South Beach Jazz Festival Guide
Last reviewed: November 3, 2026. Sources for this page are listed in its fact sheet.
Short answer first. The South Beach Jazz Festival runs Thursday, January 14 through Sunday, January 17, 2027, across Miami Beach, and most of it is free with an RSVP. The shape is simple: one ticketed headline night (Bebel Gilberto at the Faena Theater on Thursday), a free Friday night in Collins Park (Carmen Lundy), a student stage and a Bandshell night on Saturday, and a full free Sunday of bands on Lincoln Road. It shares its weekend with Art Deco Weekend on Ocean Drive, which makes this the best free culture weekend of the Miami winter if you plan the two together. The work of this page is the schedule below: pick your events, file the free RSVPs now while they are open, and base yourself in South Beach so both festivals are a walk, not a drive.
Lincoln Road, home of the festival's student stage on Saturday and its full free day on Sunday. Photo: Vincent Rivaud, Pexels.
What kind of festival is this?
The festival is presented by Power Access, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and it is built around accessibility and inclusion as well as the music: its mission is awareness of people living with disabilities and opportunity in the arts. In practice that means American Sign Language interpreters are provided at all events, and visitors who need materials in accessible format, additional interpreters, or another disability accommodation are asked to contact the festival at [email protected] at least five days in advance, with TTY users able to call 711 through Florida Relay. It also explains the lineup's shape: the Sunday bill includes the Spirit of Goodwill Band, an ensemble of musicians with disabilities, as a headline act in its own right rather than a side note. The venues are the classic Miami Beach culture corridor: the Faena Theater inside the Faena Hotel at 3201 Collins Avenue, The Bass museum at 2100 Collins Avenue with Collins Park in front of it, the Miami Beach Bandshell on Collins Avenue to the north, and Lincoln Road's pedestrian blocks for the weekend days.
The 2027 schedule, day by day
Every event below is from the festival's own published 2027 schedule, checked November 3, 2026. Admission is as the festival lists it; free events still ask for an RSVP, and the RSVP links sit on sobejazzfestival.com.
Thursday, January 14. The festival opens with a 2 p.m. panel, Accessibility in the Arts, held virtually. At night, the one headline ticket: Bebel Gilberto at the Faena Theater, with two shows at 7 p.m. and 9:45 p.m., presented in partnership with the Faena Theater. Book this one early; it is a small room and the only night of the festival that works like a normal concert ticket.
Friday, January 15. At 5 p.m., a jazz lecture and book signing with journalist Ted Panken at The Bass, on his book about jazz photographer Don Schlitten, free with RSVP. Gallery tours at The Bass run free at 6:30 p.m., alongside the ticketed Society Jazz Night VIP reception. The night lands at 8 p.m. in Collins Park: Society Jazz Night with Carmen Lundy, free with RSVP. The festival's advice is to bring your own chair or blanket; a $75 VIP experience adds a reception and reserved seating for the same concert.
Saturday, January 16. From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., the Jazz for Tomorrow Student Stage takes the 700 block of Lincoln Road, free: student ensembles including JECC, Miami Lighthouse, Young Musicians Unite, and the GG Quartet, directed by vocalist and educator Nicole Yarling, with interactive drumming from the South Florida Center for Percussive Arts and a tap masterclass with Edwin Holland. At 8 p.m., the festival moves north to the Miami Beach Bandshell for Delfeayo Marsalis and the Uptown Jazz Orchestra, the weekend's big band night; the festival lists it as reserve tickets rather than a free RSVP.
Sunday, January 17. The Power Access Main Stage runs Lincoln Road all day, and every set is free. Opening remarks at 11 a.m., then the Spirit of Goodwill Band at 11:15, the festival's Visual Arts Program at Lincoln Road and Lenox Avenue from noon, Scone Cash Players at 12:15 p.m., the Leesa Richards Quartet at 1:30, steel pan pioneer Othello Molineaux at 3 p.m., Melina and her salsa orchestra at 4:30, Tony and The Kings at 6 p.m., and the AfroBeat Allstars closing at 7:30. A full day of music for the price of lunch on Lincoln Road.
