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Nashville Jazz Workshop Announces Second Annual Nashville Jazz Festival, Returning to 3rd & Lindsley October 24-25
Two-day festival brings together Kirk Whalum, Bill Evans, Jeff Coffin, Keith Carlock, Chester Thompson, Rod McGaha, Dara Starr Tucker and more, celebrating the depth of Nashville’s jazz and improvisational music community
Tickets go on sale Wednesday, August 26 at 10 a.m. CT
Tickets for Saturday, October 24 HERE
Tickets for Sunday, October 25 HERE
NASHVILLE (Aug. 26, 2026) — Nashville Jazz Workshop today announced the return of the Nashville Jazz Festival, bringing two days of jazz and improvisational music to 3rd & Lindsley on Saturday, October 24 and Sunday, October 25. Following a sold-out inaugural festival in 2025, the second annual event will bring together internationally recognized artists, longtime Nashville musicians and rising voices from the city’s jazz community.
Presented by Nashville Jazz Workshop, the festival reflects the organization’s longstanding mission to enrich lives and build community through jazz education and performance. This year’s lineup spans generations and styles, with performances from Kirk Whalum, Chester Thompson, Rod McGaha, David Williford, Dara Starr Tucker, Giovanni Rodriguez and 12 Manos, Sofia Goodman Septet and The Day Drinkers, as well as a special “SUPER NOVA” performance featuring saxophonists Bill Evans and Jeff Coffin with drummer Keith Carlock.
“Nashville’s jazz scene has never been bigger or brighter,” said Max Abrams, Executive and Artistic Director of Nashville Jazz Workshop. “The Nashville Jazz Workshop is honored to celebrate our legends, our stars and our up-and-comers at a classic Nashville venue for a weekend of amazing music and community.”
Festival Artistic Director Jeff Coffin, who has called Nashville home since 1991, helped launch the festival with Nashville Jazz Workshop in 2025. The inaugural event sold out both nights and employed 71 Nashville-based musicians, establishing a new annual showcase for the city’s expansive improvisational music community.
“As one of the Artistic Directors and musicians involved, I have the honor of putting together a lineup that represents the heart of the diverse improvisational scene we have in Nashville,” said Coffin. “One of the things that excites me most is the amount of original improvisational-based music being written, recorded and played in Nashville. We are indeed Music City!”
Coffin continued, “In this year’s lineup, we have an embarrassment of riches with legends like Kirk Whalum, Chester Thompson, Rod McGaha and Miles Davis alum Bill Evans, as well as deep-rooted local performers like Sofia Goodman, The Day Drinkers, David Williford, Giovanni Rodriguez and former Nashville vocalist Dara Starr Tucker. Bring your ears and plan to be surprised, and maybe even astonished, to find out what’s going on in Music City at the second annual Nashville Jazz Festival.”
The festival also marks another chapter in Nashville Jazz Workshop’s longstanding relationship with Green Hill Music. For more than 30 years, Green Hill has supported NJW’s educational programming and performance initiatives, with the two organizations recently expanding their collaboration through a series of live performances designed to connect Nashville jazz artists with audiences beyond the city. That expanded collaboration has been championed by Green Hill Director of Marketing & Release Strategy Meghann Wright, whose ongoing work with NJW has helped deepen both organizations' commitment to Nashville's jazz community.
Green Hill recording artist Dara Starr Tucker, who performs Saturday, has a particularly personal connection to the weekend.
“Nashville has been such an important part of my musical journey, so being part of the Nashville Jazz Festival is meaningful,” said Tucker. “There’s something really special about making music in a city with such a deep musical history, and I’m grateful to be part of that tradition while continuing to find new ways to tell stories through song.”
“The Nashville Jazz Workshop has spent decades creating a place where this music can grow, and this festival shows just how deep the community has become,” said Blake Davis, General Manager of Green Hill Music. “There are artists on these two nights whose careers have taken them around the world alongside musicians who are building the next chapter of jazz right here in Nashville. Green Hill is proud to support NJW and help create more opportunities for this community to be heard.”
In addition to showcasing Nashville’s jazz community, the Nashville Jazz Festival serves as an important fundraiser for Nashville Jazz Workshop’s year-round education programs. The inaugural festival generated more than $70,000 in support of NJW’s educational initiatives, and this year the organization will raise funds through ticket sales, Friends of the Festival donations, corporate sponsorships and a VIP Dave Matthews Band concert sweepstakes. Proceeds support Jazz for Everyone, NJW’s education pipeline serving musicians across generations, from young students taking their first steps in jazz through adult and older-adult programs. Funds help provide scholarships, instructor fees, instruments and equipment for programs including Jazz A.M., Summer Camp, Rising Stars, Workshops and Jazz for the Ages.
The festival will take place at 3rd & Lindsley, one of Nashville’s longtime live music venues and an important home for jazz and progressive music in the city. WMOT will also broadcast the festival.
Saturday, October 24
Giovanni Rodriguez and 12 Manos
Sofia Goodman Septet
The Day Drinkers
Dara Starr Tucker
Bill Evans & Jeff Coffin “SUPER NOVA” featuring Keith Carlock
Tickets HERE
Sunday, October 25
David Williford
Chester Thompson
Rod McGaha
Kirk Whalum
Tickets HERE
The second annual Nashville Jazz Festival takes place Saturday, October 24 and Sunday, October 25 at 3rd & Lindsley, 818 3rd Ave. South, Nashville, TN 37210. Tickets go on sale Wednesday, August 26 at 10 a.m. CT.
For more information, visit https://www.nashvillejazz.org/jazz-festival-2026.
About Nashville Jazz Workshop
The Nashville Jazz Workshop is Nashville’s community center for jazz education and performance. Since 2000, NJW has worked to enrich lives and build community through world-class jazz education and performances, offering classes for musicians and non-musicians alike, youth and senior programming, and more than 100 live performances a year at its Buchanan Street venue, the Jazz Cave.
About Green Hill
Green Hill Productions, part of Sun Label Group (a subsidiary of Primary Wave Music), is a boutique record label currently celebrating over 30 years of creating top-quality lifestyle music for every mood. With over 1500 titles in its diverse catalog, Green Hill covers an amazing variety of genres and targeted themes including jazz, New Age, neoclassical, pop, rock, Celtic, Christmas, chillout, bluegrass, Cajun, easy listening, nature, piano, romance, relaxation, oldies, beach, western, world, patriotic, big band, and classic crooners, to name a few. In addition, Green Hill produces recordings on such performers as Olivia Newton-John, Paul Anka, Frankie Valli, Melissa Manchester, Pat Metheny, Steve Porcaro, Jude Cole, Brenna Whitaker, John Pizzarelli, Deborah Silver, Dara Tucker, David Arkenstone, Beegie Adair, Jim Brickman, Jack Jezzro, The Piano Guys, Celtic Thunder, Luke McMaster, Deep Wave, and more.
Media inquiries:
Nashville Jazz Workshop
Max Abrams, Executive and Artistic Director
max@nashvillejazz.org
615-485-8778
Sun Label Group / Green Hill Music
Crystal Henderson
The Press House
crystal@thepresshouse.com
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