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In Montmartre's series of intimate concerts with jazz giants, we end Vinterjazz 2026 with a bang when we present one concert with three of the world's best jazz musicians in a rare and exclusive setting.

Brian Blade / Scott Colley / Wolfgang Muthspiel

Jazzhus Montmartre

Wolfgang Muthspiel is one of the most influential jazz guitarists of our time. In the 1980s, the man with the smooth guitar sound and unerring picking technique left his native Austria for the USA, where he quickly made a name for himself with his versatile playing. He enhanced records by singers such as Rebekka Bakken, Maria João, and Youssou N'Dour and was invited to concerts and studio recordings by jazz giants such as John Patitucci. Since then, he has continued to expand into new spheres. In 2018, he introduced a new all-star trio with Scott Colley on bass and living legend Brian Blade on drums, both of whom enjoy the trust of greats such as Herbie Hancock and John Scofield.

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Wolfgang Muthspiel Trio

Elbphilharmonie Hamburg

Described as “the best of us all” by no less an authority than Cuban piano giant Chucho Valdés, pianist and SFJAZZ Collective member Edward Simon returns to the intimate environs of Joe Henderson Lab as part of a remarkable trio featuring fellow greats Scott Colley and Brian Blade, performing music from their new co-led release, Three Visitors.

Edward Simon: Three Visitors

SFJAZZ Center

For Joshua Redman, the search for new sounds often flows from his most enduring musical relationships. In assembling the quintet for his 2023 album Where Are We  the Berkeley saxophone star turned to an all-star cast of players with whom he’s shaped the contemporary jazz scene for some three decades.

Joshua Redman Group

The Jon Cowherd Trio features three of the most imaginative, sensitive, and wide-ranging artists in modern jazz: pianist and Hammond B3 player Cowherd, bassist John Patitucci, and drummer Brian Blade. The group’s newest release, Pride and Joy, reunites a trio with deep roots together. Cowherd and Blade have shared a close relationship for more than 25 years, ever since their college days at New Orleans’ Loyola University. The two co-founded the Grammy-nominated Brian Blade and the Fellowship Band, one of the most revered ensembles in contemporary music.

Jazz Bakery Presents: The Jon Cowherd Trio

Colburn School

Among the most intensely admired composers in jazz, Wayne Shorter is a true legend whose career stretched over half a century. The golden era of this saxophonist’s extraordinary musical journey was marked by the formation of his quartet with Danilo Pérez, John Patitucci, and Brian Blade, who went forth to confound all preconceptions of jazz in a prolific 24-years of concerts and Grammy Award winning recordings. Shorter’s great musical legacy lives on through this kindred trio, as they take to Zero Gravity – a shared fearlessness espoused by their mentor and Zen guru.

Danilo Pérez, John Patitucci, Brian Blade: Legacy of Wayne Shorter w/ special guest Mark Turner

Among the most intensely admired composers in jazz, Wayne Shorter is a true legend whose career stretched over half a century. The golden era of this saxophonist’s extraordinary musical journey was marked by the formation of his quartet with Danilo Pérez, John Patitucci, and Brian Blade, who went forth to confound all preconceptions of jazz in a prolific 24 years of concerts and GRAMMY® Award-winning recordings. Frequently hailed as one of the most influential saxophonists of his generation, Mark Turner rounds out this inspired exploration of the unknown.

Legacy Of Wayne Shorter

The Baker-Baum Concert Hall

Danilo Perez, John Patitucci, Brian Blade – Legacy of Wayne Shorter featuring special guest Mark Turner

Groton Hill Music Center

More than five decades after being named DownBeat’s 1967 Jazz Artist of the Year, saxophonist, flutist, and composer Charles Lloyd received that very same honor in 2023, affirming his vital presence in music. One of the first jazz artists to sell a million copies of a recording, Lloyd celebrates his 86th birthday with the release of The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow— one of his most significant recordings to date. The NEA Jazz Master and legendary bandleader returns to Spoleto at the helm of a remarkable ensemble, including pianist and Kennedy Center Artistic Director for Jazz, Jason Moran, bassist Larry Grenadier, and drummer Brian Blade.

Charles Lloyd Sky Quartet

College of Charleston

The Berklee Global Jazz Institute Summit 15th Anniversary Celebration Concert is dedicated to Wayne Shorter, with special guest Brian Blade(Opens in a new window), and featuring Danilo Pérez(Opens in a new window), John Patitucci(Opens in a new window), Berklee faculty, and BGJI students.

BGJI 15th Anniversary Concert Dedicated to Wayne Shorter ft Brian Blade, Danilo Pérez, John Patitucci, Faculty, and Students

Berklee College of Music

Saxman Joshua Redman joins forces with mesmerizing vocalist Gabrielle Cavassa on his celebrated Blue Note debut where are we. Redman calls where are we “a meditation on America and the power and importance of place.” The artists take on music from Rodgers & Hart to Springsteen, interpreted with the improvisational brilliance and melodic invention that is a hallmark of Redman’s artistry.

