North Carolina Jazz Festival - Wilmington NC

February 6-8 2025 Wilmington gives a warm welcome to all of the jazz lovers attending our 45th 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!

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

Thursday Night Showcase
Carlos Garcia Trio will open with a tribute to Bill Evans


Carlos Garcia graduated from UNCW in 2019 with a degree in Music; Jazz Studies. You can find him playing various types of music across North Carolina. He recently played with the Unheard Project at the 2024 NC Folk Festival. He also was a member of the Bajissima Latin Jazz group led by Dr. Natalie Boeyink. Carlos Garcia has also played with various artists at the Sharp Nine Gallery in Durham NC. This will be his second time playing at the North Carolina Jazz Festival, the first time was performing with the Jon Hill Trio in 2020, which was the opener for Emmet Cohen. His performance this year will be dedicated to Bill Evans. Bill Evans was one of the first pianists Carlos gravitated to in his early development and has continued to be a major influence to his playing. Expect to hear some classics of Bill Evans music, as well as some arrangements of his lesser-known tunes.

Gregg Gelb Will Be Our Thursday Night Headliner
Gregg Gelb has been a professional musician since the 80's, performing with Group Sax, Paul Montgomery, Kathy Gelb and the Gregg Gelb Swing Band, The Heart of Carolina Jazz Orchestra, The NC Jazz Repertory Orchestra, The NC Symphony, the Second Line Stompers, La Fiesta Latin Jazz Quintet and his small groups. He is an arranger and composer, having written over 250 charts for his eight piece band and over 50 charts for big band. He directs the award winning Triangle Youth Jazz Ensemble, which has been selected to the finals of Jazz at Lincoln Center's Essentially Ellington Competition and Festival five times.

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.

Featured Artist - Jay DeChesere

Artist Jay DeChesere has always been inspired by the symbiotic interactions between jazz musicians. After attending an outdoor concert, he was inspired to create a composition for the 2025 NCJF that represented the feelings conveyed by their expressions, their connection with their instruments, and interactions with each other--all part of the language that made the experience so enjoyable.

Hotel Ballast, Tapestry Collection By Hilton
HOTEL BALLAST is home of the North Carolina Jazz Festival @ Wilmington. Special room rates for festival goers to be determined. Reservations must be made by December 31st, 2024 to receive this rate. For hotel reservations please call 910-763-5900 Special thanks for the hospitality shown to all attendees and musicians!!