Stage Set for 40th Anniversary.
PITTSBURGH, PA — MCG Jazz closed its 39th Season last week ending with a remarkable 94% overall capacity for the subscription season concerts. This includes 11of the 20 regular season performances completely sold out! MCG Jazz Founder and Executive Producer states, “This past season brought many new jazz fans to our music hall to share cultural memories and enjoy a sense of belonging. I have not seen such passionate enthusiasm for the music since before the pandemic.”
The MCG Jazz 40th Anniversary Season, opens on September 26th and runs through May 15th. Single tickets to all 25 concerts go on sale at 9 AM on July 6th. Subscription packages continue to be available and remain the best choice as they include flexible ticket exchanges, discounted prices, and other important subscriber benefits.
A Season Opener Honoring Pittsburgh’s Jazz Legends
The season opens with a kick-off event on September 26th to honor the very legends who make up the foundation of Pittsburgh’s jazz story, and who have helped Pittsburghers continue to “live” the music. This standalone celebration spotlights the heartbeat of Pittsburgh’s vibrant jazz community and will include:
- Induction of the next class of Pittsburgh Jazz Legends.
- The evening celebrates the addition of esteemed new honorees, recognizing the local icons who have kept the Pittsburgh jazz scene thriving. The new class will join the 35 previously inducted MCG Jazz Pittsburgh Jazz Legends. A special performance with the Pittsburgh Jazz Orchestra will start the evening.
- Fallingwater 90th Anniversary Connection.
- The event also acknowledges the anniversary of Frank Lloyd Wright’s architectural masterpiece, Fallingwater, highlighting the connection to the Manchester Bidwell building, the home of MCG Jazz and a place which was designed by Wright protégé, Tasso Katselas.
- Commemorating 40 years of MCG Jazz.
- A post-concert reception and open jam session will be included in the evening.
40th Anniversary Season Schedule
All performances are at 6:00 PM & 8:30 PM unless otherwise noted.
Artists & dates are subject to change.
- Count Basie Orchestra with Nnenna Freelon | Saturday, October 3, 2026
- Rick Braun Plays Chuck Mangione | Saturday, October 24, 2026
- Gerald Albright | Saturday, November 14, 2026
- John Scofield’s “Electrospective” | Friday, November 20, 2026 | 7:00 PM & 9:30 PM
- Stella Cole “Merry Christmas, Darling” | Saturday, December 5, 2026
- Spanish Harlem Orchestra – Salsa Navidad | Saturday, December 19, 2026
- José James Sings Sinatra with the Pittsburgh Jazz Orchestra | Saturday, January 30, 2027
- Billy Childs 70th Birthday Band with Sean Jones, Steve Wilson, Matt Penman & Ari Hoenig | Saturday, March 6, 2027
- Artist-in-Residence Benny Benack III “The Magic of Manhattan” | Saturday, March 20, 2027
- Yellowjackets with Kurt Elling | Saturday, April 10, 2027
- Arturo Sandoval | Saturday, April 24, 2027
- Django Festival Allstars with Anat Cohen | Saturday, May 15, 2027
Forty Years of Living Legacy
Since 1987, MCG Jazz has established a profound legacy through their mission to preserve, present, and promote jazz:
- Presented over 2,500 concerts
- Welcomed more than half a million patrons
- Engaged tens of thousands of students through music education programming
- Named by DownBeat Magazine as one of the top jazz venues in the world
- Produced five GRAMMY®-winning recordings
- Launched a weekly radio show on WZUM in 2018
- Honored 35 Pittsburgh Jazz Legends with more to come
- Built one of the world’s most extensive single-venue live jazz archives
About MCG Jazz
MCG Jazz is a social enterprise of Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild, a subsidiary of Manchester Bidwell Corporation, a nonprofit arts and learning center in Pittsburgh, PA.
Guided by our core principles—environment shapes behavior, people are assets, and creativity fuels enterprise—and our mission to preserve, present, and promote jazz, we strive to both strengthen the Pittsburgh jazz community and contribute to the region’s overall cultural and artistic diversity.
Our intimate, state-of-the-art music hall hosts the MCG Jazz concert series—one of the longest-running subscription-based jazz performance series in the country—and continues to provide a safe space for artists to share their art through music and foster meaningful discussions about the world we live in today.
In addition to our radio show, MCG Jazz Spotlight on WZUM, which celebrates all styles and eras of jazz, our Grammy-winning recording label produces distinctive albums from a wide range of artists. We’re also proud of our educational programs that serve elementary, middle, and high school students in both urban and rural communities. Additionally, our Jazz Archives—featuring audio and video recordings, photographs, interviews, and individual artist collections—serve as a valuable resource for future generations, helping to grow the audience for jazz, preserve the genre’s deep-rooted legacy, and support the evolution of the art form and its creators.
For more information on this Press Release please contact Marty Ashby at 412-874-5299,
or email email hidden; JavaScript is required.
To Purchase Tickets, please contact MCG Jazz at 412-322-0800 or visit our website at www.mcgjazz.org.
