IN-DEPTH PREVIEW
Melbourne International Jazz Festival 2026
16-25 October
As gloom spreads across the globe and pump prices threaten to fuel inflation, music is a must and live music a potential lifesaver. Bring on this year’s MIJF, which each year succeeds in flushing out almost as many hidden jazz fans as sudden NFL fans turning out for a 49ers versus Rams game at the MCG.
With cost of living pressures weighing heavily on many, it’s good to know that much of the festival’s outings are free, so let’s start this preview with those.
On the opening Saturday, 17 October, Rebirth Brass Band will front the Second Line Street Party at Southbank for the parade ending up at Fed Square for Free Jazz with Japanese keyboardist BIGYUKI in a collaboration with Melbourne Electronic Sound Studio and local favourite Allysha Joy. It’s all free.
Later that night Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool will screen at Fed Square. On Sunday, Jazz on Film brings Disney and Pixar’s Oscar-winning Soul to the square.
Over the two festival Sundays, some of the Footscray’s favourite venues host free music from Ajak Kwai, Chikchika, Solomon Sisay Group, Jon Hunt’s Blue Devils, Organzola and Kaviitá, bringing audiences Afro-diasporic grooves, swing, soul and jazz.
At Prahran Square on Saturday 24 October there’s free music from 1pm to 6pm and, at Crown Stables in Flemington from noon that day, there are performances from Slow Poke, Emma Gilmartin Quartet and Cold Hands Warm Heart, plus guided sound walks led by Anthony Magen.
As well, children aged two to seven are invited to explore live jazz through music, movement, art and creative play at Inside Out: Jump, Jive, Jazz sessions in morning sessions at ArtPlay from 22 to 25 October.
Staying with good deals for fans on a budget, The Rookies are back at the helm of the Late Night Jams ($10 at the door) from 11pm at The Jazzlab on the festival Fridays and Saturdays – but notably, not on the closing night. And for $20, on Wednesday 21 October punters can hear eight live acts – jazz, groove, hip-hop, electronic with DJs – from 6pm at Spiegel Haus in Lonsdale Street.
Cash or card isn’t the only challenge facing festival lovers in just under four weeks, when more than 550 artists (up from 500 last year) from 18 countries (same as last year) take to stages for more than 150 events and performances at 30 venues (down from 40 in 2025) to play and discuss music over the 10 days. There are fewer venues this time, but a zippy, solar-powered magic carpet for fast trips between venues would help.
Take Wednesday 21 October as an example. Let’s assume I’m a festival tragic who can miraculously obtain any tickets I want for the evening’s performances. What’s my best itinerary for this night of music? Answer: It’s incredibly tough. Let’s zap through the gigs list.
As mentioned, eight live acts are at Spiegel Haus from 6pm. At 7pm at The Jazzlab in Brunswick, US bassist Robert Hurst joins Monash University students from the Sir Zelman Cowen School of Music and Performance.
At 7.30pm at Bunjil Place, Narre Warren, a 16-piece Australian Art Orchestra ensemble, alongside vocalist Ngaiire and rapper Joelistics, perform Saltwater, Sugar – a new work by AAO director Aaron Choulai linking experiences of Chinese, Papua New Guinean and Indigenous people during the time of the Gold Rush in Victoria and Blackbirding in North Queensland. This would be a must for me, but Narre Warren is a long way off, even with a magic e-carpet.
Also at 7.30pm, at Monash Uni’s venue The Count’s, The Shanghai Pearls present Chinese folk melodies and American jazz, with songs performed in English and Chinese, featuring Cheongsam chanteuse Nikki Zhao and arranged by maestro John McAll.
History is being made from 8pm at Melbourne Recital Centre when The Bad Plus, reinvented as a piano-less quartet since 2021, perform their final Australian concert. This is a hard one to miss.
However, Downbeat pianist of the year, Canadian-born Kris Davis, joins Jazz & Improvisation students from the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music in a Masters & Apprentices gig from 8pm at Chapel Off Chapel in Prahran – another a great chance to see how a jazz luminary inspires players of the future.
And the evening’s options are not over yet. At 9.30pm New York trumpeter Adam O’Farrill joins Australian bassist Ross McHenry in a quintet with drummer Kyrie Anderson and guitarists Django Rowe and Julius Schwing to present adventurous fare billed as “at once structured and spontaneous”.
So, what do I pick for my magic e-carpet ride? There is no easy answer, but it’s either off to Bunjil Place for the whole evening or trying to fit in one gig alongside The Bad Plus.
And that Wednesday is not the only festival day with tough choices.
Some venue hopping is called for on the festival’s opening day, starting with a keynote lecture at 4pm by Professor of American Music at Columbia University, George Lewis, at Monash University.
