Jazz Appreciation Month 2027

About Jazz Appreciation Month

Jazz Appreciation Month uses the whole of April to invite people to discover jazz, from its roots in Black American communities in New Orleans to the many styles it has grown into. Clubs and concert halls program special shows, radio stations play more jazz, schools add it to lessons, and libraries set up displays and listening events. The Smithsonian publishes an annual JAM poster, which in 2025 featured saxophonist Lester Young.

The Smithsonian's National Museum of American History launched JAM in 2001. It was the idea of John Edward Hasse, then the museum's curator of American music, who had seen how Black History Month focused national attention on a subject and wanted the same for jazz. Initial funding came from the Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Foundation. Hasse brought together a coalition of national organizations to spread the word, including the musicians' union, the American Library Association, BMI and NPR.

April is also the birth month of Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington, both subjects of Smithsonian exhibitions that Hasse curated. The month now ends with International Jazz Day on April 30, a separate observance proclaimed by UNESCO in 2011 and first held in 2012, which gives JAM a global finale.

JAM is a cultural initiative rather than a government observance, and there is no single official event. Anyone can take part, whether by playing a record, joining a jam session or taking a child to their first live concert.

Sources: American Library Association, Programming Librarian: Jazz Appreciation Month, JazzArts Charlotte: The Man Who Gave Jazz Its Month, Dr. John Edward Hasse (April 2026), WCLK: April is Jazz Appreciation Month (2025), Smithsonian National Museum of American History: Jazz Appreciation Month. How we check dates.

How to mark Jazz Appreciation Month

• Go to a live jazz show at a local club, college music department or community concert series.
• Listen to one classic album all the way through each week, such as recordings by Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald or Miles Davis.
• Borrow a jazz biography, history or documentary from your public library.
• Look up the jazz history of your own city or region, including venues and musicians who played there.
• Support a school jazz band by attending its spring concert or donating to its music program.
• Make a playlist that traces jazz from early New Orleans recordings to musicians working today, and share it.

Jazz Appreciation Month dates