Jacksonville Jazz Festival: Parliament Funkadelic feat. George Clinton at Ford on Bay, Jacksonville (May 22, 2026)

The annual Jacksonville Jazz Festival just kick off last night at the Ford on Bay stage. Technically, the Jazz Fest began on Thursday with the Jazz Piano Competition over at the nearby Florida Theatre… where the winner will perform on Sunday’s show.

With the Jazz Festival kicking off proper last night, it also brought in many afterparty shows at various venues, courtesy of Jazz Fest After Dark (see Amy Amy Amy at Albatross).

Also worth mentioning, is that the Jazz Fest also included an additional Riverfront Plaza stage, but you have to leave Ford on Bay and take a walk to Riverfront and their schedule is exactly the same as Jazz Fest, so you have to pick and choose what bands to see. Bands on the Riverfront schedule: Raisin Cake Orchestra, Marcus Click Quintet, and Ramona + The Riot, with DJ Nickfresh playing music between sets.

Gates to the Jacksonville Jazz Festival were slightly delayed in opening, and although the first act was slightly delayed, everything went on pretty much as scheduled (although I think some acts, such as Ghost Note, had to drop one song).

Ka’Jeza Hawkins and Yona Gavino (from Action News Jax) were the official hosts, who introduced each band or made special announcements. Sometime they would bring up other announcers, such as Michael Stewart (who would appear later to introduce us to P-Funk). While the stage is being re-dressed for the next band, we are often shown commercials from corporate donors, such as Publix. They were giving out free samples, and the lines were decent. Same goes for the food trucks, a variety of burgers, gyros, and ribs (?) I could not tell because they had a massive line. Drinks were fairly priced for these type of free events (a bottle of water was $5).

Of course, VIP are the way to go, if you want to really enjoy the JJF. They had upfront seating, they had air conditioned bathrooms, they had shades, and their own drink serving area (less standing in line). It is really the way to experience this festival.

First band on the bill is drummer, educator, and producer John Lumpkin II. Since he is local, he had the benefit of bringing on various guest throughout his set, including Brady Clampitt for “Good Music” (with extended bongo solo) and “Tell Me You Love Me”, a two-for-one deal Anthony and Veniece (which I misheard was “me niece”), and Rab G. Lumpkin’s session band included organist Marcus Douglas, pianist Joshua Bowlus, bong player Henderson Olivares, guitarist James Hogan, saxophonist DeAndre Lettsome, bassist Chris Stafford, trumpeter Langston Oliver. It seemed like a lot of thoughts and love went into planning for this truly special set.

Next up was Butcher Brown, an instrumental band that I wrote in my notes, “smooth easy breezy”. The Virginia band, featuring Marcus Tenney (trumpet and saxophone), Morgan Burrs (guitar), Corey Fonville (percussion), Andrew Randazzo (bass), and DJ Harrison (keyboards), is very laid back. I like how the Street Fighter T-Shirt wearing brass player would just sit out (instead of being in front) when his part in the song is not needed. While personally speaking, it’s a little too mellow and sleepy for my taste, I know many people loves them.

Dallas’ Ghost-Note (Robert Sput Searight, Dominique Xavier, Sylvester Onyejiaka, Peter Knudsen, Jonathan Mones, Mike Jelani Brooks, Danny Wytanis, MacKenzie, and Jay McK) was polar opposite of Butcher Brown, as they were a little more upbeat and funkier. We did catch the band previously in May 2024 and ‘noted’: “Groove titans Ghost-Note stopped by the Dakota Jazz Club, in Minneapolis, in support of their album Mustard n’Onions, featuring the single “Grandma’s Curtains (ft. Eric Gales).” The album is the group’s first new LP in six years. The band is led by Snarky Puppy’s multi-GRAMMY-winning duo of drummer-keyboardist Robert Sput Searight and percussionist Nate Werth.”

Ghost-Note’s set includes snippets of popular songs, but their strange cutup version, such as TLC’s “Chasing Waterfalls” or bits of James Brown’s “It’s a New Day”. It’s clear they wear their musical influence on their sleeve, and none more than their cover of Prince (unreleased?) song that they said was never played live. The show was special due to the fact that it was saxophonist/flutist’s Jonathan Mones’ birthday.

Closing out the show was Parliament Funkadelic, the legendary funk band featuring mister George Clinton. Clinton is as colorful and lively as ever, despite being in his mid-80s. Just to give you some perspective in Clinton’s 70+ years of an entertainer, Jacksonville Aviation Authority’s VP of External Affairs, Michael Stewart said he saw Clinton in 1969, and then his son saw Clinton in 1993… and now, we’re here in 2026 for this special performance at the Jacksonville Jazz Festival!

P-Funk wasted no time to kick in the funk with various funk-themed songs like “Make My Funk the P-Funk” and “Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof Off the Sucker)”. There’s no doubt about it, there is an energy that is contagious when you see the large cast of band members on stage, playing and dancing in unison to the sound that is unmistakingly P-Funk. The funk mob cast is ever-rotating (with over 200 band members!), but currently many of his grandchildren have taken on the musical footstep by joining 3GP (a contemporary musical offshoot of Parliament Funkadelic). After finishing the Jazz Festival, 3GP headed over to the Jazz Fest After Dark show at the Albatross, playing at 1am!

What a perfect to close out the first Jacksonville Jazz Festival 2026 date. We look forward to doing it all over again for Saturday!

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