Like the Beaches International Jazz Festival, most of the events are outdoors and located throughout the downtown core.
Incorporating a blend of jazz styles - from straight-ahead to bop to fusion to avant-garde- with tastes of other genres (for example, blues, funk, R&B, hip-hop, Latin, etc...) the festival has something for everyone.
It was formerly known as the DuMaurier Jazz Festival, until the ban on tobacco advertising by the federal government forced the need for a new sponsor.
Today, the festival is sponsored by TD Bank and has since dropped the word "Downtown" from its title.
Roy Thomson Hall, the CN Tower and Metro Convention Centre were the three venues for that inaugural season.