Bassist

Leimert Park Jazz Festival brings its popular Sunday Jazz monthly concert series to The Ford to celebrate the centennial birthday of the legendary trumpeter Miles Davis. Grammy-nominated pianist John Beasley, a former member of Miles’ band, traces the evolution of Miles through distinct creative eras. He and his band illuminate Miles’ relentless commitment to reinvention, from the groundbreaking Birth of the Cool to the lyricism of Kind of Blue to the electric and fusion explorations of the 1970s and beyond. On the program’s second half, innovators from the Leimert Park Jazz Festival Emerging Artists Collective enter into new artistic terrain, following the tradition of evolution that Davis embodied. Join us for a night that is a living exploration of Miles Davis’ spirit of risk, experimentation, and forward motion.

John Beasley’s UNLIMITED MILES: MILES DAVIS AT 100

The Ford

Unlimited Miles: Miles Davis At 100 keeps one foot rooted in the rich legacy of Miles Davis while the other leaps boldly into the future. Under the direction of award-winning pianist and composer, John Beasley, this starry sextet delves into the visionary spirit and boundless creativity of Davis, exploring the vast directions his music continues to inspire. Beasley’s arrangements will cover each decade of Davis’ chameleonic career.

EPSG:4326

Unlimited Miles: Miles Davis at 100

Folly Theater

Unlimited Miles: Miles Davis At 100 keeps one foot rooted in the rich legacy of Miles Davis while the other leaps boldly into the future. Under the direction of award-winning pianist and composer John Beasley, this starry sextet delves into the visionary spirit and boundless creativity of Miles Davis, exploring the vast directions his music. Davis continues to inspire as one of the most influential jazz musicians the world has ever seen or heard. Beasley’s arrangements will cover each decade of Davis’ career and quest for reinvention.

Unlimited Miles

Wharton Center for Performing Arts

Acclaimed as a musical prodigy, an electrifying performer, and a brilliant bandleader, Prince was an artist who shaped his career his way, often battling with accepted music-business practices. Assembling a stellar cast of stars in the worlds of R&B, funk, soul, jazz, and classical, GRAMMY®-winning bassist and music director Ben Williams pays tribute to the musical legacy of Prince. Drawing inspiration from his iconic discography, DEARLY BELOVED – The Music of Prince Reimagined will feature visual projections and narrative that celebrate Prince’s virtuosity, diversity, and transcendent spirit.

The Music of Prince Reimagined

Toledo Museum of Art

Masters Recital: Cal Mason, jazz

The University of Iowa School of Music - Voxman Building

Ben Williams’ artistry continues to blossom, wondrously. Ever since hitting the international jazz scene in the late-aughts as a bassist for the likes of vibraphonist Stefon Harris, pianist Jacky Terrasson, and saxophonist Marcus Strickland, Williams has made ineradicable footprints in the expansive music world as top-tier sideman; commanding solo-artist, composer, and bandleader; and more recently as an increasingly sought-after producer.

Ben Williams Band

Monterey County Fairgrounds

James Joyce’s Ulysses has fascinated, perplexed, scandalized, and/or defeated readers for over a century. Building on a rich history of staging modernist works—Gatz, The Sound and the Fury, The Select (The Sun Also Rises)—Elevator Repair Service (ERS) takes on this Mount Everest of twentieth-century literature in their Fisher Center debut.

Ulysses

Fisher Center at Bard

Step back in time and relive the golden era of music with “Nat King Cole Christmas” presented by Magic 101.3. This special concert, set to take place at The Louisville Palace Theatre on December 20, 2023, at 7:30 PM, is a tribute to the legendary Nat King Cole. Conducted by Gabriel Lefkowitz and featuring Terri Lyne Carrington on drums as the Music Director, the evening promises a mix of holiday and iconic songs performed by a stellar array of Grammy-honored musicians and all-stars from the music and theater worlds. With historical images, TV footage, and Nat’s most memorable hits, this concert is both an aural and visual homage to a musical icon.

Holiday: Nat King Cole Christmas

Louisville Palace Theatre

Known widely as the GRAMMY-winning bassist with the Pat Metheny Unity Band and winner of the 2009 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Bass Competition, Ben Williams steps out as a leader and makes his Joe Henderson Lab debut with music from his new album I AM A MAN.

A Washington DC native, Williams is one of the jazz world’s first-call bass masters, boasting a résumé that includes scintillating work with Metheny, Robert Glasper, Wynton Marsalis, Lauren Hill, Stefon Harris, and Nicholas Payton.

Ben Williams

SFJAZZ Center

In 1965, two of America’s intellectual giants were invited to debate whether “the American Dream is at the expense of the American Negro,” bringing into sharp focus our country’s deepest divisions.

Baldwin and Buckley at Cambridge

Public Theater

It was at the Stanford Jazz Festival in 2017 that Lisa Fischer (Rolling Stones, Sting, 20 Feet from Stardom) and Grammy-winning pianist and SJW alumnus Taylor Eigsti first played as a duo — and the world stood still. Every note of those first songs still resonates with Lisa and Taylor, so much so that they took their duo on tour. Now they’ve crafted an entire evening of music for you. Lisa will astonish you with her vocal mastery and stage magic, and together with Taylor she’ll reach directly into your soul in this special concert.

Bassist

Ben Williams

Events

Past events

Jul 19, 2026

John Beasley’s UNLIMITED MILES: MILES DAVIS AT 100 · The Ford

Mar 29, 2026

Unlimited Miles: Miles Davis at 100 · Folly Theater

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