Every year at the sunset of the holiday season in Koktebel a unique event is held, which has been attracting thousands of tourists, who are not indifferent to good and quality music. Festival «Jazz Koktebel» is one of the most famous Ukrainian music festivals, it is a large-scale event, which from year to year is successfully held on the Black Sea coast in the picturesque surroundings of Koktebel.
For the first time festival «Jazz Koktebel» was held in 2003. From that moment and to this day its organizers are D. Kiselev and L. Mlinarich — the ideological inspirers and founders of the festival, who conceived this event as a counterbalance to the barrage of tasteless music, flooded TV screens. Over the years, the concept of the festival has been refined, and now you can hear not only jazz, but also music of other styles — reggae, folk, rock and even punk, but necessarily performed only by the best representatives of the scene. However, jazz remains its leading direction, as one of the festival’s goals is to change the attitude towards this musical style, which many people consider «outdated».
Every year the best European bands playing modern jazz and improvisational music come to the small village for the «Jazz Koktebel» festival, and outstanding American jazz performers are invited as stars. The events take place on several stages set up on the coast and in the village, during the day, in the evening and until the early morning.
During the festival Koktebel becomes a place where you can forget about the problems and bustle of city life, enjoy the friendly atmosphere, freedom, wonderful music and cultural communication with other connoisseurs of quality musical creativity. The opportunity to visit a major music festival and simultaneously see the famous sights of Koktebel every year attracts more and more tourists who appreciate cultural tourism in Ukraine and want to combine several exciting ways of rest. Many seek to participate in the festival as volunteers, not only to have a rest, but also to contribute to the care for the preservation of the beautiful nature of Crimea.
For many guests, the first visit to the Jazz Koktebel Festival is not the last — having participated in this celebration of music and life once, they strive to return to it every year. Incredible atmosphere of a large-scale music festival, beautiful natural panoramas of Koktebel, warm Black Sea in the velvet season and the most vivid impressions of an unforgettable vacation — all this awaits the guests of the festival «Jazz Koktebel» every year in late August — early September.