Monterey Jazz Festival

06/23/2026

In the words of Quincy Jones: “This girl is IT!”

It's Katie Thiroux, Director of our Next Generation Women in Jazz Combo, and triple-threat talent with her bravura bass playing, assured singing, and compelling compositions.

Join us this September and enjoy Katie Thiroux's classic jazz live, in an unforgettable only-in-Monterey, moment.

When: Friday, Sept. 25 at 7:30pm
Where: Monterey Jazz Festival, Pacific Jazz Cafe (Grounds)
Tickets: https://heyor.ca/k34tpl

See you this September!

06/21/2026

Music is one of the gifts we share across generations. This Father's Day, we're celebrating the fathers, grandfathers, children, and families who are part of the Monterey Jazz community.

To all the fathers and father figures who have shared their love of music, mentorship, and joy with the next generation, thank you. Happy Father's Day from Monterey Jazz. 🎺❤️

06/20/2026

MJF fans, please welcome the Patrick Bartley Quartet to our West End Stage.

What's in store during this Friday, Sept. 25 performance? A sound that’s both strikingly ambitious, yet comfortingly familiar. 🎷

The lineup for this passionate exploration features an all-Florida-born cast: Patrick Bartley on alto saxophone, Barry Stephenson on bass, Stefan Klein on drums, and one of the most promising young pianists of today’s generation, the prodigious Miles Lennox, who was previously under the tutelage of the legendary Herbie Hancock.

Friday, Sept. 25, 5:30pm
West End Stage (Grounds)
69th Monterey Jazz Festival

Listen in and then get your tickets: https://heyor.ca/HJ8Q3J

06/19/2026

Happy Juneteenth! Let’s “Send it on Down” with the triumphal return of the legendary Blind Boys of Alabama — their first festival appearance in 30 years — with special guest Bobby Rush at the 67th Monterey Jazz Festival in 2024. It was a magnificent and magical moment at Monterey.

06/18/2026

Mark your calendars for Sept. 27, as Dabin Ryu takes the MJF69 Garden Stage at 1:00pm.

She's bringing her talents, her trio, and her artistic style in classical jazz and you are going to want to see this performance live.

3-Day and single-day tickets are on sale: https://heyor.ca/cusezD

Fun fact: Dabin has received numerous prestigious awards. Most recently, she was awarded the 2025 Jazz Gallery Residency Commission, an honor recognizing her contributions to contemporary jazz and her potential as a forward-thinking composer.

06/17/2026

How do you craft your perfect Monterey Jazz Festival weekend? (We want to know! Leave a comment below!)

MJF69 offers five stages over three days with 73 performances to enjoy September 25-27.

Reserved seating. Grounds passes. Single-day options. Weekend packages. There's a ticket for how you festival, and we've got all of them.

The music starts in September. We can't wait to welcome you back.

Tickets: https://heyor.ca/Ylgz5Z

06/15/2026

Put your hands together for Brittany Davis and Black Thunder 👏

"Black Thunder" is the new album by Seattle-based musician, producer, and engineer Brittany Davis Music. And Brittany is bringing it to two MJF69 stages on Sunday, Sept. 27.

Catch this trio — Brittany on keys and vocals, Evan Flory-Barnes on bass, and D’Vonne Lewis on drums — in the Arena at noon and on the Garden Stage (Grounds) at 4:30pm.

Something to know before the show: The trio, who barely knew each other previously, improvised "Black Thunder" in a surge of interactive creativity across two days in the studio. The open environment did away with overthinking and brought each musician’s A-game.

Discover more about the artists and get your tickets: https://heyor.ca/Tkw7Kd

06/14/2026

Our congratulations to Anton MacLachlan of Pacific Grove High School — Arts Council for Monterey County has named him as the the 2026/2027 Monterey County Youth Poet Laureate! In addition to his 1-year term as Youth Poet Laureate, Anton is also a member of the 2026 Regional All-Star Vocal Ensemble and will be performing Saturday, Sept. 26 at 5pm on the Garden Stage at .

The Monterey County Youth Poet Laureate program, organized by the Arts Council for Monterey County in collaboration with Urban Word, testifies to the power of youth voices in shaping community and fostering artistic excellence.

Read more from Salinas Valley Chamber of Commerce: https://business.salinaschamber.com/member-press-releases/Details/arts4mc-announces-the-2026-2027-monterey-county-youth-poet-laureate-337778

06/13/2026

We're pleased to introduce you to the 2026 Next Generation Women in Jazz Combo (NGWIJC). 👏

Directed by award-winning bassist Katie Thiroux, this special ensemble was created in 2019 to feature top high school women jazz players from throughout the United States.

The group has performed at the Monterey Jazz Festival, the Next Generation Jazz Festival, the Jazz Education Network Conference, and at Berklee College of Music.

Monterey Jazz has been committed to nurturing the next generation of jazz since the beginning. And we are so pleased to share it with you. 🎶

This, along with the NGJO ensemble, is a cornerstone program in our music education work. Learn all about it here: https://montereyjazz.org/education/

06/12/2026

Flashback Friday: Remembering jazz giant Chick Corea on what would have been his 85th birthday.

He appeared at MJF58 in 2015 with his "Trilogy" trio (Christian McBride and Brian Blade) and opened the set with a version of Kurt Weill's "This is New," which Corea explained was the first American Songbook standard he recorded in 1965.

As the San Jose Mercury News wrote, "Talk about a trio for the ages -- all three of these towering talents lived up to their legends as Trilogy polished up such gems as Duke Ellington's "Sophisticated Lady" and "Alice in Wonderland," the title track to the Disney movie that many jazz fans known from Bill Evans' version. It's no wonder that the "Trilogy" album won two Grammys earlier this this year."

Happy birthday, Chick.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u94paibpVvk

Chick Corea Trio: "This is New" performed at the 58th Annual Monterey Jazz Festival, September 18, 2015.

CHICK COREA, piano
CHRISTIAN MCBRIDE, bass
BRIAN BLADE, drums

Remembering jazz giant Chick Corea on what would have been his 84th...