Jazz WaHi launched the Washington Heights Jazz Festival in 2018 to showcase talented local musicians we'd met through our jam sessions. The response was immediate: capacity crowds came out for exceptional performances, and we knew we had tapped into something special.

The Festival has grown steadily since then. We now present over 65 musicians across 7 neighborhood venues, drawing over 600 attendees annually. While our lineup includes top-tier jazz artists from across New York City, we continue to feature Washington Heights musicians at the heart of the Festival. This mix of local and visiting talent creates hometown pride and a small-town feel, unusual for a NYC jazz event. Performers and audiences alike share a sense of ownership in something built by and for the community.