MCG JAZZ ANNOUNCES LANDMARK
40th ANNIVERSARY SEASON 

Because in Pittsburgh, Jazz is Life.​

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PITTSBURGH, PA — As MCG Jazz celebrates 40 years of preserving, presenting, and promoting jazz, the award-winning organization announces a milestone Anniversary Season that honors its legacy while spotlighting the artists shaping the future of the art form. For four decades, MCG Jazz has built an enduring home for jazz music — one that uplifts Pittsburgh as a keystone in the jazz community and welcomes audiences into a space where world-class performance meets shared cultural experience. 

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The 2026–2027 season reflects that commitment, featuring returning legends, cross-generational collaborations, internationally acclaimed performers, and emerging voices who continue to move jazz forward. 

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40th Anniversary Season Schedule  
 
All performances are at 6:00 PM & 8:30 PM unless otherwise noted. 
Artists & dates are subject to change. 
 

• Jazz Legends Event | Fallingwater 90th Usonian Suite with the Pittsburgh Jazz Orchestra | Season Kick-Off | Saturday, September 26, 2026 | 7:30 PM | Not included in 40th Season subscription. 

• 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 “Christmas Dreaming” | 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 

• Kurt Elling and Yellowjackets Celebrate Weather Report | Saturday, April 10, 2027 

• Arturo Sandoval | Saturday, April 24, 2027 

• Django Festival Allstars with Anat Cohen | Saturday, May 15, 2027 

• Summer 2026 Performances | Dates & Times To Be Announced 

 

Ticketing Information 
 
Subscription packages start at 4 shows for $220. Individual tickets range from $55–$75, with a $5 fee for Premium shows. Season renewals begin on March 10th, 2026. New subscriptions go on sale on April 20th, 2026, and tickets to individual shows will be available on July 6.  

Please note that the Jazz Legends season kick-off event is a standalone performance priced at $75 per ticket. 
 

A Season Opener Honoring Pittsburgh’s Jazz Legends  
 
The 40th Anniversary Season opens with a special kick-off event honoring the legends who form 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, joining 35 previously-inducted honorees 

• A Fallingwater 90th Anniversary connection, acknowledging Frank Lloyd Wright’s architectural masterpiece Fallingwater and its relationship to the Manchester Bidwell building, the home of MCG Jazz, designed by Wright protégé Tasso Katselas 

• Commemoration of 40 years of MCG Jazz 

• A post-concert reception and open jam session 
   

Like Fallingwater, jazz music lives in balance. It is structured, yet fluid. Grounded, yet free. To complement the architectural inspiration, this celebratory evening includes newly commissioned works: Mike Tomaro’s "Fallingwater" and Andy Farber’s Usonian Suite, both inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright’s designs for the common people. 
 

A Hometown Artist-in-Residence  
 
MCG Jazz also announces Benny Benack III as its 2026–2027 Artist-in-Residence. A Pittsburgh native, Benack embodies the power of now and understands the history of jazz in the Steel City. Benny Benack III is an internationally acclaimed trumpeter, vocalist, and composer known for blending virtuosic musicianship with charismatic stage presence. He has performed at leading jazz venues and festivals worldwide and is recognized for bridging classic swing traditions with contemporary jazz sensibilities. Third in a generational line of Pittsburgh jazz notables, Benny follows in the footsteps of his saxophonist/clarinetist father Benny Benack, Jr., and his trumpeter/bandleader grandfather, the late Benny Benack, Sr. 
 

As Artist-in-Residence, he will continue his commitment to mentorship, performance excellence, and advancing the next generation of jazz artists. Benack continues the impact made by the 2024 and 2025 Artists-in-Residence, Ray Angry and Tamara Tunie. 
 
Forty Years of Living Legacy 
 
Since 1987, MCG Jazz has established a profound legacy through its 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 
   

At MCG Jazz, the mantra “Jazz is Life” has guided four decades of programming. The organization preserves jazz not as nostalgia, but as a living, evolving art that includes performance, education, recording, and community. The 40th Anniversary Season celebrates the confluence of these elements, inviting the Pittsburgh community to continue building the next chapter of this ongoing legacy. 

More details are available at mcgjazz.org. Contact Marty Ashby at mashby@manchesterbidwell.org or Ashley Boynes-Shuck at aboynesshuck@manchesterbidwell.org with media inquiries or interview requests. Media assets and logos are available for download here. 

  

 

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, please contact MCG Jazz at 412-322-0800 or visit our website at www.mcgjazz.org. 
 
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PS: Check out our coverage from TRIB Total Media, here!