North Carolina Jazz Festival - Wilmington NC

February 5-7 2026
Wilmington gives a warm welcome to all of the jazz lovers attending our 46th Annual North Carolina Jazz Festival!  This historic city located on the bank of the Cape Fear River has many interesting shops, art galleries, museums and restaurants, as well as a movie studio, nearby beaches, plus Revolutionary and Civil War sites to explore during your days here. We will fill your evenings with exciting performances by some of the greatest traditional jazz musicians from around the globe!

Art Winners!

Winners of our raffle: Our artist, Jay DeChesere generously raffled off 2 of his pieces at the NC Jazz Festival on Saturday night! Congratulations to our winners, Angela and Michael Arcaro and Richard Gainey. Thank you all who contributed to our raffle, this helps fund our education programs.

(Angela & Michael Arcaro)

(Richard Gainey)

Education

This year, we added an additional day for the musicians to visit schools! It is our first time visiting the Brunswick County public schools.

On Thursday, Chuck Redd and other NCJF musicians went to Brunswick County schools and did a workshop/masterclass for about 200 students. They talked about improvisation and the role of the instrument in the band. Chuck also highlighted Dizzy Gillespie’s music and his contribution to different styles of jazz.

Emily Asher taught a vocal masterclass with vocal/choral students from West Brunswick High School. This extra day of jazz education was made possible from a grant from Bastian Family Foundation.

On Friday, the NC Jazz Festival musicians divided into 2 groups and visited 5 local schools in New Hanover County and reached over 1,500 students! Chuck Redd and his band went to the following schools, Castle Hayne Elementary, Murrayville Elementary and Williston Middle School. Chuck discussed the contributions of Dizzy Gillespie’s music in jazz history.

Herman Burney and his band visited Trask Middle School and Sunset Park Elementary. They talked about jazz music and the role of their instruments in the band. Both schools enjoyed listening to live jazz music and learning about the instruments.

We also had a violin masterclass with Jonathan Russell at the Brooklyn Arts Music Academy in Wilmington, NC. Jonathan discussed improvisation methods while playing the violin. Each student played an improv solo piece on their violin. One student said that he never did improvisations on his violin and really enjoyed playing jazz style. He said it was a cool experience.

All concerts begin at 7:30 PM and are held at the Hotel Ballast ballroom.

Thursday Night Showcase

Coming soon!

Friday and Saturday Nights
We will continue our celebration with All-Star musicians playing in the traditional seven sets of six or seven players, each set with a different leader. You will hear many of our favorite NCJF musicians plus new additions to our lineup. You will not want to miss this exciting 45th Annual North Carolina Jazz Festival! These will be 4 ½ hour concerts.

Hotel Ballast, Tapestry Collection By Hilton
HOTEL BALLAST is home of the North Carolina Jazz Festival @ Wilmington.

To make a reservation at the Hotel Ballast Wilmington by Hilton

please call 800-455-8667, or 910-763-5900

mention group code: NCJ

Special room rate for attendees are:

139.00 Historic View
169.00 Riverfront

Group Rates are available until the room block is full or until your Cutoff Date: Monday, 12/29/2025, whichever comes first.

After the cut-off date, please note the group rate will no longer be valid.

Special thanks for the hospitality shown to all attendees and musicians!!

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