Mother Nature couldn’t have delivered a finer January day on Monday for the 2025 Tucson Jazz Fiesta, the annual daylong event that brings thousands downtown to hear local jazz musicians on two outdoor stages.
The temperature inched into the mid-40s as hundreds of folks were making their way to Corbett’s at 340 N. Sixth Ave. just after 10 a.m. They were an hour early; the Fiesta, the most popular event of the annual HSL Properties Tucson Jazz Festival, wasn’t set to start until 11.
Tucson jazz fans packed the main stage area at Monday’s Downtown Jazz Fiesta to hear Tucson Jazz Institute’s Ellington Big Band. The the all-day fiesta at Corbett’s has become one of the most popular events of the annual HSL Properties Tucson Jazz Festival.
A couple dozen of those early birds staked out tables under a canopy of trees in the courtyard while Tucson Modern Jazz Quartet’s saxophonist Trey Bryant warmed up on the secondary stage with percussionist Zach White. The outdoor bar was doing brisk early business among the gathering crowd while four teams of older women, seemingly oblivious to the gathering crowd, played pickleball on two outdoor courts at the pickleball-themed restaurant.
By the time Tucson Jazz Institute’s celebrated Ellington Big Band took the main stage on East Seventh Street at 11:30, the crowd had swelled to a couple thousand, and the warm sun had prompted many people to unzip jackets or ditch them.
Fans parked folding chairs on streetside real estate, close enough to see the stage and hear the music, but out of the way of foot traffic as people strolled between stages or grabbed a snack from the restaurant or food trucks doing a brisk business on the corner of Seventh and North Fifth Avenue.
A few hundred people arrived a good hour early for Monday’s Downtown Jazz Fiesta at Corbett’s. The daylong festival featured eight Tucson jazz artists and ensembles on two stages.
The Ellington Big Band is always one of the fiesta’s highlights so it was no surprise to see hundreds of people standing in the middle of Seventh Street. You had to strain to see the stage as Winston introduced a set of twins and another pair of siblings who will be part of the ensemble heading once again to the prestigious Essentially Ellington high school competition and festival in New York City in May. The group played nearly a dozen songs during their 45-minute set, including several they will play in New York.
Monday’s Downtown Jazz Fiesta, which ran until 7 p.m., was expected to attract 5,000 to 7,000 people. Other Tucson bands on Monday’s lineup: Sarah Tolar, the UA Jazz Ambassadors, West by Northwest, Ada Redd Austin, Heather Hardy and Taste of Jazz and Zona Libre. New Orleans-based New Breed Brass Band was the headliner.
The jazz festival continues Tuesday with a trio of sold-out shows at The Century Room at Hotel Congress, 311 E. Congress St., and a homecoming show with jazz bassist and Tucson native Brian Bromberg at the Rialto, 318 E. Congress St. The festival runs through Saturday. For performance schedules, artists and tickets, visit tucsonjazzfestival.org.
