The Monterey Jazz Festival, the longest-running jazz festival in the world, returns to the Monterey County Fairgrounds September 25 to 27 for its 69th edition. It is the weekend the whole Peninsula tilts toward the fairgrounds, and this year’s bill is one of the deepest in recent memory.
Founded in 1958, the festival helped write the template that jazz festivals everywhere still follow, and it has kept its footing on the same Monterey grounds for nearly seven decades. Across multiple stages, three days fill with sets that run from the legends to the players defining where the music goes next.
Per the festival, the 2026 headliners include the Herbie Hancock and Ron Carter Duo, Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, the Charles Lloyd Quartet, Ravi Coltrane, and Cécile McLorin Salvant, among others spread across the grounds. It is the kind of lineup that draws people from well beyond the Central Coast, and locals tend to build the whole weekend around it.
Three-day and single-day tickets are on sale now through the festival. The grounds are walkable, the sound carries between stages, and part of the appeal has always been wandering from a marquee set to a discovery on a side stage. If you have never done a full day of it, the arena sets anchor the evenings while the grounds stages run all afternoon.
September is a long way from summer’s fog, and the festival lands in the Peninsula’s best stretch of weather. Plan ahead, because the marquee nights sell.
Monterey Current is the Peninsula’s local edit — events, food, sport, arts, and what’s opening and closing, covered by people who live here and pay attention. Browse the events calendar, read more Arts, and follow along on Instagram and Bluesky.
