2019 Tucson Jazz Festival tickets go on sale Friday

The fifth annual festival opens Jan. 11 with 14-year-old piano phenom Joey Alexander and continues through Jan. 21, when Rio Nuevo hosts a free downtown jazz fiesta and MLK Day event that will feature local bands on multiple stages.

Tickets are available Friday through tucsonjazzfestival.org. 

Last year’s jazz festival brought in more than 20,000 attendees, and, according to Tucson Jazz Festival officials, more than half of them came from outside of Tucson. The overall economic impact, the festival reported, topped $1 million.

Seven of last year’s nine concerts sold out, and organizers say the 2019 lineup is just as strong, according to a written statement from Yvonne Ervin, the festival’s founding executive director who now serves as artistic director.

Also on the lineup: The national award-winning Tucson Jazz Institute Ellington Band, Special EFX with Regina Carter and Eric Marienthal, a tribute to Nelson Riddle, Kathleen Grace with Larry Goldings, an all-women double bill with the Magos Herrera Quartet and Jane Bunnett and Maqueque, and NEA Jazz Master Sheila Jordan and Cameron Brown. Tucson Desert Song Festival is sponsoring McFerrin’s Jan. 20 show at Fox Tucson Theatre and the all-women show Jan. 16 also at the Fox.

Also joining hands with the festival is Tucson Symphony Orchestra, which is presenting Pink Martini at Tucson Music Hall on Jan. 20; and UA Presents, which is bringing Trombone Shorty to Centennial Hall on Jan. 18.

The lineup:

Jan. 11: Tucson Jazz Institute Ellington Band and Joey Alexander, Fox Tucson Theatre, 17 W. Congress St.

Jan. 12: Goover Quartet with Special EFX and guests Regina Carter and Eric Marienthal at the Fox.

Jan. 13: Tribute to Nelson Riddle at the Fox.

Jan. 14: Kathleen Grace with Larry Goldings at Club Congress, 311 E. Congress St.

Jan. 15: UA Studio Jazz Ensemble with special guest Terrell Stafford at Crowder Hall, Speedway and North Park Avenue, on the University of Arizona campus.

Jan. 16: All-Women Double Bill with Magos Herrera Quartet and Jane Bunnett and Maqueque, at the Fox.

Jan. 17: Asleep at the Wheel at the Fox.

Jan. 18: Trombone Shorty at Centennnial Hall, 1020 E. University Blvd., on the UA campus.

Jan. 19: Pink Martini and the Tucson Symphony Orchestra at Tucson Music Hall, 260 S. Church Ave. (concert repeats Jan. 20); Sheila Jordan and Cameron Brown, venue TBA.

Jan. 20: Bobby McFerrin at the Fox.

Jan. 21: Downtown Jazz Fiesta at various stages downtown.

Details: tucsonjazzfestival.org.