Jazz still lives in and around Rochester, New York, a city with a vibrant history of live jazz. Downtown Rochester hosts the Rochester International Jazz Festival in late June that, due to its intriguing programming and innovative use of indoor and outdoor venues, has become one of the great jazz festivals in the United States and globally and a festival that top line jazz artists want to play. But you can hear live jazz in concert halls, clubs and restaurants in and around the city the other 356 days of the year.  This site started as an attempt to tie all that together. While good, live jazz is never hard to find, there’s still a lot of work to be done to get this music heard more, especially in the city itself. I have been publishing JazzRochester in one form or another since 2005 in an effort to do some of that work. The blog will always be a work in progress, but my aim is to to do the following:

• Provide listings for upcoming live jazz here in and around the Rochester metropolitan area (extending sometimes West to Buffalo and East to Syracuse, especially where local jazz musicians are playing in those locations). Right now, I publish this listings post on Wednesday evenings, covering the next day through the following Wednesday.  Ever since the pandemic, I have been looking ahead for live jazz coming in the next couple of months (and for certain special acts, even further).
• Provide coverage before, during and after the Rochester International Jazz Festival.
• Provide links to other blogs, websites, and other information about jazz music and artists, both in Rochester and throughout the world.
• Hook readers up with selected CDs from Rochester jazz artists and groups.
• Promote local jazz concerts, promotions and venues that present live jazz.
• Advocate for increased opportunities to hear live jazz (and other music) in Rochester.
• Make connections between the various jazz communities in Rochester and its environs.

I try to make the content of JazzRochester available to you in the way you want it by publishing it (and sometimes additional content) available on Facebook, the social channel formerly known as Twitter, Instagram (where I publish images from gigs I attend and notifications when I publish each week), and via email (see below). 

In April 2021, I was named a 2021 Jazz Hero by the Jazz Journalists Association for my work over the years and during the COVID-19 pandemic in using JazzRochester to try to keep jazz alive and build a community around live jazz here where I live. 

With my busy life, I don’t get out to hear live jazz and other music as much as I’d like, but I love the music and don’t want the see the live jazz scene die here. I hope that you will provide me with feedback on where I’m going or what I’ve written. Just click on the comment link to a post or send me an email. Maybe I'll see you out at a club or at the Rochester International Jazz Festival some day. If you see me, come up and say hello!

Greg Bell, Publisher

A Few Ground Rules

• I will attempt to cover as much of the live jazz in Rochester and the surrounding areas by looking to a number of sources. I am also interested in gigs that are not being advertised or listed in these sources, so please let me know about them when you don't see them in these pages.  I can add them on the fly (although ones added after a post is published may not get as wide a distribution).
• This blog is a personal journey and more in the nature of a hobby than a job (I have one of those). It is not a listing service. I reserve the right to refuse to post announcements for gigs or other information you provide. When I do this I will try to be up front with you, but please don't take it personally. It is possible that sometimes I'll just miss getting a gig into the listings post. It will happen and, when it does, it is inadvertent.  Let me know and I'll get it in as soon as possible. 
• I am not a journalist. My goal is to let my readers draw their own conclusions about jazz and its various genres.  Sure there are players and types of jazz I prefer, but I am not the "jazz police" ... except when I am.  I try to keep that at a minimum. 
• I want to form connections to live jazz that may be heard in all the diverse communities in Rochester. I realize that venues and the media in Rochester often ignore these communities and want to provide whatever small voice this blog can to increase the range of their voices. Please feel free to engage me through the Contact Us link found at the top of the blog if you think your voice and music is not being heard.

The Legalities....

© 2006-2025, Gregory V. Bell, except for material used with permission or where copyright is acknowledged (I will attempt to acknowledge the copyright or photo credits of others where that information is available, and will use such images and logos only in promoting the subjects thereof). Please let us know if you object to my use of any image or mark and I will address your concerns as quickly as possible.

If needed, you can reach JazzRochester by U.S. mail:

JazzRochester
c/o Gregory V. Bell
P.O. Box 10165
Rochester, NY 14610-0165

Links: This blog includes links to other blogs and sites that have been created and are operated by third parties. These links are provided to you as a means of convenient access to the information and other material contained within them. We are in no way responsible for the content on the sites to which I link or its accuracy. 

Generally, JazzRochester is non-commercial, although occasionally we may receive commissions when you click certain links resulting in purchases from affiliates of JazzRochester (for example, for certain ticket links).  We will disclose that in a way directly connected to each link where JazzRochester will receive any compensation, in money or in-kind, should you make a purchase through the link.

Listings:  I try to be as accurate as possible, but due to the nature of live music, musicians, booking agents, and clubs and restaurants, the dates, times, locations and other details for events highlighted in this blogs pages are subject to change. Believe it or not, I even occasionally make mistakes!  I can correct errors or add missing listings, so let me know when there's a problem.  When I find out in time, I will try to amend a post with new or corrected information (for new material, look for the "Added" icon).  You should always check the information for yourself before heading out for a gig.  I link to many of the venues to help you do that.

Comment Policy: JazzRochester's comment policy is pretty straightforward (I'm going to refrain from being a lawyer here, even though I am...). In general, to encourage conversation, I've allowed comments to be posted automatically but will get immediate notification of comments. We're trying to create a conversation here with substantive information, links, insights, humorous anecdotes and relevant personal experiences. To that end, I may unpublish any comment that, in my sole opinion:

• Is off topic.
• Engages in a personal attack.
• Is racist, homophobic, or otherwise focused on hatred or discrimination. 
• Is unnecessarily profane or vulgar (realizing that it is sometime essential to get a point across).
• Is inflammatory (no flame wars).
• Is aimed at promoting an individual, product or service not relevant to the post or this site.
• Provides a URL to a weblog or site that is not relevant to the post or this site.

Repeated attempts to post such comments may result in being banned from commenting. Let's just have a great conversation about jazz and live music in and around Rochester, OK? Thanks.