About the festival
Celebrate the Middlesex County Jazz Festival! Enjoy great jazz and experience the communities of New Brunswick, Woodbridge, Edison, Perth Amboy, Carteret, and Metuchen with their great music, food, and friendliness.
The idea of a Middlesex County wide jazz festival developed when the leaders of musical events in each of the towns realized that each of the towns produces live musical events including jazz. This common experience of neighboring towns and our love of jazz music was the seed which led to a cooperative dialogue and agreement to join to create this cross-town event. The event was so successful that Carteret was added to the festival in 2024.
New Brunswick Jazz Project has been producing jazz in New Brunswick twice a week for the last 15 years. Woodbridge presents concerts of all types for its residents every evening during the summer, including jazz. Perth Amboy presents a variety of concerts along its harbor. Metuchen Jazz presents a jazz event once a month. Edison has a strong jazz program in its high schools. Carteret has a vibrant arts scene and was a perfect fit to join the festival.
New Brunswick Jazz Project, with its experience in jazz festival production agreed to lead the development of the Middlesex County Jazz Festival and, with input from each of the towns, the event takes place the last week of September every year
It’s all fully accessible and free to enjoy in outdoor venues and we hope you come out for some amazing performances. This is an annual tradition for Jazz in Middlesex County for years to come!
Follow us on Instagram and Facebook and check our new website for more details about the festival’s performances in each town.
Perth Amboy
Come out for a great evening of Jazz under the Harvest Moon at the Historic Perth Amboy Ferry Slip on the Perth Amboy Waterfront.
Enjoy great live music, beautiful views of Raritan Bay and the full moon. Also check out the Ferry Slip Museum at the venue and the great food and drinks available along the marina and waterfront.
New Brunswick
New Brunswick, known as Hub City, has long been in the vanguard of New Jersey’s cultural offerings. The city is home to the State Theatre, Zimmerli Art Museum and The New Brunswick Cultural Center (NBPAC) which includes George Street Playhouse, Crossroads Theatre, American Repertory Ballet and Rutgers’ Mason Gross School of the arts. Over the past 14 years, the New Brunswick Jazz Project has expanded an already robust cultural landscape to include live jazz performances every Tuesday and Thursday, year ‘round. In a poll from Movoto.com of the 10 Most Exciting Small Cities in America, New Brunswick was #5 on the list with live music cited as one of the deciding factors.
Based on anecdotal information gathered at the Jazz Congress held in NYC and produced by Jazz at Lincoln Center, no other “non jazz” nightclub or organization in the country is presenting comparable jazz on a local level. The Jazz Journalists Association, an international organization of media professionals who document and promote the appreciation of jazz worldwide, selected NBJP for a Jazz Hero Award in 2015. NBJP’s achievements have been lauded in The New York Times, State of the Arts New Jersey – NJTV, The Home News, The Star Ledger, The Courier News, The Asbury Park Press, Inside Jersey Magazine, NJ Monthly
NBJP is pleased to have had a leadership role in creating the coalition of Middlesex County municipalities and bringing the inaugural Middlesex County Jazz Festival to fruition. Jazz music is America’s cultural legacy, and although it remains one of our nation’s most recognizable and viable artistic exports, jazz struggles to keep a foothold here in the U.S. We look forward to continuing to work with Edison, Metuchen, Perth Amboy and Woodbridge to expand the awareness and reach of jazz by presenting this free, accessible festival annually.
Metuchen
You are invited to Metuchen! Experience great jazz, fabulous restaurants and small-town friendliness. It’s been called the “Brainy Borough” since the 1900’s in recognition of all the artists and writers who have called Metuchen “home.” Metuchen is the “Great American Main Street Award Winner for 2023.” Yes – a Big Deal! Come and see why!
The jazz festival in Metuchen is produced via a collaborative effort between Metuchen Arts Council (MAC) and Friends of Metuchen Arts (FOMA). MAC is a Commission of the Metuchen Borough and, every year, MAC receives a limited budget from the Borough for its events. MAC also provides funds to outside arts organizations and individual artists. FOMA is a 501 ( C ) 3 nonprofit organization which fundraises for all kinds of arts events and also produces events on its own, specifically Metuchen Jazz. FOMA helps provide additional funds to Metuchen Arts Council for its projects and to other arts organizations and individual artists.
Woodbridge
Woodbridge is very pleased to be joining with 4 other arts supporting Middlesex County towns, Edison, Metuchen, New Brunswick and Perth Amboy, to present the debut of the Middlesex County Jazz Festival from Thursday Sept 28 to Sunday Oct 1, 2023
Since 2006 Mayor John E McCormac has worked to expand the “arts footprint” in Woodbridge Township making it one of the hubs of arts activity in Central NJ. You can find art and performing arts being presented by The Barron Arts Center, The Avenel Performing Arts Center, Music on Main Street, Gallery on Main, Woodbridge Community Players and the Mayor’s Summer Concert Series which presents over 50 free outdoor concerts each summer.
Woodbridge Township is the oldest original township in New Jersey and was granted a royal charter on June 1, 1669, by King Charles II of England. It was reincorporated on October 31, 1693. Woodbridge Township was incorporated by the Township Act of 1798 as one of the initial 104 townships incorporated in the state. The township is named after Reverend John W. Woodbridge (1613–1696) of Newbury, Massachusetts who settled in the future township in 1664.