The Blue Note Jazz Festival will overtake Silverado Resort in Napa, California this weekend (July 28-30), boasting Mary J. Blige, Nas, and Chance The Rapper as its headliners.
Robert Glasper is serving as the Artist In Residence, and he expressed to Uproxx the significance of the festival last summer.
“There are so many amazing artists and trailblazers, and to have them all in one festival represents so much and represents how free the music can be,” he said then, in part.
And that is especially poignant in relation to Blue Note Jazz Festival 2023, as it will continue the year-long celebration around hip-hop’s 50th anniversary. As Zoë Jones contextualized it for Uproxx, “Blue Note has the potential to be much more than a festival – the lineup alone can stand as music history: tracing the evolution of Black music at a time when it’s more present than ever in mainstream consciousness.”
The event will unfold across three stages: Black Radio Stage, Footprints Stage, and Blue Note Stage.
On Friday, July 28, the Black Radio Stage will host Big Freedia (1:45-2:45 p.m. local time), Ari Lennox (3:45-4:45 p.m.), and Glasper alongside De La Soul and Dave Chappelle (5:45-7:30 p.m.) ahead of Blige’s headlining set (8:30-9:45 p.m.).The Footprints Stage will host the likes of Madlib (2:45-3:45 p.m.) and Cordae (4:45-5:45 p.m.).
Come Saturday, July 29, Madlib will be joined by Talib Kweli on the Black Radio Stage from 3:45 to 4:45 p.m., and Glasper will occupy the same slot (5:45-7:30 p.m.) but this time cohabitate the stage with Chappelle and Lalah Hathaway & Terrace Martin. Nas’ headlining set is also scheduled for 8:30-9:45 p.m.
Chance The Rapper will wrap the party with his 8:30-9:45 p.m. headlining set on Sunday, July 30.
Check out the full Blue Note schedule below, and find more information about the festival here.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
