About Red Sea Jazz Festival

Our Vision

It’s a Celebration

The Red Sea Jazz Festival. A one-of-a-kind cultural event bringing together people and sounds every summer for over thirty years. All that is jazz is here: well-arranged anarchy, joy and gloom, madness and rhythm, sensuousness and reason. All that and more wonderfully set in the unique surroundings of Eilat Port, featuring freight containers that have magically formed music halls and majestic cranes adorning the endless paved terrain overlooking the yachts floating peacefully on the water. Industrial chic and warm desert night breezes just before winter begins call for an all-night good vibration until dawn. And every year, it is magic mixing the right ingredients: Freedom, Music, and Love.

RSJF Concept

Established in 1987, the International Red Sea Jazz Festival became a respected and valued cultural institution. The initial thought was to further stimulate the already vibrant local jazz scene and, on the way, invite guests to Israel’s fantastic tourist gem down south, the city of Eilat—a beautiful oasis resort by the sea. Orchestrating a brilliant composition of international and Israeli artists, the Red Sea Jazz Festival is considered one of the longest-running and most highly regarded festivals worldwide today. Featuring outstanding original Israeli jazz alongside first-class virtuoso guest jazz artists from around the globe, each evening includes eight to nine concerts followed by the traditional jam session until sunrise.

Scheduled during November, this upbeat festival attracts thousands of visitors and dozens of artists for a weekend spellbinding and sophisticated music celebration. Since 2011, the Red Sea Jazz Festival also offers a winter format held in February at various hotel venues around the city.

RSJF Site

The city of Eilat, a modern tourist town with a spectacular backdrop of blue sea and red desert mountains, is the ideal location for cultural events and recreation. Festival guests enjoy a pampering vacation at the various hotels and stay up all night, immersing themselves in the musical experience until dawn. The festival is held at Eilat Port, where every year, the immense paved terrain is turned into a concert hall complex thanks to an ingenious patent. The festival concert halls are created by the arrangement of freight containers, one on top of the other, forming six-meter-high walls to define the venues. With a warm breeze blowing from the sea to the docks, this festival site is a unique combination of natural desert and industrial urban vibe—the best place in the world for jazz.

RSJF Artists

For over thirty years, hundreds of guest artists from dozens of countries have performed at the Red Sea Jazz Festival, and the following features a choice few:

Herbie Hancock • Jacob Collier • Cory Henry • Earth, Wind & Fire • Incognito • Ron Carter • Wayne Shorter • Al Foster • Tito Puente • Michel Petrucciani • Rickie Lee Jones • Preservation Hall Band • Blood, Sweat & Tears • Diane Schuur • Enrico Rava • Toots Thielemans • Joshua Redman • Dee Dee Bridgewater • Didier Lockwood • Chick Corea • Dianne Reeves • Manhattan Transfer • Goran Bregović • Gonzalo Rubalcaba • Bad Plus • Hiromi • The Brecker Brothers • Gary Burton • Egberto Gismonti • Christian McBride • Branford Marsalis

RSJF Artistic Directors

The Red Sea Jazz Festival was founded by pianist Danny Gottfried, who served as its first artistic director for 22 years, shaping its unique character. In 2009, bassist Avishai Cohen took on the role, directing the festival for three years. He was succeeded by saxophonist Eli Degibri, who served as artistic director from 2012 to 2021.

Since 2021, the festival’s artistic director has been bassist and producer Yossi Fine, bringing his own unique perspective while maintaining the festival’s distinctive vision.

The festival’s winter edition was established by the late Dubi Lenz, who led it as artistic director for many years. Today, Niva Amali Maoz continues his legacy in this role.

RSJF Vision

The Red Sea Jazz Festival showcases a fascinating combination of the local Israeli cultural tapestry and the jazz world in all its diversity—from classic and traditional jazz through bebop, hard bop, and New Orleans, to fusion, salsa, rock jazz, and world music-infused ethnic jazz. Time and again, the Red Sea Jazz Festival presents a unique musical scene that truly combines the global and local, East and West, modern and traditional.

At the crossroads between Europe, Asia, and Africa, the State of Israel is a country of immigrants, a true melting pot of cultures and musical styles. Israeli jazz, as well as this festival, represents a vibrant meeting point of people and artistic expressions. With more Israeli jazz artists contributing to the worldwide jazz community over the years, the global village is here.