Gilmore Jazz Festival Director Announces Shift to Annual Format Starting 2027

BELMONT — February 18, 2026 — Gilmore International Piano Festival director Seth Abramson told Belmont community access TV's "Talk About Jazz with Doug Hall" on February 18 that the Kalamazoo, Michigan festival will shift from a biannual to an annual schedule starting in 2027. Abramson, who joined the organization in September 2022 as director of jazz, said the 2026 festival — running April 30 through May 10 across 75-plus events — will also mark the debut of the Larry J. Bell Jazz Artist Award, a quadrennial honor funded by former board of trustees president Larry Bell and modeled on the festival's existing classical Gilmore Artist Award. Pianist Sullivan Fortner, a New Orleans native, was named the inaugural recipient; Fortner's album "Southern Nights" simultaneously won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Album. Abramson described the award's selection as entirely behind-the-scenes over multiple years, comparing the process to the MacArthur Fellowship, and said Fortner will open and close the 2026 festival as recipient.