Jacksonville Jazz Festival announces first performers for 2024 event

British singer Joss Stone, Japanese pianist Keiko Matsui and New York jazz duo the Baylor Project are among the first artists announced for the 2024 Jacksonville Jazz Festival, which will move to Metropolitan Park and Daily's Place for three days over the Memorial Day weekend.

On Friday, May 24, the festival will bring the Brian McKnight 4, the Kenny Barron Trio and Jamison Ross to Daily's Place and Nicholas Payton and the duo of Lee Ritenour and Dave Grusin to Metropolitan Park.

On Saturday, May 25, pianist Brian Culbertson, vocalist Gregory Porter and saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin are scheduled to play at Metropolitan Park, violinist Josh Vietti and the Huntertones at Daily's Place.

For the festival's final day, Sunday, May 26, Stone, sax man Jeff Ryan and the Baylor Project are at Metropolitan Park and Matsui and RnR with trumpeter Rick Braun and saxophonist Richard Elliot are at Daily's Place.

All performances are free, but VIP tickets have been offered in the past. More performers are expected to be announced.

The festival started in 1980 in Mayport and moved to Metropolitan Park the following year. No festivals were held in 2001 or 2002, but it came back to the park in 2003 with Tony Bennett as headliner. It moved to the downtown streets in 2009 and has since seen stages at J. Weldon Johnson Park, the Duval County courthouse, the Jacksonville Landing, Ford on Bay, the Shipyards and Riverfront Plaza.

The covered stage at Metropolitan Park was the main venue for the festival when it was held there, but the pavilion was torn down in 2016 after city inspectors found it was unsafe. Temporary stages have been used for Metropolitan Park concerts since.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville Jazz Festival 2024: Joss Stone, Keiko Matsui to perform