The Jazz & Heritage Foundation has confirmed that more than 425,000 people attended the 44th annual Jazz & Heritage Festival this year, over seven days at the Fair Grounds Race Course on April 26-28 and May 2-5. This is an impressive total by any standard, despite the rains and mud that reduced the turnout on three of the seven days.

Jazz Fest draws 425,000

2013’s edition marked the first fully multi-media Jazz Fest, with AXS TV doing the first live broadcast in Fest history over the second weekend. Along with the acts that played, some longtime friends of the Fest, notably Jimmy Buffett came to add commentary. Some of those clips have now been uploaded to YouTube with the festival’s blessing. In addition, both Tune In Radio and WWOZ presented live streams of the festival.

Look for a thorough wrapup of the Fest in the next issue of OffBeat. The dates of the 2014 Jazz Fest are now confirmed as April 25-May 4.