Fort Mose Jazz & Blues Series Returns for Encore

EVOLVE Digital

The sounds of jazz and blues will fill the air at Fort Mose Historic State Park, the site of the first legally sanctioned free African settlement in what would become the United States of America, with the return of the Fort Mose Jazz & Blues Feb. 10-19.

Featured performers include Gladys Knight, Mavis Staples, Christian McBride’s New Jawn, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Rhiannon Giddens and Valerie June.

The inaugural event in 2022 raised more than $51,000 in support of the Fort Mose Historical Society’s efforts to build an on-site fort representation and development of interpretative resources, according to a media release. The original fort was destroyed during the Battle of Bloody Mose in 1740, the release states.

The series is produced by St. Johns County Cultural Events, operator of The St. Augustine Amphitheatre and Ponte Vedra Concert Hall, with support from the St. Johns County Tourist Development Council, St. Augustine Distillery, Fort Mose Historical Society and Flying Saucer Presents.

The official schedule is as follows: