Arizona Jazz Festival announces its fall 2025 lineup

Al Green, Babyface and Eric Darius are set to perform at the three-day event from Nov. 7 to 9 in Glendale.

July 11, 2025

Image: R&B/soul legend Al Green is scheduled to perform at the Arizona Jazz Festival in November.

R&B/soul legend Al Green is scheduled to perform at the Arizona Jazz Festival in November. Lindsey Turner/CC BY 2.0/Flickr

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If at first you don’t succeed, as the saying goes, try again. Just ask the promoters of the Arizona Jazz Festival.

Back in February, unforeseen circumstances caused the spring version of the twice-yearly event to be postponed. Promoters are now looking ahead to the fall, when the festival’s next edition will take place from Nov. 7 to 9 at the West Valley Events Complex, 10020 N. Ball Park Blvd. in Glendale.

Last month, they began announcing the three-day event’s lineup, which will include most of the same artists who were scheduled to perform in the spring.

And while festival may have “jazz” in its name, the festival’s selection of performers leans more towards a mix of funk, soul and R&B.

click to enlarge

Homegrown R&B/pop star CeCe Peniston.

Angelique White/CC BY-SA 4.0/Wikimedia Commons

Headliners include velvet-voiced Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Al Green, ‘90s hitmaker Babyface, former Gap Band frontman Charlie Wilson, R&B group Dru Hill, "Spiritual Thang" singer Eric Benét, "American Idol" winner Ruben Studdard and homegrown pop star CeCe Peniston. (We’re ignoring Robin Thicke, who’s also been announced, for the sake of argument.)

Jazz fans needn't worry, though, as more than a dozen famous names from the genre are also set to perform at the festival, including sax players Eric Darius and Marion Meadows, guitarist JJ Sansaverino and trombone virtuoso Jeff Bradshaw.

Here's the full lineup for the 2025 Arizona Jazz Festival's fall edition:

Friday, Nov. 7

Charlie Wilson
Anthony Hamilton feat. The Ton3s
Dru Hill
Eric Benét
Mike Phillips
Jeff Bradshaw
Marion Meadows
JJ Sansaverino

Saturday, Nov. 8

Jubu
Calvin Richardson
112
Dave Hollister
After 7
LeVelle
Raheem DeVaughn
Stephanie Mills
Kem
Eric Darius
CeCe Peniston
Marcus Anderson

Sunday, Nov. 9

Al Green
Babyface
Robin Thicke
Stokley
Ruben Studdard
J. Brown
J. White
Paul Taylor
Rebecca Jade

Arizona Jazz Festival 2025 tickets

Tickets to the 2025 Arizona Jazz Festival's fall edition are currently on sale at azjazzfest.com. Three-day general admission tickets start at $285 per person (plus taxes and fees). Premium reserved seating and tables are available for $885 to $1,485 and include express entry and other perks.

Benjamin Leatherman is a staff writer for Phoenix New Times where he focuses primarily on arts, culture, music and nightlife. He joined New Times in 2003. Prior to that, he contributed to magazines such as Tips & Tricks and The Wrestler. Benjamin has earned multiple awards from the Arizona Press Club including an award for sports enterprise reporting in 2009 and an award for statewide arts reporting in 2014. He holds a bachelor’s of arts in journalism from Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

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