Montclair Jazz Festival

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Montclair Jazz Festival The largest FREE jazz festival in the NYC region attracting 25,000 music fans, produced by JAZZ HOUSE KiDS. This year's dates announced! Save the date!

Events June, July, & August + August 15th, 2026 Jamboree

DOWNTOWN JAMBOREE + BLOCK PARTY August 15th 11am-10pm! August 15, 2026 for the Jamboree! join us for the biggest FREE jazz festival in the US and the coolest jazz around. Produced by JAZZ HOUSE KiDS, Montclair, NJ. Proceeds from the MONTCLAIR JAZZ FESTIVAL support the year-round music education initiatives of .

10/08/2026

🎺🎵 Throwback Thursday!

The CHiCA Power Big Band took the stage at the 17th Annual MONTCLAIR JAZZ FESTIVAL to play “Jones’in,” composed and arranged by Christine Jensen, featuring guest artist and ensemble director Ingrid Jensen.

CHiCA Power is our nationally recognized jazz instrumental residency program focused on girls ages 12-18, boosting confidence through jazz, providing a rich musical learning environment, peer-to-peer engagement, and mentoring by top female jazz instructors who lead by example. The CHiCA Power program has been going strong for over a decade, and supports our core missions of access and community building!

Want more? Head to our YouTube channel (link in bio) to check out other performances from our JAZZ HOUSE Summer Workshop, featuring over 150 students!

10/06/2026

🎷 Our JAZZ HOUSE Sonny Rollins Sax Ensemble swings through “Honeysuckle Rose”!

At the 17th Annual MONTCLAIR JAZZ FESTIVAL, the Sonny Rollins Sax Ensemble, led by JAZZ HOUSE alum Alex Laurenzi, played Fats Waller’s timeless standard in an arrangement by Benny Carter, one of jazz’s great saxophonists and arrangers.

Want more? Head to our YouTube channel (link in bio) to hear all of this year’s headliner sets, plus performances from our amazing emerging artists from the JAZZ HOUSE Summer Workshop! Relive the stage all year long🎧🎶

🎷”Jazz is the sound of freedom finding its voice.”This year, the 17th Annual MONTCLAIR JAZZ FESTIVAL was honored to coll...
10/05/2026

🎷”Jazz is the sound of freedom finding its voice.”

This year, the 17th Annual MONTCLAIR JAZZ FESTIVAL was honored to collaborate with the Smithsonian Institution as part of “Of the People: The Smithsonian Festival of Festivals,” a nationwide initiative celebrating America’s 250th anniversary through the lens of the cultural traditions that shape our story. Our festival was selected to represent the living legacy of jazz alongside a small group of festivals from across the country. From our roots as a grassroots student recital to becoming the largest outdoor summer jazz festival in the New York metropolitan area, we’ve never lost sight of the mission that started it all: using jazz as a tool for education, mentorship, and community connection.

This year’s collaboration allowed us to celebrate the jazz cities and artists who shaped our national story, all while showing the world what community-powered music education looks like in action. Audience members of all walks of life were encouraged to share what democracy and freedom means to them, and have their perspectives archived in the Smithsonian.

THANK YOU to the Smithsonian Institution for recognizing the power of this festival and this community. Being the one jazz festival among the “Festival of Festivals” is an honor we hold in the highest regard.

10/01/2026

🪈Throwback Thursday!

Christian McBride’s Big Band brought “Killer Joe” to our Main Stage, and watching an 18-piece band swing this hard live was a rare treat. The horns, the rhythm section, and the sheer size of the sound filled Downtown Montclair, and a standout flute solo from Todd Bashore had the whole crowd completely locked in.

Thanks to Yardbird Entertainment, who recorded all of our headliner sets this year, you can relive the stage anytime. Head to our YouTube (link in bio) to watch the full performance!

09/30/2026

🎙️ Sound Bites: Lana Turner
We caught up with Lana Turner at the MONTCLAIR JAZZ FESTIVAL! A longtime supporter of JAZZ HOUSE KiDS and part of the Gotham Kings, Lana is also a celebrated fashion stylist and collector, once featured in a New Yorker piece titled “The Sunday Styles of Lana Turner, a Harlem Fashion Icon.”

In this conversation, Lana speaks from the heart about what it means to put young people first. What does it mean to be creative? What is the foundation of music and history? What does it mean to be a young person today? Her reflections are a powerful reminder that investing in children and the arts is investing in the future itself, giving young people the tools to express themselves, understand their history, and find their place in the world.
Her words capture exactly what it feels like to stand at the center of music, culture, history, and life, right here at the MONTCLAIR JAZZ FESTIVAL.
Smithsonian Folklife

09/28/2026

🎹 As National Piano Month wraps up, we’re recognizing more than just the piano.

