Melbourne International Jazz Festival will bring more than 550 artists from 18 countries to the city from 16 to 25 October, with 150-plus events across 30 venues.
by Paul Cashmere
The Melbourne International Jazz Festival has unveiled its full 2026 program, expanding its reach across Melbourne with more than 550 artists from 18 countries performing across 150 events and performances from 16 to 25 October. The 10-day festival will span 30 venues, with a substantial free program alongside major concerts, club residencies, premieres, workshops and new collaborations.
The program positions Melbourne as a meeting point for established jazz figures, contemporary innovators and artists working across jazz, funk, soul, hip hop, poetry, electronic music and contemporary classical music. Japan, South Korea, South Africa and the United Kingdom are the international countries in focus, while partnerships with Jazz at Lincoln Center, EFG London Jazz Festival and Jarasum Jazz Festival extend the festival’s international network.
The 2026 program includes 29 Australian premieres and 12 world premieres. CEO and Festival Director Hadley Agrez says the program reflects both the history of jazz and the continuing development of the form.
“This year’s Festival captures everything that makes jazz extraordinary: its boundless energy, its reverence for the past and its relentless drive towards what comes next,” Agrez says.
Among the most visible events will be the return of the Second Line Street Party, led by New Orleans institution Rebirth Brass Band in its long-awaited Australian debut. The street celebration will move along the Yarra before continuing at Fed Square with free performances from Rebirth Brass Band, BIGYUKI and Allysha Joy.
Rebirth Brass Band will also perform at 170 Russell, while other major international performances include Mercury Prize winner Benjamin Clementine at the Forum, Armenian pianist Tigran Hamasyan at Melbourne Recital Centre and poet, musician and activist aja monet at Max Watt’s.
The festival’s club program is similarly international. The JazzLab will host residencies from Kris Davis Trio, Tomeka Reid Quartet, Yosvany Terry, Bokani Dyer and Soojin Suh Coloris Trio. Tomeka Reid will be joined by Mary Halvorson, Jason Roebke and Tomas Fujiwara, while Davis will perform with Robert Hurst and Johnathan Blake.
At Hamer Hall, Dave Holland, Chris Potter, Lionel Loueke and Eric Harland reunite as Aziza to mark 10 years since their self-titled album. The quartet’s performance will close the festival on 25 October. Three-time GRAMMY winner Dee Dee Bridgewater returns to Melbourne after a decade, performing with pianist Helen Sung.
The festival also has a strong Australian component. The Teskey Brothers will open the festival’s Sidney Myer Music Bowl program on 17 October with a full performance of their debut album Half Mile Harvest, marking 10 years since its release. Fred Wesley & The New JBs and Emily Wurramara will join them.
Australian premieres and new commissions include Aaron Choulai’s Saltwater, Sugar, performed by the Australian Art Orchestra with Ngaiire and Joelistics, and Xani Kolac’s KOŁACZ. Asteroid Ekosystem, featuring Alister Spence, Lloyd Swanton, Toby Hall and Ed Kuepper, will launch Sounds Have Dreams.
The international focus extends into a new late-night format, Haus Party, at the Spiegel Haus. The program combines jazz, groove, hip hop and electronic music, with Don Glori, Deep Mind, Stogie T, Finn Rees Orchestra, Erica Tucceri, Iwuda, Live Slug Reaction and Soliloquy among the performers.
The festival is also expanding access beyond conventional concert venues. Approximately 35 per cent of the program is free, with Fed Square, Prahran Square, Footscray, Moonee Valley and other locations hosting performances and family activities. Inside Out: Jump, Jive, Jazz returns to ArtPlay for children aged two to seven.
The 2026 festival also gives audiences access to the creative processes behind the music. George Lewis will deliver a keynote on improvisation, technology and machine learning, Stogie T will lead an MCing workshop, and Dee Dee Bridgewater will conduct a masterclass. The Bad Plus will participate in a farewell conversation following more than two decades of activity.
For Melbourne, the scale and breadth of the 2026 festival reflects the continuing evolution of jazz as a live art form. Rather than separating traditional jazz from newer forms, the program places established masters alongside artists drawing from hip hop, electronic music, poetry, global traditions and experimental composition.
The Melbourne International Jazz Festival runs from 16 to 25 October 2026 across Melbourne and selected Victorian locations. The full program and ticket information are available through the festival.
Ticket Details
Full program and tickets are available from the Melbourne International Jazz Festival.
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