Posted on April 2, 2026
City Park Jazz is proud to announce our lineup for our landmark 40th annual summer series and Celebration of Community! This is a milestone four decades in the making, and we are honored to share it with the city of Denver. At the same time, the City Park Bandshell was lost in a fire last night, and we need your help.
City Park Jazz is a “celebration of community” that began in 1986 featuring only local musicians. Sunday evenings throughout the summer see anywhere from 8,000 to 12,000 neighbors from City Park neighborhoods—and all over Colorado—enjoying the amazing talent that calls the Centennial State home, all free of charge. A selection of carefully curated vendors and diverse food trucks round out this family-friendly festival atmosphere!
“Forty years ago, a small group of music lovers had a simple idea: bring great jazz to the park and let the community gather around it,” says Andy Bercaw, President of the City Park Jazz Board of Directors. “What has grown from that idea is something none of us could have imagined. This 40th season is a celebration of every musician who has graced our stage, every volunteer who has shown up, and every neighbor who has spread a blanket on the grass and made CPJ part of their summer. We can’t wait to do it all again.”
Our 2026 lineup features some of Denver’s most beloved performers across genres, from jazz and blues to Latin rhythms, brass, and beyond. This season’s acts include the incomparable voice of Denver, Hazel Miller and the Collective; Shane Endsley and the Denver Municipal Band; the fiery Conjunto Colores; and our returning fan-favorite, the Brass Band Extravaganza—featuring the Bourbon Brass Band and Badda Boom Brass Band—just to name a few.
As part of our 40th anniversary celebration, each show this summer will include a special tribute honoring past CPJ contributors as well as CPJ performers-in-memoriam—beloved members of our community whose artistry and dedication helped make City Park Jazz what it is today. Further details on these tributes will be announced as the season approaches.
We’re also thrilled to announce that we’re doing a test run of a new shuttle bus service as part of our ongoing commitment to making City Park Jazz accessible to everyone! We’re going to start with two shows this season, July 5 and Aug. 9. The shuttle is specifically for attendees with mobility and disability-related needs. Shuttles will pick up passengers at the lots for the Denver Museum of Nature & Science and the Denver Zoo, dropping off directly at the accessible entrance to the Pavilion, and then in reverse at the end of the show. Stay tuned—we’ll share more details closer to the start of the season!
To support all this excitement, we especially need concert volunteers and sponsors! City Park Jazz is a volunteer-run event (and a 501(c)3 charitable organization) and we need YOU to make it happen. Space is limited. Visit https://cityparkjazz.org/volunteer2 for more information regarding volunteer and sponsorship opportunities, or to make a donation. This year, the season spans 10 Sunday evenings from 6–8 p.m. starting June 7, 2026. The free concerts are staged at the City Park Pavilion.* For more information, bios and photos of each act, please visit www.CityParkJazz.org.
Now for the tough news
On March 26 at around 2:30 am, the bandstand at City Park was destroyed in a fire. Denver Police and Fire Departments are still investigating the incident, and we don’t yet know the total costs the City will incur in order to rebuild the bandstand.
What we do know as of right now is that the structure — originally built back in 1929 — is a total loss. But that doesn’t mean our 40th Anniversary season is.
The City Park Jazz Board of Directors is already working through our options, and we’ll be partnering closely with the City to ensure we do everything in our power to produce this incredible celebration of community again this summer. We have a great team in place for this. We’re evaluating our options for mobile stage set ups, power needs, and how we’ll adjust our footprint in City Park accordingly.
How you can help: One thing we know for sure is that this will force us to incur significant additional costs that we don’t have in our annual budget. As you know, City Park Jazz is a 501c(3) non-profit organization that subsists entirely on donations, grants and sponsorships. So, if you have a little extra to pitch in right now, any donation you can provide will be helpful. You can donate here: https://cityparkjazz.org/united4jazz and please share with anyone else who might be inclined to pitch in.
*As a reminder, no glass containers are allowed in the park. Feel free to bring your own plastic or metal containers to partake in our free filtered water. Please help us keep the park clean by disposing of all trash in the dumpsters provided. For a complete list of Denver Parks rules, see bit.ly/CityParkDenverRules
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