Joshua Redman Group featuring Gabrielle Cavassa where are we Tour

Kennedy Center

Jazz saxophonist Joshua Redman kicks off Stanford Live’s 2023-24 season with his new album. Where We Are is a musical journey across the United States of America that also marks Redman’s first-ever album featuring a vocalist—the dynamic young singer Gabrielle Cavassa. The album makes reference to specific geographical locations like Bruce Springsteen’s “Streets of Philadelphia,” Count Basie’s “Going To Chicago,” Rodgers & Hart’s “Manhattan,” John Coltrane’s “Alabama, ”Baltimore” and more.

Stanford University

Members of the Wayne Shorter quartet and special guests pay homage to the unique musical vision of this living legend, whose 2018 album Emanon was hailed as the year’s best jazz recording by The New York Times. Oakland trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire presents selections from his hard-hitting and rhythmically dexterous 2018 album Origami Harvest, pushing jazz into deeper communication with hip-hop and modernist classical music and using it to address social issues.

Wayne Shorter Celebrations

Walt Disney Concert Hall

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 Greek myth and opera are re-imagined through a classical and jazz-infused score and deeply poetic libretto. Two of the most visionary and daring musical voices of our time embark on a staged intervention into myth-making. spalding leads a company of nineteen vocalists and chamber orchestra, with Shorter's venerated jazz trio at its center.

(Iphigenia)

The Broad Stage

A living legend of jazz collaborates with one of the brightest lights of the younger generation in the West Coast premiere of a Cal Performances co-commission that reimagines what opera can be, and asks us to reexamine the stories we have inherited and the choices we make as a society.Wayne Shorter, 11-time Grammy-winning composer and saxophonist, has written the music, and esperanza spalding, 2022 Grammy nominee for Best Jazz Vocal Album, four-time Grammy-winning bassist, composer, and vocalist, is the librettist and plays the title role in Iphigenia, a radical new take on Euripides’ ancient Greek play Iphigenia in Aulis. Classical and jazz forms collide in an expansive score that features Shorter’s groundbreaking method of symphonic improvisation, lifting up Spalding’s artfully poetic and fractured libretto.The fully staged work is performed by a 28-piece chamber ensemble; the rhythm section of Shorter’s venerated quartet (Shorter himself does not perform); a cast of nine vocalists; and a chorus of 10 singers; with set design by icon Frank Gehry and directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz. As spalding explains, “Our Iphigenia has at its core a sense of autonomy—in this adventure of life, you have freedom of choice. The overarching sentiment is one of humanistic love, of wanting to re-awaken the dreams of youth free of the pressures of adulthood.”

Jazz: WAYNE SHORTER & ESPERANZA SPALDING’S …(Iphigenia)

University of California, Berkeley

The series begins on February 1 with a rare US date by Austrian guitarist Wolfgang Muthspiel, joined by two of the top players in jazz, bassist Scott Colley and drummer Brian Blade. Muthspiel lives in Vienna and is considered one of the most influential guitarists of his generation. After studying at the New England Conservatory and the Berklee College of Music in Boston, he toured with the Gary Burton Quintet, establishing a wide reputation on the jazz scene. His recordings as a leader on the ECM Record label have featured collaborations with Ralph Towner, Brad Mehldau, Ambrose Akinmusire, and Larry Grenadier. He has also been a regularly sought-after sideman for artists such as Dave Liebman, Peter Erskine, Paul Motian, Gary Peacock, John Patitucci, and many more. Muthspiel’s latest album, Angular Blues, with Scott Colley and Brian Blade, was released in the spring of 2020. The Times (London) wrote, “…moods shift from sunny and pastoral through the sharper edges of the title track... The three play with a relaxed precision that comes from long hours at the bandstand together… an exercise in fine-spun lyricism with echoes of Scarlatti and Bach … a quietly impressive album.”

Athenaeum Music & Arts Library

The rhythm section of Wayne Shorter’s legendary quartet kick off the night and then join a Toronto big band for the premiere of Pérez’s new work, The Panáfrica Suite: Echoes from the Isthmus, co-commissioned by the RCM.

As a solo artist and as a collaborator with jazz giants from Dizzy Gillespie to Wayne Shorter, for over three decades, Grammy-winning Panamanian pianist-composer Danilo Pérez has been lauded as one of the most creative forces in contemporary music. With jazz as the anchoring foundation, Pérez’s global jazz music is a blend of Panamanian roots, Latin American folk music, West African rhythms, and European impressionism – promoting music as a borderless and multidimensional bridge between all people.

After the concert, enjoy a beverage and more music featuring jazz drummer Evyn Berridge  at the Postlude Performance in the Leslie and Anna Dan Galleria.

Percussionist, Drummer

Brian Blade

Events

Upcoming events

Apr 25, 2026

Danilo Pérez, John Patitucci, and Brian Blade · The Royal Conservatory of Music

Past events

Feb 24, 2026

Brian Blade / Scott Colley / Wolfgang Muthspiel · Jazzhus Montmartre

Feb 23, 2026

Wolfgang Muthspiel Trio · Elbphilharmonie

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