Visit MCG to experience the completely renovated MCG Jazz music hall, hear performances of Jazz Legends recorded over the past 35 years, and enjoy hands-on art making in MCG Youth & Arts' four studios - cerarmics, photography, design, and digital!

In a career spanning decades, Kirk Whalum has a sound that is uniquely his; it is a sound that leaves an indelible imprint on the listener. Keiko Matsui is one of the most dynamic and important voices in instrumental music. Acclaimed pianist, composer and humanitarian, her transcendent and haunting melodies have long sought to build bridges.

These two world-renowned jazz stars team up for the first time as their new CDs share a common theme: unforgettable film songs. Callaway’s focus is mostly on the iconic gems from the 30’s and 40’s, while Tierney lends her imagination to beloved contemporary classics. Featuring the Tierney Sutton Band rhythm section, the night is filled with solos and duets arranged in fresh ways, featuring the two singers’ dazzling musicality and connection to the brilliant lyrics of their songs. They will also feature songs from movie soundtracks they have sung on: Tierney, from Clint Eastwood’s recent movie Sully and Ann from Robert DeNiro’s The Good Shepherd and Queen Latifah’s Last Holiday. From Gershwin, Porter and Mercer to Mancini, The Bergmans and Sondheim, get ready for a night of sensational cinematic delights!

Ray Charles, a Georgia native son, was an American treasure who won every major honor from the Georgia Music Hall of Fame to the Hollywood Walk of Fame. From the Kennedy Honors to a GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award and induction into the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame, Ray Charles transcended racism and cultural upheavals, and spread his music based on Gospel, Blues, Jazz and Country around the world. Boasting iconic tunes from the catalogue of the genius himself, the artists make each song a winning part of the tapestry that is Ray Charles’ music. Join us as we celebrate Ray’s music with an all-star cast of award winning performers.

Since breaking through to solo success in the mid 1970s, Grammy winner Patti Austin has become one of the world’s most popular and versatile vocalists. In the past decade, it is in the world of jazz (a genre that is close to her heart) that Ms. Austin has been building a solid international audience. The New York native is in constant demand globally for live performances, thanks to a legacy of recordings that started in 1955; she continued through the ‘60s with success as a teenage R&B star before establishing herself as a mainstay among jazz and soul audiences through her ‘70s recordings. By the ‘80s Ms. Austin became known to the wider international audience as a result of the Grammy -nominated “Baby Come to Me” and “How Do You Keep the Music Playing”, her early ‘80s classic duets with James Ingram, masterminded by musical godfather Quincy Jones.

Celebrate in the holiday season with The Hot Sardines “Holiday Stomp. This hot jazz band will infuse yuletide classics with their unique and swinging sound. Fun arrangements of holiday tunes include: “White Christmas,” “Santa Claus Got Stuck in My Chimney” and “Please Come Home for Christmas.” Fueled by the belied that classic jazz feeds the heart and soul, The Hot Sardines are on a mission to make old sounds new again and prove that joyful music can bring people together in a disconnected world.

To celebrate the life and legacy of Dave Brubeck his son’s Chris and Dan Brubeck, who performed and recorded with their father since the 1970s, curate a multimedia show with their own Brubeck Brothers Quartet. Through stories told by his sons and music performed by the Quartet, the show invites audiences to travel along the timeline of Dave’s extraordinary life and career.

Universally known as one of the most iconic saxophonists of the current age, David Sanborn is a jazz musician at heart, but has transcended genres and musical boundaries throughout his entire career. Rolling Stone says, ‘Among the great saxophonists of the past four decades, David Sanborn has earned an identity all his own. He’s jazz, he’s funk, he’s soul, he’s pop, he’s blues, he’s rock. Most remarkably, he excels in each of these genres with a voice that is forceful and tender, sensuous and subtle.’ Sanborn has released 24 albums, won six GRAMMY Awards, and has had eight gold albums and one platinum. He continues to be one of the most active musicians of his genre and an inspiration to countless other musicians. Sanborn is excited to bring his acoustic program to audiences soon.

