Jazz has been a major element of the Hollywood Bowl schedule for 45 years, mostly in the form of annual festivals featuring many of the music’s greatest artists. The Playboy Jazz Festival took over the iconic venue for one weekend each June from 1979 to 2021 and was renamed the Hollywood Bowl Jazz Festival in 2022.
For 2025, the festival is getting yet another new name, reflecting a new partnership between the Los Angeles Philharmonic, which operates the Bowl, and Blue Note Entertainment Group. The rechristened Blue Note Jazz Festival is set to kick off on June 14, 2025.
“We are thrilled to join forces with Blue Note,” Kim Noltemy, the LA Phil’s president and CEO, said in making the announcement. “This partnership represents a shared dedication to celebrating jazz and its extraordinary artists while continuing the legacy of world-class music at the Bowl.”
Steven Bensusan, president of Blue Note, also expressed enthusiasm. “This collaboration represents a powerful union of two iconic institutions dedicated to celebrating jazz and its profound impact on music and culture,” he said.
In addition, Bensusan revealed that a new Blue Note Jazz Club is slated to open on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles in March 2025. The venue will house two performance spaces: a primary showroom with a capacity of 200 and a “B-side” room with a capacity of 100.
The original Blue Note Jazz Club opened in New York’s Greenwich Village in 1981. Over the decades, satellite clubs have opened in cities around the world, including Napa, Honolulu, Tokyo, and Rio de Janeiro.
The Blue Note organization also knows something about organizing festivals. The Blue Note Jazz Festival has been an annual monthlong event in New York City since 2011. The festival premiered in Napa in 2022 and was refashioned into the Black Radio Experience for 2024.
The Napa festival is curated by Grammy Award-winning pianist, producer, and songwriter Robert Glasper, who is also slated to be involved in programming the new Los Angeles club.
“Los Angeles has always been a second home to me,” Glasper said in a statement. “I’m honored to partner up with Blue Note once again for what will be a significant cultural intersection for the Los Angeles community.”
Details for the Bowl’s Blue Note Jazz Festival are expected to be announced on Feb. 18, 2025, along with information about the rest of the venue’s summer season. Tickets go on sale in May.
