The annual Hampton Jazz & Music Festival has brought the best of jazz, pop, blues, soul, and R&B to the Hampton Roads region for more than five decades. The first Festival was held at Hampton University’s Armstrong Stadium in 1968 to celebrate HU’s 100th Anniversary. The best in jazz showed up to play, including Cannonball Adderley, Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie Quintet, Herbie Mann Quintet, Thelonious Monk Quintet, Dionne Warwick, and Muddy Waters and his Blues Band.
The popular event was held again the following year but moved to the newly-built Hampton Coliseum in 1970 where it has since become an annual tradition every last weekend in June.
The Hampton Coliseum is a versatile facility that can accommodate over 13,000 roaring fans and has been providing stellar entertainment to fans for over 50 years.
A structural masterpiece located at the heart of the city of Hampton, it is a landmark in itself and attracts tourists from all over the United States. www.hamptoncoliseum.org.
Founded in 1868, Hampton University has been the Standard of Excellence in higher education for over 150 years. Rich in history and tradition, Hampton University is recognized as one of the top historically Black colleges and universities in the world, and recently named Top Private University in Virginia. Hampton offers a broad range of technical, liberal arts, and graduate degree programs. HU is a tightly knit community of learners and educators representing 49 states and 35 territories and nations. Visit: www.hamptonu.edu.
Since launching its first tour in 2022, the Black Promoters Collective (BPC) has rapidly ascended to become one of the most influential forces in the global live entertainment business. In just four years, BPC climbed to No. 14 on Pollstar’s 2026 Top 50 Worldwide Promoters chart, signaling a swift rise into the industry’s top tier. BPC is the only wholly Black-owned company consistently ranked on Pollstar’s Global Top 100 Promoters list and has been recognized as the No. 3 Global Top Urban Promoter/Producer. Its touring portfolio continues to drive both revenue and cultural impact, with The Queens Tour, Millennium Tour 2025, and The Boy Is Mine Tour (Brandy & Monica) all earning Pollstar Award nominations—underscoring the company’s strength in delivering commercially successful, culturally resonant live experiences. The company’s momentum is further validated by repeated inclusion on Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop Power Players and Live Music Power Players lists, with CEO Gary Guidry recognized as one of the executives shaping the future of touring. Included on Essence’s Power List, BPC is a coalition of six leading independent promoters, founded in 2020, that produces large-scale tours and festivals that bridge legacy and contemporary artists across genres. With a business model rooted in cultural authority and audience alignment, BPC continues to redefine how live entertainment is created, marketed, and experienced.
For more information, visit www.blackpromoterscollective.com.
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