Take Me To The River New Orleans All-Stars brought a killer organ solo to our 17th Annual MONTCLAIR JAZZ FESTIVAL Stage, a reminder that jazz has always celebrated the full spectrum of keyboard instruments.
From piano to organ to synthesizer, these instruments have shaped the sound of jazz in wildly different ways. Jazz has never been about sticking to one sound, it’s about creativity, imagination, and the courage to explore something new.
A huge thank you to the Gia Maione Prima Foundation and United Airlines for bringing these legends to Montclair!

Here’s to every keyboardist, organist, and synth player who keeps pushing this genre forward!
Catch the full performance on our YouTube, Link in Bio🔗

09/24/2026

🎵The vibraphone reinvented!

Throwback Thursday to Joel Ross bringing his singular sound to the 17th Annual MONTCLAIR JAZZ FESTIVAL!
One of the most acclaimed vibraphonists of his generation, Joel has redefined the instrument’s role in modern jazz, leading his group Good Vibes (including a JAZZ HOUSE alum Ben Sherman!) with a sound that’s melodic, exploratory, and entirely his own.
As part of our celebration of American Jazz Cities, Joel Ross is representing the iconic city of Chicago.
Watch the clip and feel the energy all over again!

09/24/2026

🎥 In case you missed it, we were featured on PBS NewsHour last week!

Thank you to PBS for this amazing segment! Our Artistic Director Christian McBride was featured on PBS NewsHour, and we are so grateful that JAZZ HOUSE KiDS got to be part of the story. This is a proud moment for our students, our teachers, and our entire community.

The segment takes viewers inside JAZZ HOUSE KiDS and the MONTCLAIR JAZZ FESTIVAL, where Christian and President + Founder Melissa Walker have built a home for jazz education and community in Montclair.

“As a bass extraordinaire, bandleader, composer and educator, Christian McBride has been called one of the hardest-working men in jazz. He’s as comfortable performing with jazz icons as he is with artists like Sting and Billie Eilish. Senior arts correspondent Jeffrey Brown recently met McBride at his hometown jazz festival for PBS’ arts and culture series, CANVAS.”
Find more from PBS News at https://www.pbs.org/newshour
Catch the full segment at our link in bio!

09/23/2026

🎷🎵 Celebrating an icon in jazz: John Coltrane’s 100th birthday!
Born September 23, 1926, Coltrane had a deep impact on the evolution of jazz. From the harmonic complexity of “Giant Steps” to the spiritual depths of “A Love Supreme,” his relentless pursuit of something greater pushed jazz from its swing and blues roots into entirely new modal and avant-garde territory.
Nearly 60 years after his passing, his influence still radiates across every genre it has touched, from jazz to classical to hip hop, inspiring generations of musicians who continue to study his sound and his spirit.

To celebrate this special centennial, our JAZZ HOUSE Faculty Collective performed his music, including his classic “Mr. P.C.”, at the 17th Annual MONTCLAIR JAZZ FESTIVAL, carrying his artistry forward through the very tradition he helped define.
Soloist: Zoe Obadia (alto saxophone)

Our 2026 MONTCLAIR JAZZ FESTIVAL artwork by Andrés Chaparro seen at the end of this clip also beautifully honored the legacy of John Coltrane and Miles Davis.

Happy 100th birthday to a true giant of American music!

We are heartbroken by the loss of STEVE REMOTE, a longtime friend and audio engineer for JAZZ HOUSE KiDS whose extraordi...
09/22/2026

We are heartbroken by the loss of STEVE REMOTE, a longtime friend and audio engineer for JAZZ HOUSE KiDS whose extraordinary talent and warmth touched everyone who had the privilege of working with him.

Just last month, Steve was with us at our 17th Annual MONTCLAIR JAZZ FESTIVAL, ready to get to work as he always was, bringing his incredible ear, experience, and commitment to making the music sound its very best. We are so grateful that one of our last memories with Steve is doing what he did so brilliantly and loved.

Steve was a master of his craft. He began his career in the New York City nightclub scene in 1976 and went on to found Aura Sonic, building a career defined by excellence and a GRAMMY winning ear that he brought to every project, including so many with our JAZZ HOUSE community.

But beyond his impressive body of work, Steve was deeply valued by the JAZZ HOUSE family. We were fortunate to work alongside someone of such extraordinary craft, and even more fortunate to know the person behind it. Steve brought warmth, fun, and care to everything he touched. He always said YES to a challenge, and he made the music, and all of us around it, better.

Our hearts go out to Steve’s family, the entire Aura Sonic team and everyone who had the privilege of knowing and working with him.

He will be deeply missed.

Address

Lackwanna Plaza
Montclair, NJ
07042

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm
Saturday 12pm - 1pm
Sunday 8am - 6pm

Telephone

+19737442273

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