By Linda Hayes
Jim Horowitz, founder of the Jazz Aspen Snowmass Festival, has a particularly unique way of experiencing the JAS June Experience, which will take place June 26 to 29 in downtown Aspen this summer. “I bang around town on an e-bike,” he shares with a laugh. “It’s a hard thing for me, in that I have a sense of wanting to know what’s going on overall, which is impossible because the events overlap. I don’t get the pleasure that an average attendee does, of just lingering. It’s an interesting perspective.”
Now in its 32nd season, the premier music festival was inspired by its prestigious sister festival in Marciac, France, which Horowitz had once attended. This year’s lineup features 40-plus diverse musical performances at 12 different venues, including the Limelight Hotel, Bad Harriet, the Wheeler Opera House lobby and the Aspen Art Museum.
Featured performers range from guitarist and vocalist Christone “Kingfish” Ingram to Thai-born drummer Salin, vocalist Shayna Steele, the Parlor Greens Hammond B-3 organ trio, and the JAS Academy Big Band, conducted by Christian McBride. “It’s a great diversity of artists, taking place in small boutique venues that are very intimate,” notes Horowitz. “We do not oversell the tickets, so people can move around and enjoy the performances.”
Accompanying the musical performances will be VIP Donor dinners Friday and Saturday, cocktails and a show by Cool Cool Cool on Thursday, and a Sunday brunch (open to the public), all at the VIP Tent at Rio Grande Park.
Beyond the festival is the long-anticipated opening of the Paul JAS Center located in the historic Red Onion building on East Cooper Avenue in town, which is scheduled for a soft opening sometime this fall. “It’s gotten very real lately,” notes Horowitz. “It will be the biggest thing we’ll have going when we are not doing festivals.”
Included in the intimate space, which will fill a niche as a gathering place that hasn’t existed in town before, will be a permanent year-round performance center, an event space, an intimate venue for JAS Café performances and an educational facility for public school students. There will also be a bar, a world-class studio for recording, teaching, and broadcasting, an elevated stage, and a green room for performing artists.
Should you be fortunate enough to attend this summer’s festival, enjoy the shows, and keep an eye out for Horowitz tooling around on his bike.
jazzaspensnowmass.org/june-experience-2025