Atlanta Jazz Festival announces lineup for 48th annual edition

The Atlanta Jazz Festival returns to Piedmont Park this Memorial Day weekend with a lineup packed with talent, both local and national. As always, the outdoor music celebration is free.

Bassist and composer Derrick Hodge tops the bill on the first night of the festival on May 24. The two-time Grammy winner has forged a career that finds him making a mark in both neo-soul and jazz. He’s recorded with Bilal, Anthony Hamilton, Common, Terence Blanchard and Robert Glasper.

Speaking of Glasper, he’ll be the headliner of this year’s pre-festival concert. The acclaimed and inventive pianist will be joined by Atlanta vocalist Baby Rose at Atlanta Symphony Hall at 8 p.m. Friday, May 23. Tickets will go on sale at Ticketmaster at noon on March 28.

Atlanta-based trumpeter Russell Gunn and his quartet Blackhawk will headline the main stage on Sunday, May 25. Expect to hear his latest work, “Origin Story,” recorded live at the Velvet Note Jazz Club in Alpharetta. It was inspired by Miles Davis’ In Person Friday Night at the Blackhawk, San Francisco, a two-volume live album that documents a gig by the Davis Quintet in 1961.

On Monday, Atlanta jazz trumpeter Joe Gransden wraps things up with his Big Band, following a set from the stellar jazz vocalist Dianne Reeves.

Other highlights from the just-announced lineup include Ravi Coltrane, saxophonist and son of jazz legends John and Alice Coltrane, and Charles McPherson, who worked intermittently with Charles Mingus from the early ’60s into the ’70s. McPherson, 85, has a long list of albums as a leader, too, starting with 1965’s Bebop Revisited!

Here’s the full lineup for the 48th annual Atlanta Jazz Festival:

Saturday, May 24 

1 p.m.    Khari Cabral & JIVA     

3 p.m.    Aneesa Strings 

5 p.m.    Takuya Kuroda

7 p.m.    Marsha Ambrosius 

9 p.m.    Derrick Hodge

Sunday, May 25 

1 p.m.    Kenny Banks Jr.

3 p.m.    Jarrod Lawson

5 p.m.    Ravi Coltrane

7 p.m.    Andromeda Turre 

9 p.m.    Russell Gunn & Blackhawk Quartet

Monday, May 26

1 p.m.    Brandon Woody

3 p.m.    Tyreek McDole

5 p.m.    Charles McPherson

7 p.m.    Dianne Reeves

9 p.m.    Joe Gransden and his Big Band