Growers’ Notes and Photos
Jazz. Another favorite from the Jazz family, technically a pink. Indeterminate. A somewhat recent regular-leaf release. Mid-season.
Fruits are massive, unbelievably beautiful pinks with beige, pearlescent stripes weighing 10.5-17.5 oz (300-500 g). Meaty, juicy, sweet, and just like all the Jazz varieties, it has a fruity aftertaste.
Jazz – What an absolute stunner this variety is! It’s a vigorous plant with thick stems and tons of huge foliage. Kept it to about 5 ft (1.5 m) in the greenhouse, and it was completely loaded with large, gorgeous fruits weighing 10.5-17.5 oz (300-500 g).
They have a delicate pink base with yellow, pearlescent flaming over the top, heavily ribbed at the shoulders. The flesh is incredibly tender with a creamy texture, sweet, with fruity notes in the flavor profile. Grown in a poly greenhouse and pruned to two stems, it behaved like a classic mid-season variety for me here.
Grew my Jazz in the greenhouse, seeds came from Kulik. It’s an incredibly vigorous vine, easily over 6.5 ft (2 m) tall by now—I literally can’t reach the top anymore. So far it only pumped out one ripe fruit (there are other trusses set, but they’re still tiny), but man, that one tomato is a total showstopper. Haven’t tasted it yet.
Picked this one on July 23. Dropped seeds on Feb 26, planted out in the dirt on May 7.
Ha, another Jazz. The funny thing is, I stared right past it on the vine until it started getting color. Total chameleon, like next-level camouflage, even though it was hanging right in front of my nose. Literally the definition of missing the elephant in the room.
This is actually only the 5th or 6th fruit off this Jazz plant. Yield for me this year has been pretty dismal, especially considering how massive the vine is. Granted, every single fruit has been a whopper—the smallest was 12.3 oz (350 g). By the way, regarding the height, both of my stems are way over 6.5 ft (2 m) tall.
The flavor on this specific fruit was fantastic. Juicy, meaty, and a perfectly balanced tomato taste. It definitely has its own unique profile, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on the exact undertones. Tender texture, beautiful flesh, very few seeds. I’d say the flavor leans more toward a classic pink tomato.
Gorgeous variety from the Jazz family. Indeterminate, grew two vines in the greenhouse pruned to two stems. The fruits are oblate pinks with light pearlescent stripes, wildly delicious, weighing up to 1.5 lbs (700 g).
Big shoutout to Sofia 27 for the seeds! 🙏
Just want to update my review: Jazz actually turned out to be a bit more productive than I originally thought, and it handled the cold like a champ. It kept ripening even when night temps dropped to near 32°F (0°C). Pulled the last ones at the end of September, ripened them indoors on the counter, and they tasted amazing!
Turns out it set way more fruit than I realized—they just hide incredibly well when they’re green. But it only bulks up and ripens them sequentially, one or two at a time, maybe three tops. A very extended, drawn-out harvest. Oddly enough, the ones that ripened in the cold September weather were actually sweeter than the July and August ones. Solid flavor, still can’t quite pinpoint the specific undertones, but it’s really well-balanced. Definitely planning to run it again from my own saved seeds to double-check the yield potential.
Running one plant in the greenhouse this year from my own saved seed. One of the stems snapped its tie and flopped over, half on the dirt and half leaning against the greenhouse wall. It pushed out such a massive jungle of foliage that I literally couldn’t get in there with a stepladder anymore, so I just left it untied.
Yield is extremely low again, even fewer fruits than last year—maybe 5 total (or at least that’s all I can see right now, won’t know the real number until they start getting some color). But man, they are huge. Seriously massive. Barely managed to twist this one off the truss, ended up nicking the skin with my fingernail in the process.
There are 3 fruits on this cluster, this one plus two more green whoppers. The total weight of the truss is easily going to hit 3.3 lbs (1.5 kg), if not more. I didn’t support the truss; it’s just laying there ripening on top of some folded landscape fabric I left on a forgotten bag of potting soil, which might be why they got so heavy.
Picked another Jazz, and once again, an absolute giant. Two fruits on the truss, this one and a slightly smaller one. Since this vine clearly doesn’t pump out a ton of fruit, it definitely compensates for the low numbers by cranking out these massive, heavy singles. Going to save seeds from this one since it wasn’t a megabloom and has a flawless shape.
Jazz (Pink version). Ran this stunner again 👍 Huge pink striped beefsteaks, absolutely top-tier flavor.
The vine is sturdy and grows extremely tall. This summer it only gave me 4 tomatoes total, weighing in at 14 oz to 1.5 lbs (400-700 g). But it is incredibly delicious; the flesh is like a watermelon and has very few seeds. Flavor is always subjective, but to me, a tasty tomato is one with zero acid and plenty of sweetness.
Full Summary: Plant, Yield, Taste and Storage
- 🌿 Plant: A massive, vigorous indeterminate vine with thick stems and dense foliage. It easily tops 6.5 ft (2 m) in a greenhouse and pushes out heavy canopies. Growers noted that green fruits hide perfectly in the foliage (“level 80 camouflage”), making them hard to spot until they blush.
- 📈 Yield: Generally reported as low to average. The plant tends to set fruit sparingly (some growers reported only 4-6 tomatoes per plant), but it compensates with extreme size. Fruits regularly weigh between 10.5 oz and 1.5 lbs (300-700 g). It has a drawn-out, sequential ripening habit rather than flushing all at once.
- 👅 Taste: Universally praised. The flesh is described as sweet, tender, and creamy, resembling a watermelon in texture. It has a complex fruity flavor profile with almost zero acidity, making it a favorite for those who prefer purely sweet tomatoes.
- 🌎 Who Reviewed It: Successfully grown in harsh, short-season climates, including Moscow, Kazakhstan, and Northern Russia, proving it has great cold tolerance and can continue to ripen even when night temps dip to near freezing.
The “Jazz” tomatoes (including Pink Jazz, Orange Jazz, and Sunrise Jazz) were bred by Fred Hempel at Artisan Seeds in California. They are famous for their stunning metallic stripes and sweet, fruity flavor profiles.
In the thread, one grower specifically mentions saving seeds from a fruit that wasn’t “махровый” (the Russian term for a fasciated blossom or megabloom). Megablooms are those giant, fused king-blossoms that produce heavily ribbed, catfaced tomatoes. Saving seeds from a non-megabloom, perfectly shaped fruit is a standard best practice to ensure you don’t accidentally select for severe catfacing in future generations.
