Aug. 28 – 31, 2025
Free admission • Millennium Park
The oldest of Chicago’s free lakefront music festivals, the Chicago Jazz Festival boasts an incredibly diverse lineup of jazz legends and fresh talent — making it a true bucket list event for jazz fans.
A Chicago tradition for more than 40 years, the festival attracts musicians and music fans from all over the world to lakefront Millennium Park for four days of unforgettable live jazz performances. Check out this year’s exciting lineup and start planning your visit.
Chicago Jazz Festival
Chicago Jazz Festival lineup
Explore the Chicago Jazz Festival lineup, which featured everything from up-and-coming artists to established stars at Millennium Park and the Chicago Cultural Center.
Check back for the full 2025 schedule.
About Chicago Jazz Festival
The Chicago Jazz Festival has been part of the city’s free summer music festival lineup for more than 40 years. The range of artists comprising the Chicago Jazz Festival lineup runs the gamut from jazz legends to influential modern masters and crucial new voices in the genre’s continuing evolution.
Today, the Chicago Jazz Festival is held annually over Labor Day weekend. The Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events produces the event and the Jazz Institute of Chicago manages the programming. The festival also includes free neighborhood concerts leading up to the main show at Millennium Park and additional programming throughout the city
History of Chicago Jazz Festival
The great composer/bandleader Duke Ellington died in the summer of 1974. Just a few weeks later, several dozen Chicago musicians held a festival to honor him in Grant Park. Thousands of music lovers showed up, marking the first of what would become annual concerts that drew crowds of up to 30,000.
The first official Chicago Jazz Festival took place in 1979, featuring an Ellington night, a Coltrane night, and other programs organized by the Jazz Institute at the new Petrillo Music Shell. And 125,000 people came to listen, dance, picnic on the grass, and enjoy the birth of what was to become the most extensive free jazz festival in the world.
Even before the inaugural Chicago Jazz Festival, Chicago was known as a jazz mecca. During the Great Migration, African Americans flocked to Chicago from the South, bringing age-old jazz and blues traditions with them. The genre became popular in small clubs on the city’s South Side and soon Chicago was attracting legendary musicians like King Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, and Louis Armstrong.
Over time, the city’s musicians developed their own distinct twist on the genre — Chicago-style jazz, a combination of Mississippi Delta and New Orleans “Dixieland” style, but with heavy bass and guitar, longer solos, and fast tempos. Learn more about Chicago’s iconic jazz scene.
Chicago Jazz Festival FAQs
Where is the Chicago Jazz Festival?
The Chicago Jazz Festival is held at lakefront Millennium Park. There will also be performances at other Chicago venues, such as the Chicago Cultural Center and the Harris Theatre Rooftop.
Is Chicago Jazz Festival free?
The Chicago Jazz Festival is free and open to the public. All performances at Millennium Park are free to attend throughout the weekend, along with and additional programming across the city over Labor Day weekend.
How can I get to Chicago Jazz Festival?
Public transportation is one of the easiest ways to get to Chicago Jazz Festival. The city’s public transit system connects visitors to Millennium Park by bus and train. Millennium Park is also directly accessible via Metra.
Nearby parking garages are located at Grant Park North Garage (25 N. Michigan Ave.), Grant Park South Garage (325 S. Michigan Ave.) and Millennium Park Garage & Millennium Lakeside Garage (5 S. Columbus Dr.).
What accessibility amenities are available at Millennium Park concerts?
Every aspect of Millennium Park has been designed to be accessible and inclusive to all patrons. That includes:
- American Sign Language Interpretation is provided for all concerts on the Jay Pritzker Pavilion stage.
- Assistive listening devices and wheelchairs are available at all Millennium Park events from the Patron Service Tent
- Accessible seating (with companion seats) is available throughout the Jay Pritzker Pavilion seating bowl
Learn more about accessibility in Millennium Park.
Can I bring a folding chair and blanket into the Chicago Jazz Festival?
Yes, chairs and blankets are welcome on the Great Lawn. Folding chairs are not allowed in the seating area of the Jay Pritzker Pavilion.
Tents, oversized umbrellas, oversized blankets or plastic tarps, helium balloons, oversized flags, signs/banners, barbecue grills, open flame candles, or staking of any kind are not allowed on the Great Lawn area.
Can I bring a picnic basket?
Yes! All guests will be allowed to bring their own food and non-alcoholic beverages to free events at Millennium Park’s Jay Pritzker Pavilion. Outside alcoholic beverages are not allowed.
Will food and drinks be available to purchase?
Refreshments, including food, beer and wine, are available for purchase from the concessions tent located to the east of the Jay Pritzker Pavilion. In addition, concessions can be purchased throughout the Park, including from Millennium Hall, a multi-restaurant concept that includes Napolita Pizzeria, Double Clutch Brewing Company, and Casa Bonita.
Alcohol may only be consumed in the seating area and the Great Lawn during the concerts. Alcohol sales in the Millennium Park concession tent end one half-hour prior to the end of the concert.
What is the rain policy?
Concerts and performances in the Jay Pritzker Pavilion are heldrain or shine, unless there are severe weather warnings and/or the threat of lightning in the area. The Pavilion seats are not protected from the elements. The Great Lawn has a high-tech design with underlying layers of sand and gravel that allows water to drain quickly.
Are recording devices allowed during a concert?
Photography, video, or recording devices are prohibited at all concerts at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion.
Can I bring my dog along?
Animals are not permitted in Millennium Park, unless they are service animals.
For additional questions regarding Millennium Park, visit millenniumpark.org.
