Press release: manchester jazz festival: lighting up venues across the city this May!

The festival season is now well and truly up and running

• Manchester’s longest-running music festival is back this Summer for 10 days of jam-packed festival fun and musical vibes across the city this May!
• manchester jazz festival (mjf2026) will take place between 15-24 May 2026 at venues and sites across Manchester, celebrating the latest up and coming talent from across the North, and the best names in contemporary jazz.
• Headliners include: China Moses, Andy Sheppard Trio, Yellowjackets, Toni Kofi/Denys Baptiste Quintet, Cassie Kinoshi’s seed., Bel Cobain, Lau Noah, NOUT, Cotonete, Sarsen Drift + Tom Cawley, Olivia Cuttill & Friends, Orchestra Mambo International and many more...
  
  

Jazz lovers rejoice – manchester jazz festival is back for its 31st edition in 2026. Lighting up venues across the city, mjf2026 will see hundreds of northern, national and international jazz musicians descend on Manchester, showcasing the genre’s leading lights alongside its most exciting emerging talent.

mjf was first staged in the summer of 1996, hosting nine bands in one venue over the course of a single day. Who could have known that this would mark the start of what is now Manchester’s longest running music festival, radiating across the city for 10 whole days each year. And yet, for all it’s grown, mjf’s spirit remains the same, rooted in the joyful celebration and genuine support of the contemporary jazz world’s diverse and local artists.

Building on the success of the last few years, manchester jazz festival (mjf2026) begins with a spectacular FREE opening weekender at the vibrant neighbourhood: First Street (mjf @ First Street) from 15 – 17 May. 

There will be two event stages: Main Stage and the Ask Garden Stage, each celebrating the breadth and individuality of our home-grown scene and beyond, with bands emerging through mjf’s artist development programmes alongside a host of northern success stories giving their homecoming performance at mjf (Lara Jones, Thanda Gumede). The opening night shines a light on tomorrow’s talent, including a pop-up performance curated by mjf’s Youth Advisory Board and there will be food and drink offers throughout the weekend on site. 

On Saturday (16 May) there’s family-friendly activities between 10am – 2pm including Yoga with Gilly, music workshops with Little Groovers and Yemi Bolatiwa’s Jam-for-Joy, plant your own meadow workshop with Plant MCR, craft workshop with Salford Art Gallery and of course facepainting! On Sunday 17 May we partner with Jazz North for the return of the Northern Line showcase: on the Main Stage, we’ll showcase five acts selected by industry experts to be elected onto the 2026 artist roster.

A new addition for 2026, is a collaboration with The Makers’ Market who are joining the fantastic mjf @ First Street on Saturday 16 and Sunday 17 May, bringing together a vibrant celebration of Manchester’s independent business community alongside a weekend of exceptional live music. Showcasing a carefully curated selection of local makers, artists, and food producers, the market highlights the very best of the city’s small businesses, all set against the energetic backdrop of the festival.

manchester jazz festival’s final weekend includes an extended weekend-long party at Band on the Wall, where the full-on festival vibes are in full swing from Thursday 21 May with Yellowjackets, who show no sign of slowing down in their fifth decade as a band! The party line-up also the enigmatic songstress, Bel Cobain (22 May), Catalonian vocalist and guitar player, Lau Noah (23 May), Somewhere Soul presents: Cotonete closely followed by their Club Night on 23 May, the edgy punk-meets-jazz trio Nout who will take you on a journey from Nirvana to Sun Ra (23 May), and closing the weekend and festival is the talented British-Bengali artist Tara Lily and the captivating China Moses on 24 May. 

On the final day of the festival (24 May) there’s an afternoon triple-bill at Aviva Studios, home of Factory International, that shines a light on three contrasting approaches to songwriting, against the backdrop of the special Women in Jazz Photography exhibition on display there throughout. 

Featured in that triple bill will be Satnam Galsian, who’ll be presenting 2026’s mjf originals new work premiere, and whose music blends the rich tradition of Punjabi folk with contemporary, feminist storytelling. It’s a compelling piece that we’ve co-commissioned with Oldham Coliseum, Wigan Old Courts and Khushi Festival.

The mjf piano trail competition is also making a comeback! manchester jazz festival and Forsyth Music Shop have joined forces once again for the mjf2026 piano trail competition: to find Manchester’s hidden talents across a trail of 19 street pianos – the largest piano trail in the UK - at locations across Manchester city centre and beyond, including Rochdale, Trafford, Salford, Oldham, Ashton-under-Lyne, and Wigan. The mjf2026 piano trail competition runs until the 31st May and encourages everyone to get involved and share their creativity and just have fun! For those who want to take part, there’s a chance to enter a competition to win a Yamaha electric piano and many more prizes.

Alongside the piano trail itself, there will also be two bespoke piano trail walking tours available, run by Free Manchester Walking Tours (FMWT), on the 17 and 24 May (£12 per adult, children go free) with some of the proceeds from the tours going to support the Play it Forward: Street Piano Fund, run by mjf and Forsyth Music Shop, which aims to expand the current network of street pianos across more boroughs and communities across Greater Manchester all-year-round. 

Ticket prices for the festival start from £7.50 and there’s plenty of free-to-access music and activities taking place at locations across the city centre, including the entire opening weekender: mjf @ First Street, and gigs in the Copper Bar at Band on the Wall and at Matt & Phreds.

Tickets: manchesterjazz.com 

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Steve Mead, mjf CEO and Artistic Director, said: 

“After last year’s bumper 30th anniversary celebrations, we’re heading purposefully into our fourth decade with mjf’s trademark array of contemporary sounds, surprising discoveries and the promise of good times.

Festivals are a prized possession for a city: no other occasion presents so many opportunities to come together with friends old and new, to embark upon curious adventures and to simply spend time surrounded by exceptional music of the highest calibre. Music offers something valuable to each of us – be it cultural nourishment, escape or good company. 

In a time of ongoing financial, social and political challenges, music has the power to unite us and remind us of the values that are important for us all. I hope you’ll choose to spend some of your valuable time in our company and be rewarded at mjf this summer.”