There are two outings (7.30pm, 9.30pm) that night at The Jazzlab by Cuban saxophonist, percussionist and composer Yosvany Terry, joined in a quartet by his brother Yunior Terry –now living in Melbourne – on double bass.
Two MRC concerts feature, at 7pm in the Salon, Melbourne quartet TL;DR performing their second album, Phosphenes, and, at 7.30pm in Elisabeth Murdoch Hall, a Lincoln Centre collaboration double bill opens with Young Monk, featuring New York trumpeter Skylar Tang, followed by the Joey Alexander Trio showcasing music from the pianist’s album Celestial Keeper.
From 8pm at Max Watt’s in Swanston St, Japanese keyboardist BIGYUKI along with Randy Runyon guitar and Jharis Yokley drums, promise a high-energy, unpredictable and immersive concert.
And, as mentioned, opening night ends with The Rookies back at the helm of the Late Night Jams from 11pm at The Jazzlab.
Apart from the free music on Saturday 17 October in the streets and at Fed Square, crowds will gather at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl from 3pm for a slab of entertainment featuring Emily Wurramara’s soulful folk and blues at 4pm, funk powerhouse Fred Wesley on trombone with the New JBs at 5.30pm and six-time ARIA winners The Teskey Brothers honouring their breakthrough debut album Half Mile Harvest at 7.15pm.
From 2pm the Royal Exhibition Building hosts three concerts as part of the two-day Italian Festa Jazz Club and the Yosvany Terry Quartet are back at The Jazzlab for 7.30pm and 9.30pm sessions.
At 8pm Chapel Off Chapel hosts American composer and trombonist George Lewis to premiere two new commissions with the Monash Art Orchestra and members of new music ensemble ELISION.
Also at 8pm (so even a magic e-carpet won’t help), Howler in Brunswick is the venue for Xani Kolac’s Take Note commission KOŁACZ, exploring identity, belonging and the ways names carry history across generations. Aptly at this time of immigration angst, the work asks how movement across borders, culture and family history shape who we become.
Relax and air out the carpet from 11pm with The Rookies.
Sunday 18 October brings three more Italian Festa Jazz Club gigs from 2pm, before the first festival concert at “new” Bennetts Lane (a larger room beside The Jazzlab) at 4pm – fittingly comprising Eugene Ball’s Continuum – an octet’s retrospective on the ABC’s Jazztrack at 50 – and a distinctive perspective on Baroque music by virtuosic trio Hyperbaroq.
By 6pm the magic e-carpet can whisk you to COC for Israeli pianist Shai Maestro in a trio playing pieces from the 2026 album The Guesthouse.
Be back in Brunswick by 7pm at The Jazzlab to catch super quartet Resonance (Andrea Keller, Sandy Evans, Kristin Berardi and Jenny Barnes) voicing the experiences of women in the arts in musical conversations about gender, creativity and care. Definitely one not to miss.
If the raw energy of the streets from Saturday lingers, head to 170 Russell at 7.30pm to hear Horns of Leroy, Thndo and the Rebirth Brass Band with Clifton Smith on sousaphone.
Half an hour later, back at Bennetts Lane at 8pm, a MIJF collaboration with the London Jazz Festival brings us Faris Ishaq redefining the nay (Middle Eastern flute), followed by a set with Zela Margossian on piano and Adem Yilmaz on drums.
On Monday 19 October all the action is in Brunswick, with an easy swap between venues. Either catch the contemporary New York vibe with Kris Davis piano, Robert Hurst double bass and Johnathan Blake drums in The Jazzlab at 7pm before hearing the exciting Asteroid Ekosystem launch their new album Sounds Have Dreams in Bennetts Lane at 9.45pm, or reverse the order and venues for 7.30pm and 9.30pm gigs.
Tuesday 20 October brings The Bad Plus in conversation, reflecting on 26 years of creativity (630pm at Bennetts Lane) before 7pm and 9.30pm opportunities to hear Kris Davis Trio in The Jazzlab.
The Forum hosts two vocalists from 7.30pm – an opening set from Danika before Benjamin Clementine on vocals and piano sharing songs from debut album At Least For Now. Expect intensity, literary lyricism, theatrical presence and emotional honesty.
At 8pm, Chapel Off Chapel will offer music imbued with cinematic beauty, wonder and a spirit of discovery as Belle Chen performs pieces from Ravel in The Forest on piano, synth, keys and programming.
With a magic carpet ride across town to The Toff Tuesdays, stayers can catch soul, disco house and Arabic house, with DJ Colette, from 9pm through to 2am.
Jumping to Thursday 22 October, there are five venues to choose from offering an eclectic musical feast – unless that’s all too much and you decide to sink into the waters of Alba Thermal Springs & Spa while enjoying Jazz At Alba (over four evenings until 25 October).
