Bay State Hot Jazz Festival

01/25/2026

Applications are now open for the Bay State Hot Jazz Festival in 2026!

Artist Application. Bay State Hot Jazz Festival, an event from Boston

08/23/2025

Big thanks to for chatting with our founder and leader of Annie Linders ahead of this weekend's festival. We're here now at the Condon Shell in Medford, MA 11am to 3pm today and tomorrow. Come join us! The Fur Trappers play tomorrow!

08/22/2025

Big thanks to the The Boston Globe for pieces on the fest and on Revelry Food Truck (links in comments)! Festival schedule:

Saturday, August 23
11:00AM - 440
12:00PM - Rahsaan Cruse Jr.
1:00PM - The Busted Jug Band
2:00PM - The Whozit/Whatzit Allstar Band

Sunday, August 24
11:00AM - Shebop Swing Orchestra
12:00PM - The Berlin Hall Saturday Night R***e feat. Jim Kweskin
1:00PM - The Orleans Kids
2:00PM - Annie and the Fur Trappers

08/21/2025

Join us this weekend!

Audio: Annie and the Fur Trappers - "Joe Avery's Blues"

08/21/2025

Thank you to GBH's Va Lynda Robinson and Al Davis for speaking with festival founder and member of several performing bands Annie Linders ahead of this weekend's festival!

Annie and the Fur Trappers headline the Bay State Hot Jazz Festival in Medford this weekend. Their front woman spoke to GBH Music about the magic of ‘20s jazz, and what to expect at the free festival.

08/20/2025

Annie and the Fur Trappers play this Sunday, August 24 at the fest! They are a Boston based traditional jazz and blues band which formed in 2016. The band includes clarinet, trumpet, trombone, bass, banjo, guitar, and washboard. Annie and the Fur Trappers is dedicated to performing and preserving the music of the 1920s and 30s today. The band plays traditional jazz, delta blues, ragtime, and swing music.

08/18/2025

Rahsaan Cruse Jr. singing "Sweet Pumpkin." He hits the Bay State Hot Jazz Fest stage on Saturday, August 23 at the Condon Shell in Medford, MA. Can't wait!! This year’s fest is gonna be something!!

08/14/2025

The Whozit/Whatzit All-Stars play the fest Saturday, August 23. The band's mission is to present swinging jazz, with influences ranging from the earliest New Orleans styles through the emergence of hard bop at the end of the swing era. Their emphasis is on presenting the full range of swinging music created in the first 6 decades of the 20th century, with world class vocal and instrumental performances and an undeniably swinging beat.

08/11/2025

The Busted Jug Band performs at the fest on Saturday, August 23. Their music is a festive romp through time featuring group vocals, swinging rhythms and novel instrumentation. Inspired by the street bands of the early 20th Century, the group features kazoos, washboard, mandolin, banjo-uke, washtub bass, harmonica, accordion, jug, rhythm bones, National guitar, slide whistle, bicycle horns and rubber chickens. The group plays music of the classic black Jug Bands and String Bands of Memphis and Mississippi, and small Swing Bands and vocal groups of New Orleans and the Urban North.

08/10/2025

The Orleans Kids perform August 23 at the fest. They began playing in 2016 every year at the Roaring Twenties Lawn Party. Alex Owen and Cassidy Holden were both living in New Orleans and since they both had roots in the northeast, Cassidy invited Alex to play the Roaring Twenties Lawn party that year and it became a tradition. The group recorded an album in 2022, called "Ipswich Bound" and has continued to not only play at the Roaring Twenties Lawn party but also at venues in the New England area. These venues include Timberyard Brewing Company, Aeronaut Brewing Company, RiverWoods Durham, Goddard House, and NewBridge on the Charles. The band focuses on repertoire from the 1920's by Louis Armstrong, King Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, and Bix Beiderbecke.

08/09/2025

Thank you to The Arts Fuse for the feature previewing this year's fest, telling the story of the how the fest started, how we have evolved, and spotlighting some of the artists this year! Link in 1st comment.

08/06/2025

Rahsaan Cruse, Jr -- who performs August 23 at the fest -- is a rising star in the jazz scene who stands and delivers jazz repertoire in an evolutionary line straight from jazz greats who came before him. He demonstrates his mastery of the jazz idiom, nuanced and expressive, harkening listeners to another time and place.