Every November, Newark reminds the rest of the country just how deep its jazz roots run. The city that gave the world Sarah Vaughan, raised saxophonist James Moody, and has long been home to one of America’s great jazz radio stations turns itself into a citywide stage for the TD James Moody Jazz Festival, and this year’s edition is one of the most ambitious yet. The fifteenth annual festival opened on Friday, November 6, 2026, and runs through Sunday, November 22, filling the New Jersey Performing Arts Center and a constellation of neighborhood venues, including Clement’s Place and Bethany Baptist Church, with a rich mix of headline concerts, tributes, conversations, and free community performances. With tickets ranging from free to $79, it remains one of the most accessible major jazz festivals in the country.

We are now at the midpoint, and the best may still be ahead. Tonight belongs to the warm baritone of Gregory Porter, with Madeleine Peyroux as his special guest. The coming days bring flamenco fire from Jesse Cook, an intimate summit between Bruce Hornsby and Christian McBride, McBride’s long awaited debut with the New Jersey Symphony, a rare appearance by the legendary saxophonist Charles Lloyd, and a closing Sunday that crowns a new jazz vocal star. If you live anywhere within driving or train distance of Newark, this is the week to get downtown.

A Festival Named for a Newark Legend

NJPAC launched the festival in 2012 as a tribute to James Moody, the saxophonist and flutist who grew up in Newark and became one of the most beloved figures in modern jazz. Moody was a key member of Dizzy Gillespie’s bands across several decades, a fixture of the bebop revolution, and the man behind one of the most famous improvised solos in popular music. His 1949 recording of “I’m in the Mood for Love” became so beloved that its solo was later set to lyrics and turned into the classic “Moody’s Mood for Love.” Generous, witty, and endlessly inventive, he remained a working musician and a mentor to younger players until his death in 2010. Naming a festival for him was a declaration that Newark intended to honor its jazz heritage not with a plaque but with music.

Fifteen years later, the festival has grown into the largest gathering of jazz artists in New Jersey. Its artistic compass is set by NJPAC Jazz Advisor Christian McBride, the multiple Grammy winning bassist who lives in nearby Montclair and who appears in more than one starring role this year. Under his guidance, the festival has built a reputation for honoring the tradition while throwing its doors open to soul, Broadway, global music, and the next generation of talent.

The 2026 edition opened with a tribute to the late tabla master Zakir Hussain led by sitarist Niladri Kumaar, followed by a free performance at Bethany Baptist Church in which the Dizzy Gillespie All-Stars saluted Moody himself. On November 12, trumpeter Jon Faddis led Miles@100, celebrating the centennial of Miles Davis with music from Birth of the Cool and Kind of Blue, alongside an all star band including trombonist Steve Turre, baritone saxophonist Gary Smulyan, and pianist Mike LeDonne. Those concerts set a high bar for the second half of the festival, and the remaining lineup looks more than ready to clear it.

Tonight: Gregory Porter and Madeleine Peyroux

Friday night brings one of the most beloved voices in contemporary jazz to Prudential Hall at 8:00 PM. Gregory Porter, the Grammy winning baritone whose Blue Note debut Liquid Spirit made him an international star, has a rare gift for blending jazz, soul, and gospel into songs that feel both timeless and deeply personal. His concerts have become events in their own right, and his return to NJPAC is one of the marquee nights of the festival. Joining him is Madeleine Peyroux, the vocalist whose dusky, intimate style has drawn comparisons to Billie Holiday since her debut. This year Peyroux marks thirty years since her first album, Dreamland, and ten years since Secular Hymns, making her appearance something of an anniversary celebration as well. NJPAC’s listing also names vocalist Catherine Russell among the evening’s special guests. Earlier in the evening, at 7:00 PM in NJPAC’s Chase Room, New Jersey’s top student musicians take the spotlight as the state’s All-State Jazz Ensemble and Jazz Choir perform, a fitting reminder that the festival invests in tomorrow’s players as well as today’s stars. Full details are available on our Gregory Porter event listing.

The Weekend: Jesse Cook, Catherine Russell, and a Hornsby Summit

Saturday, November 14, offers something for every generation. Catherine Russell, the acclaimed vocalist and daughter of Luis Russell, the bandleader who led Louis Armstrong’s orchestra, hosts a WBGO Kids’ Concert titled Who Is Louis Armstrong?, an introduction to the trumpeter and singer who did as much as anyone to define jazz. Few artists are better suited to tell that story to young listeners. That evening at 8:00 PM in the Victoria Theater, Canadian guitarist Jesse Cook brings his dazzling blend of nuevo flamenco, rumba, jazz, and world music to the festival, a reminder of how wide the definition of jazz has grown.

On Sunday, November 15, at 3:00 PM, the intimate Victoria Theater hosts one of the most intriguing pairings of the season. Bruce Hornsby and Christian McBride sit down together for One on One, an afternoon of playing and conversation celebrating Hornsby’s 2026 album Indigo Park. Released in April, the ten song record finds the three time Grammy winning pianist and songwriter looking back on his life and his Virginia roots, with guest appearances from Bob Weir, Bonnie Raitt, Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig, and Blake Mills. It arrived forty years after The Way It Is, the debut album whose title track became a number one hit. Hornsby’s career has long ignored genre boundaries, from his years touring with the Grateful Dead to his collaborations with Bon Iver, and he and McBride go back a long way, having recorded the 2007 trio album Camp Meeting with drummer Jack DeJohnette. Expect music, stories, and the kind of spontaneous moments that only happen when two great musicians share a small stage. Our Hornsby and McBride event page has the details.

