UpTown Waterloo Jazz Festival

11/21/2025

2025 Festival headliner Monkey House is releasing their acclaimed 2025 album Crashbox on vinyl! The next best thing to their memorable Festival performance is this vinyl pressing! Order yours today before they sell out!

ALMA Records is thrilled to announce the first release in its Special Limited Collector’s Edition Vinyl series: 𝘾𝙧𝙖𝙨𝙝𝙗𝙤𝙭, the latest album by Monkey House. This 45 RPM audiophile Double LP is pressed on 180-gram turquoise translucent vinyl from an ultra high-resolution 24Bit/192kHz audio master, delivering the warmth, depth, and fidelity only true audiophile vinyl can offer. The first 300 units are individually numbered and include a personally hand signed lithograph by Don Breithaupt, making every copy a one-of-a-kind collector’s item. N.B. This rare collector’s version is 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐯𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 at shopalmarecords.com! To make this release even more special, the first copy off the press will be auctioned — giving one fan the chance to own a true piece of Monkey House history. Available worldwide December 5, 2025. Preorder now while supplies last!

https://shopalmarecords.com

11/11/2025

We are so pleased to celebrate our 2024 Headliner, Laila Biali's GRAMMY nomination for her fabulous album Wintersongs. Laila is a great friend of our Festival and The Jazz Room here in Waterloo. Best of luck at the Awards Show and congratulations on this tremendous accomplishment!! You can purchase the album here:
https://lailabialimusic.bandcamp.com/album/wintersongs

Canadian jazz singer and pianist Laila Biali reacts to being nominated for best traditional pop vocal album against artists like Elton John, Lady Gaga and Ba...

09/28/2025

Even though it is technically fall, today is Summer 2025's last hurrah and it promises to be SUNNY & WARM - both the weather AND the music at Galt Jazz Cambridge. Bring your chair and we'll see you there!

You WILL miss summer so come out and enjoy the street, the crowd, the patios! Wear white shoes, sandals, shorts and T's this Sunday on Main Street 2-5pm and see our guest performer who is unmistakably responsible for bringing us the SUN!!!

09/23/2025

All summer long, our friends at Galt Jazz Cambridge have provided us with great live music in downtown Galt. This is their final outdoor concert for the season and it promises to be fantastic with great weather to boot! Next month the party moves indoors.

Our FINAL OUTDOOR SHOW of the season next Sunday, 2-5pm! Lots to do for kids and adults. Encore Kids' Zone. Ted Wake String Band starts at 1:00. PATIOS are all open!Say adios to summer with a fun STREET PARTY!!!..bring a chair, relax, enjoy!

09/19/2025

Enjoy another free event from our friends at Neruda Arts this weekend! Thanks for supporting live music!

🎶 TOMORROW!
This Saturday and Sunday, we will be presenting this FREE, intimate festival celebrating diverse cultural expressions of Jazz in the charming village of St. Jacobs.

✴️Also today Friday, we will host our pre-festival event, the Visual Arts Exhibit. A Celebration of Arts, Culture and Community. Neruda Arts Studio, 7pm-10 pm

✴️Saturday, September 20: Village Hopping Fest - 12pm-6:30pm

✴️Sunday, September 21: Waterfront Fest (along the river) 12:30pm-7pm

FREE🎉

See you there!



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09/16/2025

Join our friends at Neruda Arts for their Festival this weekend in St Jacobs! It promises to be a lot of fun!

09/12/2025

Today is the big day for the start of the Belmont Village Bestival! Bring your chair and join the party! Congratulations to the organizers and thank you to the sponsors, the vendors, the performers and most of all the volunteers for keeping live music alive!! See you there!!

