The Northfield Jazz Festival was founded in 2024 by festival director JC Sanford. The second annual festival will occur July 11-13, 2025 and will feature international Grammy-winning artists Miguel Zenón and Luis Perdomo, as well as Twin Cities-based artists Lila Ammons, Abinnet Berhanu, Lucia Newell, Mary Louise Knutson, and Sophia Kickhofel at various locations around Northfield on Saturday. The festival will also open Friday night with Northfield's own Strawberry Jazz Collective hosting a jazz party and swing dance at the Grand Event Center and will close with a jazz jam session at Imminent Brewing on Sunday night. For more info, go to our FaceBook page: https://www.facebook.com/northfieldjazzfestival.

Mary Louise Knutson

Jazz pianist-composer Mary Louise Knutson has been called "one of the most exciting artists to happen to jazz piano in quite some time." Her warm, inviting tone, broad range of emotional expression, and distinctive compositions have brought her much recognition on the national music scene. Knutson performs, records, and tours with her group, the Mary Louise Knutson Trio, and freelances with area vocalists, notably Connie Evingson and Patty Peterson (and formerly with the late Debbie Duncan); and with a variety of instrumental groups including the JazzMN Orchestra and the Minnesota Orchestra. From 2010-2018, Knutson toured with trumpeter Doc Severinsen, former bandleader for the Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson. Check out her music on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Music, or Amazon Music. www.MaryLouiseKnutson.com