How to work the weekend
Base in South Beach. Collins Park, The Bass, and Lincoln Road are all walkable from the South Beach hotel strip, and the Bandshell is one trolley ride north. The South Beach hotels guide compares the strip; the Faena itself is in our Faena Hotel guide if Thursday night is your splurge.
Check South Beach hotel prices for jazz festival weekend on Expedia
Split the days with Art Deco Weekend. The 50th Art Deco Weekend runs the same Friday to Sunday on Ocean Drive, a short walk east of Lincoln Road. Mornings belong to Ocean Drive's tours and classic cars, afternoons to the student stage and the Sunday bands, nights to Collins Park and the Bandshell. Our MLK weekend planner lays the whole four days out hour by hour, including Thursday's Orange Bowl semifinal across the bay.
File the RSVPs early. Free here means capacity managed by registration, not an open field. The Carmen Lundy night and the Sunday stage are the two most likely to fill their RSVP lists first, so register for those before you book anything else.
Ocean Drive, a short walk from Lincoln Road and the second festival sharing this weekend. Photo: Vincent Rivaud, Pexels.
The facts that matter
South Beach Jazz Festival 2027, checked November 3, 2026 against the festival's own site, sobejazzfestival.com (schedule table on the home page and the 2027 tickets page): Thursday January 14, 2 p.m. Accessibility in the Arts panel (virtual) and Bebel Gilberto at the Faena Theater at 7 p.m. and 9:45 p.m.; Friday January 15, Ted Panken lecture and book signing at The Bass at 5 p.m. (free with RSVP), gallery tours at 6:30 p.m. (free), Society Jazz Night with Carmen Lundy in Collins Park at 8 p.m. (free with RSVP, $75 VIP experience per the tickets page); Saturday January 16, Jazz for Tomorrow Student Stage on the 700 block of Lincoln Road from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (free) and Delfeayo Marsalis and the Uptown Jazz Orchestra at the Miami Beach Bandshell at 8 p.m. (reserve tickets); Sunday January 17, the free Lincoln Road day from 11 a.m. (Spirit of Goodwill Band, Visual Arts Program at Lincoln Road and Lenox Avenue, Scone Cash Players, Leesa Richards Quartet, Othello Molineaux, Melina and her salsa orchestra, Tony and The Kings, AfroBeat Allstars). Presenter Power Access is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit; ASL interpreters are provided at all events and accommodation requests go to [email protected] five days in advance, per the festival. The Faena Theater sits inside the Faena Hotel at 3201 Collins Avenue and The Bass stands at 2100 Collins Avenue, both per this site's own verified hotel and museum pages.
Frequently asked questions
When is the South Beach Jazz Festival 2027?
Thursday, January 14 through Sunday, January 17, 2027, across Miami Beach, ending the day before Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Is the festival free?
Mostly. The Collins Park concert on Friday, the student stage on Saturday, and the full Sunday on Lincoln Road are free with an RSVP. The ticketed exceptions are Bebel Gilberto at the Faena Theater on Thursday night, the Society Jazz Night VIP reception and its $75 Collins Park VIP experience, and the Bandshell concert on Saturday night, which runs on reserved tickets.
What else is on that weekend?
The 50th Art Deco Weekend runs January 15 to 17 on Ocean Drive, and the Orange Bowl College Football Playoff Semifinal is Thursday, January 14 at Hard Rock Stadium. The combined plan is our MLK weekend planner, linked above.
Is the festival accessible?
Accessibility is the organizer's stated mission. ASL interpreters are provided at all events; for other accommodations, contact [email protected] at least five days ahead, per the festival.
Keep planning
The four day combined plan is the MLK weekend in Miami planner, the sister festival is the Art Deco Weekend guide, Miami's other jazz weekend is Jazz in the Gardens, and the year round scene is in Best Live Music in Miami.