The 7pm concert at Chapel Off Chapel promises to be a huge night, with hard-swinging originals and fearless improvisation from Tenors in Chaos (Japan) – in a sextet including much-loved Banksia Trio’s bassist Takashi Sugawa and three tenor saxophonists – along with rhythmic precision and collective improvisation from quartet Stereo Champ and jazz, electronic music and alternative sounds from Misaki Umei on piano and vocals.
Afro-jazz, swinging post-bop, hypnotic groove and raw harmonic electricity will be the attraction at The Jazzlab in two Bokani Dyer Trio gigs at 7pm and 9.30pm as the band plays music from its forthcoming album, Traditions.
In Strangers Again (7.30pm at Spiegfel Haus), First Nations artist in residence Sachém blends lyricism, spoken word and hip-hop to craft narratives that honour his childhood in Minjerribah (North Stradbroke Island) and Adelaide, exploring identity, legacy and resilience.
Also at 7.30pm, at Max Watt’s, guitarist Quentin Angus with MSFS in a septet will open for poet aja monet who joins Brian Hargrove piano, Micah Collier double bass and Zach Morrow drums to present the colour of rain exploring Black resistance, love and joy. The LA Times has described her poetry as “powerful and dangerous, like violets pushing through concrete to kiss the sun”.
Out west at Kindred Bandroom, Nantes-based Australian drummer and percussionist Will Guthrie teams with Speak Percussion in Before Nightfall – performing at night what they have created fresh during their first time together earlier in the day.
By now the magic carpet may need a vacuum before the festival’s second Friday of goodies, beginning at 4pm with Dee Dee Bridgewater in Conversation at Federation Hall, University of Melbourne.
A partnership with Korea’s renowned Jarasum Jazz Festival has made possible The Jazzlab concerts at 7pm and 9.30pm, which feature the Soojin Suh Coloris Trio – drums, piano and bass – in arrangements and improvisations drawing on the Korean principle of “melodic breath” and emerging from the pulse of the melody.
At 8pm in MRC, Tigran Hamaysan (piano, vocals) in a quartet present music from Manifeste, an album drawing from Armenian spiritual music and the intensity of jazz and progressive metal/rock.
Also at 8pm Great American Songbook gems, reworked classics and original compositions will be presented by virtuoso expats Olivia Chindamo vocals and Matthew Sheens piano at Chapel Off Chapel.
On its penultimate evening for 2026, the festival steps up the momentum as three concerts vie for attention almost simultaneously.
In The Jazzlab at 7pm (and at 9.30pm, then two more gigs the following night) we are to expect fearless improvisation from four musicians at the top of their game, sharing a near-telepathic interplay shaped by years of collaboration. Mary Halvorson on guitar will join Tomeka Reid cello, Jason Roebke bass and Tomas Fujiwara drums to perform their acclaimed 2026 release Dance! Skip! Hop! — a joyful, rhythm‑bending, harmonically rich album.
There may still be tickets available for Hamer Hall at 7.30pm, where three-time GRAMMY Award-winner Dee Dee Bridgewater returns to Melbourne for the first time in a decade, joining Helen Sung on piano to present classics of the Great American Songbook.
However, those who fancy headline tuba, a taste of London, dance music, grunge, jungle and NY cool, can head to Max Watt’s at 7.30pm for Theon Cross in a quartet offering a fusion of jazz, Afro-Caribbean rhythms, hip-hop, dub and sound system culture. To open the night, UK singer-songwriter Summer Pearl will blend jazz, soul, hip-hop, dub and reggae.
After the fun and potentially testosterone-fuelled Late Night Jams, the bleary-eyed festival goer must activate the EV magic carpet ready for Sunday 25 October.
Footscray sessions begin at 2pm, followed at 6pm in Hamer Hall by the ‘supergroup’ reunion of Dave Holland bass, Chris Potter saxophone, Lionel Loueke guitar and Eric Harland drums to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of their album Aziza.
At 7pm and 9.30pm Tomeka Reid and Mary Halvorson are back at The Jazzlab, while next door at Bennetts Lane vocalist, trumpeter and composer Mandisi Dyantsis will blend jazz, soul and South African musical tradition in a collaboration with Melbourne’s Afrospace Interchange, led by drummer Brian Abrahams.
As the magic carpet powers down, it will be time to reflect on the words of CEO and Program Director Hadley Agrez: “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.
“The 2026 program celebrates artists whose influence can be felt across generations alongside musicians exploding the art form, creating opportunities for unique collaborations, world premieres and once-in-a- lifetime musical experiences … this year’s festival genuinely offers something for everyone.”
In the end, the punters will decide how this festival ranks with those of previous years. But it will surely be impossible to argue that there weren’t enough choices.
ROGER MITCHELL