2011 NEA Jazz Master Branford Marsalis represents “the highest echelon of jazz tenor saxophonists” (Los Angeles Times). He returns with his superlative quartet, featuring pianist Joey Calderazzo, bassist Eric Reevis, and drummer Justin Faulkner. 



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Branford Marsalis

SFJAZZ Center

“A pianist with liquid dynamism in his touch” (NY Times), the remarkable Houston-born musician and composer is best known to SFJAZZ audiences through his performances with Pat Metheny’s Side-Eye, José James, and Chris Potter’s Circuits Trio. He makes his SFJAZZ debut as a bandleader with these nights, bringing music from his 2023 Blue Note release Purest Form.

James Francies Trio

Starting his week as Resident Artistic Director in grand style, Kenny Barron performs with his ironclad working trio with bassist Kiyoshi Kitagawa and drummer Johnathan Blake. Kitagawa’s 27-year association with Barron and Blake’s nearly twenty-year tenure have made them the finest working piano trio in jazz, a unit that has developed a singular depth of communication as captured on Barron’s 2016 Impulse! album Book of Intuition — a sterling session nominated for “Best Instrumental Jazz Recording” at the 2016 GRAMMY Awards.

Kenny Barron Trio

Expanding his stellar working trio to a quintet with the addition of SFJAZZ Collective trumpeter Mike Rodriguez and Bay Area-raised saxophone great Dayna Stephens, Kenny Barron explores new sonorities and textures in a program of originals and fresh takes on standards documented on his 2018 Blue Note album Concentric Circles.

Kenny Barron Quintet

Podcast link: https://youtu.be/4hagYvrYbuM

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Exploring the dichotomous connection that exists between cutting loose on Saturday night and the repentance of Sunday morning, saxophonist and Resident Artistic Director Howard Wiley performs a program that will alternately get you out of your seat and help cleanse your soul. For these February nights in the Joe Henderson Lab, Wiley is joined by an all-star band including organist Damien Sneed, bassist Reginald Veal, and drummer Darrell Green.

Howard Wiley: Saturday Night to Sunday Morning

Cherished Bay Area vocalist and SFJAZZ Collective alumnus Martin Luther McCoy brings a romantic tribute to the iconic Nigerian/British soul queen Sade with this Valentine’s Day performance.

No Ordinary Love: Tribute to Sade

Known worldwide for his 15-year membership in Kenny Barron’s working trio and sideman duty with Pharoah Sanders, Chris Potter, and Tom Harrell among others, one of the most accomplished and in-demand drummers in modern jazz makes his West Coast debut as a leader with these four nights, joined by his dynamic quintet Pentad. Featuring Bay Area raised saxophone great Dayna Stephens and piano phenom Fabian Almazan along with young vibraphone virtuoso Jalen Baker and Blake’s longtime collaborator, bassist Dezron Douglas, the group performs material from Blake’s fourth album and 2021 Blue Note debut Homeward Bound.



Johnathan Blake's Pentad

The immensely talented Bay Area vocalist makes her debut at SFJAZZ with this Hotplate tribute to Latin pop legend Eydie Gormé and her 1964 collaboration with Trio Los Panchos, Amor. Crouse’s own 2022 album, Canto de Mi Corazón, is a tribute to Gormé and contains versions of many of her hits. As Crouse said in an interview for KQED radio’s The California Report, “Her music, and the music she did in Spanish with Trio Los Panchos, was probably the most memorable music for me growing up.”



Marina Crouse

The most influential figure in modern Afro-Cuban jazz for more than half a century, virtuoso pianist, composer and arranger Chucho Valdés returns with Irakere 50, the new iteration of the legendary band that changed the course of Latin music in the 1970s and 80s.

Chucho Valdés & Irakere 50

“A masterful ballad interpreter” (NYC Jazz Record), the sublime vocalist and 2015 Thelonious Monk competition finalist performs music from her newest Outside in Music album, Other Side. An artist on the rise, the New York City-based singer and composer weaves together elements of jazz, folk, and the use of her voice as an instrumental texture to create an intimate and personal musical world.



Danielle Wertz

Under the direction of Founding Artistic Director Terrance Kelly, the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir presents a captivating musical revue in celebration of Black History Month. From heartfelt Negro spirituals performed with an authenticity not often found outside of the South, to energetic and upbeat contemporary gospel, the show also offers historical context for each piece throughout and is sure to uplift and inspire an audience of all ages.



Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir

For many years a mainstay at New York’s cabaret capital, the Carlyle Hotel, singer and pianist Loston Harris and his swing-infused trio present intoxicating takes on gems from the Great American Songbook, carrying on the tradition of Frank Sinatra, Bobby Short, and Nat King Cole.



Loston Harris

Trumpeter Steven Bernstein’s week begins with his long-running band Sex Mob, playing a cross-section of fresh material and selections from their repertoire.

The quartet has honed a singular sound over two decades marked by high-energy, protean group improvisation and rollicking grooves unlike any other band on the planet. Originally formed for a weekly residency at New York’s Knitting Factory, they’ve earned a devoted fan base with boisterous deconstructions of tunes by a shaggy menagerie of pop acts, from Abba and James Brown to Prince and Elvis Presley, and subversively re-imagined film music of Nino Rota and John Barry. They’ve released nine superlative albums for the Ropeadope, Columbia, Rex, Thirsty Ear, and Royal Potato labels.

Steven Bernstein: Sex Mob

“A bewitching amalgam of Dusty Springfield’s caliginous, cream-filled soulfulness and Nancy Wilson’s sensual sophistication, with distinct shades of Michael Jackson” (JazzTimes), the stunning soul jazz singer Kandace Springs presents music from her latest Blue Note release, The Women Who Raised Me, joined by master drummer Camille Gainer and Oakland-born bassist Aneesa Strings, a former SFJAZZ High School All-Star known for work with José James.



Kandace Springs

“The most admired jazz diva since the heyday of Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday,” (NY Times) GRAMMY winner and 2018 NEA Jazz Master Dianne Reeves is jazz’s greatest living vocalist — an artist who embodies the music’s enduring values of elegance, class, and improvisational poise.



Dianne Reeves

“When the time comes, Bernstein clicks an invisible switch and the band pops into semi-flawless unison. At that point, you might imagine yourself in Harlem in 1929,” says the Village Voice about trumpeter Steven Bernstein’s expansive Millennial Territory Orchestra, an ensemble inspired by the pre-swing era territory bands that crisscrossed the country in the 1920s and 1930s.



Steven Bernstein's Millennial Territory Orchestra West

Kenny Barron’s third night brings the Bay Area premiere of a new sextet project embracing the music of Brazil and beyond. No stranger to Brazilian rhythms, Barron recorded his first album of samba-influenced compositions three decades ago with 1993’s Verve date Sambao.


Kenny Barron: Brazilian Explorations

Kenny Barron’s week closes in the most spontaneous and creative way possible, with an evening of improvised music featuring a sterling lineup of adventurous artists.

Vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Jen Shyu is a Guggenheim Fellow known for her visionary approach as a composer and her memorable work with Steve Coleman and Five Elements.


Kenny Barron: Freely Improvised Music

Join us for a lively evening of jazz with Cuban-born pianist and composer Harold López-Nussa performing music from his new album, Timba a la Americana, with GRAMMY® winning harmonica master Grégoire Maret, Latin jazz bass great Luques Curtis, and drummer Ruy Adrian López-Nussa.

Jazz events in San Francisco, CA

Branford Marsalis

San Francisco Jazz

James Francies Trio

San Francisco Jazz

Kenny Barron Trio

San Francisco Jazz

Kenny Barron Quintet

San Francisco Jazz

The Artelize Podcast and ...

Artelize

The Artelize Podcast - A ...

Artelize

The Artelize Podcast: A l...

Artelize

The Artelize Podcast and ...

Artelize

Howard Wiley: Saturday Ni...

San Francisco Jazz

No Ordinary Love: Tribute...

San Francisco Jazz

Johnathan Blake's Pentad

San Francisco Jazz

Marina Crouse

San Francisco Jazz

Chucho Valdés & Irakere 5...

San Francisco Jazz

Danielle Wertz

San Francisco Jazz

Oakland Interfaith Gospel...

San Francisco Jazz

Loston Harris

San Francisco Jazz

Steven Bernstein: Sex Mob...

San Francisco Jazz

Kandace Springs

San Francisco Jazz

Dianne Reeves

San Francisco Jazz

Steven Bernstein's Millen...

San Francisco Jazz

Kenny Barron: Brazilian E...

San Francisco Jazz

Kenny Barron: Freely Impr...

San Francisco Jazz

Harold López-Nussa

Festival Napa Valley