🎵 The 9th Annual Belmont Village Bestival is ALMOST HERE! 🎨 🎸
Join us tomorrow, Friday, Sept. 12, and Saturday, Sept. 13, for a weekend packed with local talent, food, and fun for all ages! 🎺

✨ What to expect:
🎤 7:00pm: Friday night kickoff at our Glasgow Stage
☀ 7:30pm: Festival opener the SUNDOWN SAINTS hits the stage!
🐴 9:00pm: Friday night headliner WHITEHORSE hits the stage!
🍻 Stockyards Beer Garden (Friday night and Saturday!)
🍴 Food trucks & local eats (Friday night and Saturday!)
👗 Artisan vendors (Fri @ 6pm, Sat @ 10am)
🌈 Pride Night Drag Show at Arabella Park (Friday, 8pm)
🎈 Saturday (10am-10pm): Family fun at KidSquare, & two stages of entertainment
☀️ Weather looks perfect!

Grab a chair, bring your friends, and let's end summer with a bang!
Full schedule: https://www.belmontvillagebestival.com/schedule

09/05/2025

One week to go before one of the last parties of the Summer 2025 and we can't wait! Our friends at the Belmont Village Bestival always know how to show us a great time!! We hope to see you there!

Belmont Village Bestival is a two day live music and arts festival celebrating local performers in this beautiful gem within the City of Kitchener and right next door to the City of Waterloo!

09/04/2025

With summer winding down, The Jazz Room is back with another spectacular season of performers! We are so lucky to have such an intimate and music-focused venue in our community!

The Jazz Room season opens Friday night with a long-time favourite Dave Wiffen Quintet!

Dave Wiffen received a BMUS (performance) from Wilfrid Laurier University and a Masters of Music (Jazz and Contemporary Media, performance) from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester New York. Right after graduating, he toured North America and Japan with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra and has since performed all over the world including England, Mexico, Holland and Dubai.

He has performed with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, Orchestra London, the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra, Manteca, The Peter Appleyard Jazz Orchestra, The Spitfire Band, and The New Berlin Chamber Ensemble.

He has backed up such diverse artists as Aretha Franklin, Natalie Cole, Marvin Hamlisch, Michael Brecker, Jerry Mulligan, The Tenors, Dinah Shore and Steve Allen, among many others.
He has been the saxophone instructor in the music department at Wilfrid Laurier University since 2000 and held the same position at Western University for seven years. He has been a member of many pit orchestras including the Stratford Festival and the Toronto productions of The Full Monty and The Producers.

He has appeared on numerous recordings, including nationally broadcast television and radio commercials, two Juno nominated jazz CD’s and has recorded a live CD at the Jazz Room that was produced by the Grand River Jazz Society.
He was a member of Blues legend Mel Brown’s band for 10 years and appears on the CD, “Homewreckin’ Done Live”.

08/22/2025

Another summer party is set to happen and you can help out!! Our friends at the Belmont Village Bestival are always happy to welcome volunteers. As with any Festival, volunteers are the backbone of the event. Without them, no Festival is possible. Please consider helping out! See you at the Bestival!!

08/06/2025

One more day until the party gets started! Best of luck to our friends at Kitchener Blues Festival who kick off their 25th annual event with a Fundraising concert followed by dozens of free shows! Great Live Music on a fantastic summer weekend - could life be any better? Another can't miss event - we will see you there!!

We are excited to present our 25th anniversary in 2025.

08/05/2025

At our Festival this year we were pleased to announce Ronald Schirm is the winner of this year's Allan Johnson Spirit of Jazz Award. It is presented to recognize a member of our community who has championed the Jazz art form. Ron is a local trombonist who continues to play in the area and across the country. He has been a member of KW Big Band Theory and also sits in with the Cambridge Symphony from time to time. He was the Artistic Director of the Sun Life UpTown Waterloo Jazz Festival for many years and recently retired from a position at Wildrid Laurier University teaching students the finer points of Jazz and leading the Jazz Ensemble. Ron truly exemplifies the values of this award and we are pleased to recognize him along with past recipients Stephen Preece and Lawrence McNaught for their contributions to Jazz in our area. Here is our current Artistic Director Derek Hines presenting Ron with his award.