20th Annual Instrumental Jazz Festival: May 2, 2026
Hosted by MOJO - MiraCosta Orchestra Jazz Orchestra (Steve Torok, director)
music@miracosta.edu
Festival Info: 760.757.2121 x6446
Guest Artist: Grant Geissman
Festival Schedule
- The instrumental portion for the Oceanside Jazz Festival will take place on May 2, 2026.
The educational festival is an all day event on the beautiful 91抖阴 campus overlooking the coast in Oceanside, CA. Each band will receive:
- 45-minute performance/clinic with three world-class clinicians. The structure is very flexible. Three performance tunes are suggested, but each director may divide their performance/clinic time allotment however they feel works best for their students.
- 30-minute warm-up
- A video of your performance and clinic in our state of the art facilities
- Written comment sheets
- Masterclass / Q & A Session with our guest artist
- Additional afternoon masterclasses and performances
MOJO
Meet the Guest Artist for 2026
Grant Geissman
MiraCosta鈥檚 nine-time DownBeat award-winning big band presents an evening of jazz and funk with guitarist and composer Grant Geissman. Geissman has released fifteen albums under his own name, with the most recent being BLOOZ, which was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2022 and featured guest artists such as Randy Brecker, Joe Bonamassa, Josh Smith, Robben Ford, and Tom Scott. His other recent solo projects include the jazz trilogy of Say That!, Cool Man Cool, and BOP! BANG! BOOM! (Futurism Records). He has recorded with artists such as Quincy Jones, Burt Bacharach, Elvis Costello, Steve Tyrell, Chuck Mangione, Van Dyke Parks, Brian Wilson, Lorraine Feather, Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band, David Benoit, and Ringo Starr. Geissman also co-wrote the music for all twelve seasons of the hit CBS-TV series Two and a Half Men and all six seasons of Mike & Molly. He was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2004 for co-writing the Two and a Half Men theme (鈥淢en, men, men, men, manly men鈥�). His other TV credits include playing the Django Reinhardt-style acoustic guitar solo on the theme of the hit sitcom Monk. He also co-wrote the music for the first season of the CBS-TV sitcom B Positive. Geissman recorded the now-iconic electric guitar solo on Chuck Mangione鈥檚 1978 mega-hit 鈥淔eels So Good,鈥� and, quite fittingly, still enjoys making music that sounds and feels good. Directed by Steve Torok.
