 14-time Grammy award winner.

An innovative and a living legend, Hancock has iconic partnerships with artists like Wayne Shorter, Snoop Dog, Pink and many more. In his six-decade career, he is known as one of the few artists to have influence on acoustic and electronic jazz, hip hop and R&B.

Melbournejazz.com