Over the course of a multifaceted career spanning four decades, GRAMMY and Tony Award-winning jazz giant Dee Dee Bridgewater has ascended to the upper echelon of vocalists, putting her unique spin on standards, as well as taking intrepid leaps of faith in re-envisioning jazz classics. Ever the fearless voyager, explorer, pioneer and keeper of tradition, the three-time GRAMMY winner recently won the GRAMMY for Best Jazz Vocal Album for Eleanora Fagan (1915-1959): To Billie With Love From Dee Dee. One of the world’s premier jazz pianists, Bill Charlap has performed and recorded with many leading artists of our time, ranging from jazz masters Phil Woods and Wynton Marsalis to singers Tony Bennett and Barbra Streisand.

The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and MCG Jazz celebrate the music of Brazilian icon, Antonio Carols Jobim. The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s Principal Pops Conductor, Byron Stripling, will conduct and play and will be joined by native Brazilian’s and Jobim collaborators: Maucha Adnet, vocalist, and Duduka da Fonseca, percussionist, and members of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra strings and woodwinds sections.

Wynton Marsalis is the managing and artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center and a world-renowned trumpeter and composer. He made his recording debut as a leader in 1982 and has since recorded more than 60 jazz and classical recordings, which have won him nine GRAMMY Awards. In 1983 he became the first artist to win both classical and jazz GRAMMYs in the same year and repeated this feat in 1984. The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, led by Wynton Marsalis, is made up of 15 of the finest soloists, ensemble players, and arrangers in jazz music today. Including, Walter Blanding, Chris Crenshaw, Vincent Gardner, Victor Goines, Carlos Henriquez, Sherman Irby, Elliot Mason, Ted Nash, Paul Nedzela, Dan Nimmer, Marcus Printup, and Kenny Rampton.

The SFJAZZ Collective is the All-Star Jazz Supergroup featuring Lizz Wright on vocals, Chris Potter on saxophones, David Sánchez on saxophones, Etienne Charles on trumpet, Warren Wolf on vibraphone, Edward Simon on keyboards, Aneesa Strings on bass, Kendrick A.D. Scott on drums. Founded in 2004 by SFJAZZ in San Francisco, the award-winning SFJAZZ Collective is a composer’s workshop that represents what is happening now in jazz. The group’s membership evolves with each member being one of the most influential instrumentalists and performers in modern music. This year’s lineup includes multiple GRAMMY winners and nominees, Critics and Readers Poll winners, and all are recipients of industry recognition and media accolades. For this performance, the SFJAZZ Collective will present a vital program of new compositions by the band inspired by and in response to the extraordinary social and global issues we have faced over the last year.

Stefon Harris’ passionate artistry and astonishing virtuosity have propelled him to the forefront of the jazz scene. Heralded as “one of the most important artists in jazz” by the Los Angeles Times. Harris was named a recipient of the 2018 Doris Duke Artis Awards. Harris’ community work in arts education in Kalamazoo, MI is “The Art of Listening” series of documentaries and has won three Gold Camera awards and three Michigan EMMY nominations. Victor Provost is one of a small group of musicians who have tirelessly sought to change popular misconceptions about the role of steelpans in jazz. In addition to being a pannist, he is a composer, educator, and recording artist. As a sideman with deep jazz and Caribbean music bona fides, he has toured and recorded with a long list of luminaries including Wynton Marsalis, Hugh Masekela, Ron Blake, Wycliffe Gordon.

For more than three decades, conguero Poncho Sanchez has stirred up a fiery stew of straight-ahead jazz, gritty soul music, and infectious melodies and rhythms from a variety of Latin American and South American sources. Throughout his career Sanchez has held aloft the torch lit by such innovators as Mongo Santamaría, Tito Puente and Cal Tjader, embraced by each of those icons and entrusted to carry forward the traditions of Latin Jazz.