McBride Meets the Symphony

Midweek, the festival shifts into a different register. On Wednesday, November 18, at 7:30 PM, Clement’s Place, the intimate jazz room at Rutgers University in Newark, hosts free Jazz Jams open to the public, an invitation for local players and listeners to share the bandstand. Then on Thursday, November 19, at 1:30 PM, and again on Sunday, November 22, at 2:00 PM, Christian McBride makes his debut with the New Jersey Symphony at Prudential Hall under conductor Eric Jacobsen.

The program is a delight for anyone who loves music that crosses borders. McBride is the featured soloist in George Duke’s Dark Wood: Bass Concerto for Christian McBride, a 2015 work the late keyboard visionary wrote specifically for his friend’s groove and virtuosity. The orchestra also performs McBride’s own Fried Bacon, his first composition for symphony orchestra, written for and premiered in 2022 by the Symphony’s principal horn, Chris Komer, who returns as soloist. Debussy’s dreamlike Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun and Rachmaninoff’s sweeping Symphonic Dances, the composer’s final orchestral work, round out the afternoon. For fans who have followed McBride through his trios, big band, and his new group Ursa Major, hearing him front a full symphony orchestra in his home state is a milestone moment.

Charles Lloyd, a Living Legend in Newark

On Saturday, November 21, at 3:00 PM, the Victoria Theater welcomes one of the true giants of the music. Saxophonist and flutist Charles Lloyd, whose career stretches from the Memphis blues scene and the landmark 1966 album Forest Flower to a remarkable late career renaissance, brings his quartet to the festival. An NEA Jazz Master still playing with breathtaking lyricism, Lloyd is joined by guitarist Bill Frisell, one of his most simpatico longtime partners, bassist Larry Grenadier, and drummer Kweku Sumbry, the young powerhouse also heard in Immanuel Wilkins’s acclaimed quartet. The meeting of generations on that stage is part of the magic, and a chance to hear Lloyd in a theater of this size should not be missed. See our Charles Lloyd Quartet listing for more.

The Grand Finale: Dorthaan’s Place and the Sassy Awards

The festival’s closing day, Sunday, November 22, is a celebration of Newark’s jazz family. At 11:00 AM and 1:00 PM, NICO Kitchen and Bar at NJPAC hosts a Dorthaan’s Place jazz brunch featuring trumpeter Wallace Roney Jr. and his quartet. The series honors Dorthaan Kirk, the beloved figure known as Newark’s First Lady of Jazz, and the booking carries special resonance in the Miles Davis centennial year. Roney is the son of the late trumpeter Wallace Roney, one of Miles Davis’s few true protégés, and the late pianist and composer Geri Allen, giving him a lineage few young musicians can match. Find brunch details on our Dorthaan’s Place listing.

At 3:00 PM, the festival closes with the fifteenth annual Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition, affectionately known as the Sassy Awards. The contest honors Newark’s own Sarah Vaughan, who as a teenager in 1942 won the amateur night competition at Harlem’s Apollo Theater and went on to become one of the greatest singers in American history. Over the years the competition has launched remarkable careers, with past winners including Samara Joy, Jazzmeia Horn, Cyrille Aimée, and last year’s champion, Kate Kortum. This year’s five finalists, Alyssa Allgood, Vahn Black, Nathan Farrell, Jackie Ribas, and Angélique Nicolas, will compete before a live audience and a panel of distinguished judges that includes vocalists José James and Gretchen Parlato, with WBGO’s Gary Walker hosting and 2024 winner April May Webb performing as a special guest. Singers are judged on vocal quality, musicality, technique, individuality, interpretation, and the all important ability to swing. Somewhere on that stage may be the next great voice in jazz.

Plan Your Visit

Most ticketed events take place at NJPAC, at One Center Street in downtown Newark, with performances in both the grand Prudential Hall and the more intimate Victoria Theater. The center sits just steps from Military Park and a short ride from Newark Penn Station and Newark Broad Street Station, making it an easy trip by NJ Transit from across the state and from Manhattan, with surface lots and garage parking nearby for drivers. Ticket prices range from free to $79 depending on the event, and TD Bank cardholders may be eligible for special festival perks. The complete lineup, schedule updates, and tickets are available on NJPAC’s festival page, and our own festival guide on Explore New Jersey collects listings for the biggest nights.

Few cities can match Newark’s claim on jazz history, and fewer still celebrate it with this much heart. The TD James Moody Jazz Festival reflects everything that makes the music endure: reverence for the masters, open arms for new voices, and a deep connection to the community that nurtured it. With tonight’s Gregory Porter concert, a weekend of rich programming, a symphonic milestone for Christian McBride, a living legend in Charles Lloyd, and the crowning of a new vocal star, the final stretch of this year’s festival promises to be unforgettable. James Moody would have loved every minute of it.