The Detroit Jazz Festival – the world’s largest free jazz festival – announced its 2025 lineup on April 15 during a livestreamed preview event at the Gretchen C. Valade Jazz Center, on the campus of Wayne State University. The evening featured live performances from the 2025 Artist-in-Residence Jason Moran , as well as the Detroit Jazz Festival All-Stars Generation Quintet.
The partial lineup does not yet include a number of local musicians and acts, which still have until June 1 to submit applications. It does, however, include a constellation of national and international acts both new and returning, in a particularly muscular emphasis on straight-ahead jazz.
“We’ll also have a number of surprises along the way,” Detroit Jazz Festival Foundation president and artistic director Chris Collins told the Free Press. “There’s a few things we have yet to announce, and we will look for some special events to happen here and there, (including) a couple of Midtown after-hours specials at the Gretchen Jazz Center. It’s very special – and thank goodness for our sponsors and donors, it’s still, once again, completely free after 47 years. It’s unheard of, anywhere, to have this level of premier festival at no cost to attendees.”…