Melton Mustafa Jazz Festival
The date for this annual event has passed. A new date will be provided when available.
A multi-day celebration of jazz brings performances, workshops and community gatherings to Florida Memorial University in honor of a legacy rooted in South Florida’s music history.
The Melton Mustafa Jazz Festival takes place February 26 through March 1 at the Lou Rawls Center for the Performing Arts and partner venues across Miami Gardens, Miami and Miami Lakes. Now in its 29th year, the festival was founded in 1996 by internationally recognized jazz trumpeter and Miami native Melton Mustafa Sr. and has become a longstanding platform for local, national and international artists, students and educators. The 2026 edition is dedicated to Dr. Dawn Batson, the late Esaa Mustafa, Zakiyyah Mustafa and Melton Mustafa Sr., recognizing their contributions to the preservation and advancement of jazz.
Festival programming spans four days and includes dinner concerts, club-style jazz nights, educational workshops and a culminating red carpet concert. Featured performers throughout the weekend include the Jesse Jones Jr. Quartet, the Funk Jazz All Stars, the Florida Memorial University Jazz Ensemble, the Broward College Big Band and the FMU Alumni Jazz Allstars. The festival concludes with a full concert by the Melton Mustafa Orchestra, directed by Melton Mustafa Jr., with guest appearances by South Florida jazz artists including Jesse Jones Jr., Nicole Yarling and Leon Foster Thomas.
Events are ticketed individually, with select workshops and mixers offered at low or no cost, making the festival accessible to a broad audience of jazz listeners, students and community members.