Since 2013, Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews and his funk-rock band Orleans Avenue have headlined the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival’s main Acura Stage on the final Sunday.

But not this year. No one will.

After surviving fire, rain and Hurricane Katrina, Jazz Fest succumbed to the novel coronavirus.

On Thursday, the festival's producers announced that the 2020 Jazz Fest was canceled, after initially being postponed.

The eight-day extravaganza of New Orleans music, food and culture typically draws hundreds of thousands of locals and visitors to the Fair Grounds each spring. Across its half-century history, Jazz Fest has grown into an annual economic powerhouse second only to Carnival on the local calendar.

"It takes something truly momentous to interrupt a 50-year New Orleans tradition as special as the Festival, but we feel strongly that the most prudent course right now is to allow more time for the situation to stabilize," the festival's producers said in a statement. "We thank everyone for their patience as we have considered all of the matters necessary to making this difficult decision."

Looking ahead, next year's Jazz Fest is scheduled for April 22-May 2, 2021.

Tickets purchased for this year will be valid in 2021. Notifications about refunds for 2020 tickets will be sent by April 22.

The roster for what would have been the 51st Jazz Fest included the Who, Dead & Company, Lizzo, the Foo Fighters, Stevie Nicks, Lionel Richie, the Lumineers, the Black Crowes, Brandi Carlile, Erykah Badu, Lenny Kravitz, H.E.R., Norah Jones, the Wu-Tang Clan, Frankie Beverly & Maze, Chick Corea and hundreds of regional acts.

The first of two four-day weekends at the Fair Grounds was originally to have kicked off on April 23.

+9 New Orleans Mayor Cantrell recommends no festivals for 2020 due to coronavirus Mayor LaToya Cantrell put New Orleans on notice Tuesday that the festivals and major events postponed by the coronavirus outbreak may not be h…

The non-profit New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation owns Jazz Fest and spends its proceeds on cultural and educational programs. As recently as an April 9 meeting via the online platform Zoom, the foundation's 27 board members were reportedly still considering various options and budgets for staging some form of the 2020 festival in October.

But over the past week, the ever-changing landscape of the pandemic shifted once again, and the 2020 festival's fate was sealed.

The final decision to cancel Jazz Fest reportedly involved the foundation’s executive committee and officers, and the festival's co-producers: Quint Davis’s Festival Productions Inc.-New Orleans and global live entertainment powerhouse AEG.

Mayor LaToya Cantrell apparently also weighed in. During a Tuesday press conference, she said she had spoken to festival organizers about calling off their events because of the potential of the coronavirus threat lingering until fall.

“My recommendation is absolutely no large events such as French Quarter Fest and Jazz Fest, even Essence Festival, as it relates to the year of 2020,” Cantrell said Tuesday. “The focus should shift to 2021.”

+3 Essence Fest cancels 2020 event in New Orleans amid coronavirus pandemic The 2020 Essence Festival of Culture, a cornerstone of New Orleans’ summertime tourism economy and arguably the pre-eminent predominantly Afri…

So far, producers of the French Quarter Festival, which was rescheduled from this week to Oct. 1-4, and the Voodoo Experience in City Park, which is Halloween weekend, have not announced any changes to their plans.

On Wednesday, producers of the Essence Festival of Culture announced the cancellation of their 2020 fest, which they'd previously bumped back from the July 4th weekend to an unspecified date “closer to the fall.”

Jazz Fest ended up following a similar playbook. On March 17, Festival Productions announced the fest would be pushed back to the fall, with the new dates to be revealed later.

For Jazz Fest to now be canceled entirely is an even greater disappointment and a devastating blow to New Orleans’ music community. For many local musicians and music venues, it is the most lucrative stretch of the year.

Meters bassist George Porter Jr. typically plays with “everybody and their grandma” during Jazz Fest, averaging 15 gigs between the Fair Grounds and nighttime club shows.

That bonanza accounts for 20 percent of his annual income. To know there will be no Jazz Fest this year is “definitely a weird feeling,” Porter said.

Drummer Shannon Powell performed with late Danny Barker at the very first Jazz Fest, staged in what is now Armstrong Park in 1970. During the 2020 Jazz Fest, Powell was booked for six gigs at the Fair Grounds in the Economy Hall Tent, the Blues Tent and the Jazz Tent. “I’m all over the place,” he said.

His guitar/drums duo Uncle Nef was slated to make its Jazz Fest debut in the Blues Tent. Losing that showcase “kind of hurt my feelings. I was looking forward to everybody hearing that.”

He was also scheduled to back jazz bandleaders Charlie Gabriel, Lars Edegran and Tommy Sancton, and take part in a tribute to trombonist Al Gray and Kermit Ruffins’ tribute to Louis Armstrong.

Additionally, he would have worked most nights during the festival at Preservation Hall, Snug Harbor, the Jazz Playhouse or the Carousel Bar in Hotel Monteleone.

With all those gigs, “the revenue was pretty good,” Powell said. “I’m gonna miss out on that.”

The members of bilingual pop band Sweet Crude use Jazz Fest to debut the costumes and sets they’ll use on tour for the rest of the year.

“Jazz Fest is our coming out party for the season,” said Sweet Crude’s Sam Craft. “That’s the high water mark for our year.

“Playing Jazz Fest is like going on a world tour. We’ll find ourselves in Europe or Canada and people will come up and say, ‘We saw you at Jazz Fest! That’s how we know about you.’”

Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews plans much of his year around Jazz Fest. In addition to his high-profile slot at the Fair Grounds, he headlines his annual “Treme Threauxdown” at the Saenger Theatre and a fundraiser for his foundation.

“It really is all based around Jazz Fest,” Andrews said. “If Jazz Fest doesn’t go, then my events won’t go as well.

“It’s disappointing that it’s not going to happen, but this virus is very serious. I’d rather be safe and healthy so that when we can, we can jam and have fun with people from around the world and do what we normally do.”

Music clubs that are normally packed during Jazz Fest will feel the loss as well.

“People all over the world know about the Rock 'n' Bowl because they were here during Jazz Fest,” owner John Blancher said. “For most of my 31-plus years in the business, Jazz Fest was the busiest two weeks of the year.

"Jazz Fest is opportunity. Sadly, many opportunities for local musicians and music clubs and restaurants have vanished.”

Jazz Fest has faced its share of adversity over the decades. The Fair Grounds grandstand burned down prior to the 1994 festival. The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, had a chilling effect on travel and depressed festival attendance.

+5 The 2020 French Quarter Festival would have kicked off this week. Instead, silence The 37th French Quarter Festival should have opened Thursday with a schedule of performances that included the Ellis Marsalis Quintet.

The rainy 2004 Jazz Fest lost approximately $1 million, which ultimately led to AEG coming aboard as co-producer. The 2006 Jazz Fest was staged just eight months after Hurricane Katrina, with much of the city still in ruins and many citizens and musicians displaced.

Last year, the festival scrambled to replace its marquee 50th anniversary headliner, the Rolling Stones, after the band canceled so singer Mick Jagger could undergo heart surgery.

But never in Jazz Fest's colorful five-decade history has it been called off entirely, until now.

Andrews says that on the day he was supposed to close the 2020 festival, he may just perform at home alone.

“I’ll put on my tank top and sunglasses and play as if I'm onstage," he said. "Even though I can’t be out there, I’ll be playing in the spirit of Jazz Fest by myself.”