There is a particular kind of chaos that takes over Cork every October.
Music pours out of pubs and concert halls, brass bands turn up in the streets, musicians appear in places you weren’t expecting them, and suddenly a perfectly ordinary walk through the city can turn into a live gig. For five days, Cork becomes one enormous music venue.
The 2026 Guinness Cork Jazz Festival runs from Thursday 22 to Monday 26 October, and this year’s programme looks set to give the city plenty to talk about.
The festival has never been particularly interested in keeping jazz in a box, and the line-up is a good example of that. Alongside established jazz names, you’ll find house, soul, disco, Afrobeat, hip-hop, R&B, blues and electronic music, with artists ranging from Yussef Dayes and KOKOROKO to Masters At Work, Annie Mac and Boney M featuring Maizie Williams.
In other words, you don’t necessarily have to think of yourself as a jazz fan to find something worth seeing.
From London jazz to New York house
One of the most intriguing names on this year’s bill is Berlioz, the London-based project of Ted Jasper. His combination of jazz, soul, funk and house has become one of the more distinctive sounds in contemporary electronic music, sitting comfortably somewhere between a jazz club and a late-night dancefloor.
Yussef Dayes brings a very different kind of energy. One of the most prominent figures in the new generation of British jazz musicians, the drummer has helped push jazz towards broken beat, soul and more experimental territory. His live shows have also earned him an audience well beyond the traditional jazz crowd.
Photo Credit: Charlie Millar
Then there is Masters At Work.
Kenny Dope and Louie Vega are bringing their legendary New York house sound to Cork together for the first time, and it marks their first show in Ireland in more than 20 years. If house, Latin, disco and soul are more your thing than straight-ahead jazz, this could be one of the weekend’s big moments.
And for anyone who grew up listening to Irish radio, Annie Mac needs little introduction. Her return to Cork, alongside Tara Kumar, adds another distinctly contemporary edge to the programme.
A little disco never hurt anyone
Saturday brings Boney M featuring Maizie Williams, celebrating 50 years of the band’s music.
There probably aren’t many acts on the programme capable of producing such an immediate reaction across several generations. Whether you remember the songs from the first time around or discovered them decades later, hits such as Rasputin, Daddy Cool and Rivers of Babylon are firmly lodged in the collective memory.
Elsewhere, KOKOROKO bring their infectious blend of Afrobeat and jazz, while British saxophonist Courtney Pine marks four decades in music. Pine has spent much of that career refusing to stay in one musical lane, incorporating everything from jazz and funk to drum and bass and soul.
Photo Credit: Delali Ayivi
American pianist Jason Moran takes things in another direction with his acclaimed solo piano performance, while Keyon Harrold and Marcus Strickland explore the music of two giants of jazz with The Music of John Coltrane & Miles Davis at The Everyman.
Cork’s venues are part of the experience
One of the pleasures of Cork Jazz is that the festival doesn’t simply happen in one place.
Cork Opera House, The Everyman, Triskel Arts Centre, Live at St Luke’s and Cyprus Avenue all feature prominently, each offering a different way into the programme.
At Live at St Luke’s, Irish guitarist and singer Muireann Bradley brings her distinctive country-blues and folk sound to the festival. Σtella, Toshín & Sei Green and Joe-Armon Jones add further variety, with the latter moving between jazz, dub, electronics and soundsystem culture.
Photo Credit: Carina Kehlet Schou
At Triskel, things get even more exploratory. Momoko Gill, Riversphere featuring Iain Bellamy & Rob Luft, Bill Laurance of Snarky Puppy, Okonski and Jasmine Myra all feature, alongside an ECM Showcase featuring Topos: Sokratis Sinopoulos & Yann Keerim, Trygve Seim & Tord Gustavsen, and Maciej Obara Quartet featuring Mathias Eick.
Meanwhile, Margaret Glaspy brings her mix of jazz, indie rock and experimental pop to the programme.
Over at Cyprus Avenue, Alabama soul outfit St. Paul & The Broken Bones should provide a very different kind of live experience, while Yankari Afrobeat Collective celebrate the music of Fela Kuti. Irish indie-pop duo 49th & Main, joined by Caolan Ryan, bring things back into more contemporary territory.
And if swing is more your speed, Luke Thomas & The Swing Cats return with their popular Kings of Swing show.
Don’t overlook the Irish acts
For all the international names, some of the most interesting discoveries may come from closer to home.
The programme features Irish and emerging artists including Caolan Ryan, Tyra-Lee Spry, TBL8 Brass, Aisling, Winnie Ama, Solène Laurence and Maya Libbey, adding another layer to a festival that has always been as much about discovering something new as seeing a familiar name.
That’s arguably the secret to Cork Jazz.
You can arrive knowing exactly what you want to see, but the best part of the weekend may be the thing you stumble across between two planned gigs.
The festival happens in the streets too
The headline shows only tell part of the story.
The Guinness Music Trail will once again spread across more than 70 pubs and venues throughout Cork and beyond, while the Big Fringe brings brass bands, pop-ups and performances onto the streets.
It’s what gives the festival its particular character. You might spend the afternoon at a major concert, wander into a pub and discover a band you’ve never heard of, then find yourself following a brass band down the street later that night.
There is a plan for Cork Jazz. But there is also the very real possibility that Cork will have other plans for you.
That sense of discovery has been part of the festival since it began. Over 48 years, Cork has welcomed artists including Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie and Sonny Rollins, alongside more recent acts such as Gregory Porter, Damon Albarn and Macy Gray.
The names change, the music evolves, but the basic idea remains the same. For one long weekend, the city belongs to music.
The 2026 Guinness Cork Jazz Festival takes place from Thursday 22 to Monday 26 October.
Tickets: On sale Wednesday 9 September at 10am at: guinnesscorkjazzfestival.com
Instagram: @guinnesscorkjazz
