The VIP Experience

Music lovers are encouraged to join the Atlanta Jazz Festival Society, which offers VIP access to the weekend of music.

A membership for two costs $1,500 and includes two VIP festival passes for all three days of the festival, including access to the VIP Lounge with food and beverages, seating in the VIP area to view performances, and private restrooms.

Other perks of the membership include parking passes for all three days, a gift bag of festival souvenirs, a framed poster of this year’s AJF artwork, and two tickets to the Russell Gunn concert at Symphony Hall on May 26. on Friday, May 26, at 8 p.m. To reserve tickets, visit atlantajazzfest.com.

Individual Day Passes are $350 per person and include a one-day pass to the festival, access to the VIP Lounge, seating in the VIP area to view performances, and private restrooms.

Visit atlantajazzfest.com for more information.

Commissioned by The Apollo Theater, “The Blues and Its People” is composed and Music directed by Gunn and developed by Leatrice Ellzy, with projection design by Zavier Taylor, and lighting design by CJ Pierce.

“I saw the concert at The Apollo, and it was a profound and uplifting experience,” states Camille Russell Love, Executive Director of the City of Atlanta - Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs. “It’s the perfect way to kick off the Atlanta Jazz Festival weekend.”

Poet, novelist, teacher, and political activist Amiri Baraka was also a noted writer of music criticism. His classic history “Blues People: Negro Music in White America” (1963) traces Black music from slavery to contemporary jazz. “Where the music goes that’s where the people go. The music reflects the people,” Baraka said.