A new date and venue are on the horizon for the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival.
The four-day event at the University of Idaho, traditionally held in February, is set for April 19-22, with main stage concerts slated for the school’s new ICCU arena, rather than the ASUI Kibbie Dome.
Festival manager Navin Chettri, who is new to his role with the festival, though not to UI, said the move to spring had mostly to do with the harsh winter weather Moscow often experiences. The change was in the works for a couple of years, Chettri said.
“In February, it was difficult for some people to come to the jazz festival with weather conditions like that and road conditions like that,” he said.
Organizers of the annual festival, which began in 1967, sought feedback and decided on the new timeframe to ease travel for schools around the region bringing students to participate, with the added benefit of showing off the campus in a different season.
“We are hoping it could be an early-spring experience for folks who are visiting,” Chettri said.
Students are expected from schools throughout north central Idaho and southeastern Washington and also from farther reaches of the region, including the Seattle and Boise areas.
“We’re working on getting as many schools as we can,” Chettri said. “We are hoping that we can stretch a little more up north and down south with different schools trying to come over.”
Students at the festival will participate in workshops, clinics, performances and competitions in more than 100 auditoriums, classrooms and halls around the campus throughout the day.
The main concert each evening will be performed in the ICCU Arena, which opened in 2021.
“It’s just a gorgeous venue,” Chettri said. “I think it fits with the jazz fest vibe in the sense that it will be more intimate for the musicians and the audience, because it’s smaller than the dome. And, we have a brand new venue, and we’d like to use it.”
More information is at uidaho.edu/class/jazzfest.
