Thinking about attending this year’s Blue Note Jazz Festival in Napa? Keep reading for everything to know about the Northern California music festival and how to score last-minute tickets. 

Where is the Blue Note Jazz Festival in Napa held? 

Though the Blue Note Jazz Festival didn’t make its way to Napa until 2022, the festival started in New York City in 2011 and has since become the city’s largest jazz festival. Don’t get the Blue Note Jazz Festival location confused with the Blue Note Jazz Club on Napa’s Main Street, as the festival is held at the luxurious Silverado Resort, a 150-year-old area landmark located 10 minutes from downtown Napa.

A sleepy golf resort isn’t exactly the setting you’d expect for a festival of this caliber — and we’re fully awaiting the jabs the festival’s host will surely deliver, especially since Chappelle’s known for hammering the Bay Area whenever he comes to town. But the choice to host the festival in Wine Country is part of the festival’s mission which is to bring big names in traditionally urban genres like jazz and hip-hop to small-town settings, according to festival organizers. 

While rooms at the Silverado are sold out for the weekend, there are limited discounted hotel stays nearby still available and resorts in the area as of this writing. On-site, three-day parking passes are also available for VIP ticket holders. Premium three-day parking is a three-minute shuttle ride to the venue and general-admission parking in downtown Napa is a 15-minute shuttle ride.

Blue Note Jazz Festival Napa tickets 

As of publication time, all ticket options were still available in general admission and VIP. Pricing ranges from $225 for a single-day GA pass to $1,500 for a three-day VIP pass. All VIP passes include access to front-of-stage viewing at all stages, a VIP double-decker viewing platform at the Black Radio Stage with limited lounge seating, as well as access to the VIP courtyard lounge, shaded viewing areas, air-conditioned restrooms, exclusive food, beverage and merch vendors and priority parking.

Nightly after-parties at the resort are available for an additional $225 and are available to all festival ticket holders.

If you’re dying for a VIP pass but can’t justify throwing down $1,500 on a whim, a payment plan is available for multi-day passes with a $99 deposit for general admission and $199 deposit for VIP.

The Blue Note Jazz Festival Napa lineup is stacked with big names

Curated by Blue Note’s artist-in-residence and five-time Grammy Award winner Robert Glasper, the 2023 lineup is meant to celebrate jazz’s influence on hip-hop over the last 50 years, which accounts for the diversity of styles on the bill. Attendees will move between the festival’s three stages to see the various performers.

Mary J. Blige, Nas and Chance the Rapper are the headliners, but the rest of the Blue Note Jazz Festival Napa lineup consists of more than 40 acts, many of whom could be headlining acts in their own right. Outside Lands favorite Big Freedia will be there along with other hip-hop heavy hitters such as Talib Kweli & Madlib, Rakim & DJ Jazzy Jeff and the iconic Digable Planets.

Parliament Funkadelic featuring George Clinton, Gary Clark Jr., Ari Lennox and NxWorries (a new collaboration between the indefatigable Anderson .Paak and Knxwledge) are just a few examples of how this lineup is aiming at music fans across generations.

Blue Note Jazz Festival Napa daily schedule

Friday, July 28, 2023
Robert Glasper with special guests De La Soul
Headliner: Mary J. Blige
Other performers: Ari Lennox, Cordae, George Clinton, Big Freedia, Madlib (DJ set), Soulive (two sets), Adam Blackstone, Ghost-Note, Frédéric Yonnet, and J.Period
After-party: Big Freedia with 9th Wonder, DJ Trauma

Saturday, July 29, 2023
Robert Glasper with special guests Lalah Hathaway and Terrace Martin
Headliner: Nas
Other performers: Talib Kweli & Madlib, Smino, BJ the Chicago Kid, Digable Planets, Meshell Ndegecello, Rapsody, The Soul Rebels featuring Keyon Harrold, Terrace Martin, Yussef Dayes, Nicholas Payton, and Weedie Braimah & The Hands of Time
After-party: DJ Jazzy Jeff, DJ Trauma, J.Period

Sunday July 30, 2023
Robert Glasper with special guest Bilal
Headliner: Chance the Rapper
Other performers: NxWorries (Anderson .Paak & Knxwledge), Gary Clark Jr., Rakim & DJ Jazzy Jeff, PJ Morton, Madlib (DJ set), DOMi & JD Beck, Cory Henry, Taylor McFerrin & Marcus Gilmore with special guest Bobby McFerrin, Derrick Hodge, MonoNeon, Kenneth Whalum
After-party: DJ Pee .Wee (Anderson .Paak) all-vinyl set and DJ Trauma

Food and drinks at the Blue Note Jazz Festival Napa spotlight Black-owned businesses

The diversity extends beyond the musical acts to the food and drink vendors in the festival’s Wine Garden, which is new for 2023. NBA icon Dwyane Wade has been appointed the Director of Culture and Vibes (another first for the festival), helping to curate a diverse group of Black-owned and local businesses.

Expect to see Blige’s own Sun Goddess Wines, Black Girl Magic wines, Pur Noire Urban Wineries, Highway Vodka, Phillip Ashley Chocolates, Napa Valley’s own McBride Sisters Wine Company, The Duckhorn Portfolio and Yorkville’s Theopolis Vineyards.

Find it: Blue Note Jazz Festival Napa, Silverado Resort, 1600 Atlas Peak Road, Napa, CA 94558

This story was edited by Hearst Newspapers Managing Editor Kristina Moy; you can contact her at [email protected].