Alto saxophonist Owen Brady and guitarist Jackson Peters will perform two sets, rendering a mix of familiar and obscure pieces of jazz repertoire, orchestral excerpts, film scores, and originals. Jackson Peters is a graduate from Lawrence University Conservatory of Music in guitar performance. Known for his range and versatility, he has performed alongside a wide […]

Dinner and drinks service starts 1 hour before showtimes. A Night of Straight Up Jazz Adam Wolff is a swinging, soulful jazz pianist from San Diego, California. He played Crooners last year to a full house! Adam Wolff: Piano Rachel Holder: Vocals Tom Lewis: Bass Nathan Norman: Drums Adam Wolff, jazz pianist, is originally from New York. […]

With guest drummer Joe Pulice Like a good many before him, singer and pianist Andrew Walesch manages to encapsulate the sophistication of a cosmopolite and the self-effacing charm of a country boy. Leading his all-star big band, showman Andrew Walesch kidnaps the Blue Eyes tradition and makes it his own in his jazz-bent Sinatra revue. […]

Drummer Chresten Hyde, guitarist Toivo Hannigan and bassist Dan Carpel perform a mix of old and new standards, deep cuts, and improvisation. Drawing on a wide variety of influences both inside and outside of jazz, they bring a modern, fresh approach to the guitar trio. Chresten Hyde is a drummer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter based in […]

Dinner and drinks service starts 1 hour before showtimes. Classic Jazz, Bebop and Swing Classic female songwriters from the era of the flappers in the early 20th century to mid-century bebop and swing and beyond. Trailblazing lyricists and composers like Kay Swift, the first woman to write a Broadway musical, to Dorothy Fields with a […]

Kenny Garrett’s latest release, 2021’s Sounds from the Ancestors, is a multi-faceted album. The music, however, doesn’t lodge inside the tight confines of the jazz idiom. Here, this is not surprising: the alto saxophonist and composer acknowledges Aretha Franklin and Marvin Gaye as significant touchstones. Miles Davis’ seminal LP, On the Corner, subverted its main guiding lights […]

The Music of Django Reinhardt This performance by the Ryan Picone Quartet captures the several Django Reinhardt compositions that are found of the origins of Django’s musical development and artistry. This performance encapsulates every pillar of Django Reinhardt’s development through his entire legacy from beginning to end. Dr. Ryan Picone: Lead Guitar Tessa Nichols Meade: […]

Davina Sowers and the Vagabonds have created a stir on the national music scene. Their high-energy live shows feature level-A musicianship, sharp-dressed professionalism and Sowers’ commanding stage presence. Also, their influences range from Fats Domino and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band to Aretha Franklin and Tom Waits. Moreover, the band is converting audiences one show at […]

Rekindling a project from before Kaleena Miller moved to NYC, these four dance around each other—literally and musically—to improvise new forms and connect music and dance in previously unheard ways. Band Members: Bryan Nichols - Piano Kaleena Miller - Dance JT Bates - Drums Cody McKinney - Bass ⊹ Bryan Nichols is a pianist, composer, […]

Led by chief detonators Doug Haining, sax, and Scott Agster, trombone, the Explosion Big Band draws from the area’s finest musicians. The EXPLOSION is ready to detonate with the classic sounds of Count Basie, Duke Ellington, and more modern sounds of Thad Jones, Clare Fischer, Pat Metheny & others.

Effortless. Spontaneous. Inimitable. The convergence of two of jazz’s most legendary forces of nature. Moreover, their virtuosic interpretations traverse the musical spectrum. For example, they draw on the canons of luminary composers: Ellington, Porter, Sondheim, LeGrand, Simon, and others. Here, they range from intimate ballads to soulful grooves, delivered with daring expression born of their […]

It isn’t hyperbolic to call Hancock our greatest living jazz artist. Now in his seventh decade of professional life, he has been an integral part of every popular music movement since the 1960s. His work with the Miles Davis Quintet is legendary. His Headhunters album is one of the highest-selling jazz albums of all time. He is […]

Love Call is a trio that unites all that is beautiful in the world into a set of original music that blurs the line between composition and improvisation. Band Members: Max Bessesen - Saxophone/Woodwinds Devin Drobka - Drums Ethan Philion - Bass ⊹ NYC woodwind artist and composer Max Bessesen creates music that “pushes boundaries […]

With a solo career spanning two decades, Chris Botti is the highest-selling instrumental artist in the United States. His success has crossed over to audiences usually reserved for pop music. Additionally, his ongoing association with PBS has led to four Number One jazz albums, as well as multiple Gold, Platinum and Grammy Awards. He performs […]

Chicago-born, Minneapolis-based drummer Kenne Thomas brings his quartet of established jazz players to Berlin. Band Members: Kenne Thomas - Drums Solomon Parham - Trumpet Abebi Stafford - Piano Vic Smith - Bass Kenne Thomas was raised in a musical family and was encouraged to pursue music by family friends Gene Ammons and Sonny Stitt. He […]

Suwal Singh (tabla, guitar) has contributed to the Minnesota music scene as part of projects such as SitarTabla (Eastern classical), Yeti Steady (avant-garde soundscapes), MoMoSauce (Nepali music), and Jest (pop rock). He has also worked as a session musician with Nathan Hanson, Brian Roessler, Eric Carranza, Colleen Buckman, and Dave Mehling and has appeared at […]

With a solo career spanning two decades, Chris Botti is the highest-selling instrumental artist in the United States. His success has crossed over to audiences usually reserved for pop music. Additionally, his ongoing association with PBS has led to four Number One jazz albums, as well as multiple Gold, Platinum and Grammy Awards. He performs worldwide and […]

Jazz, Contempory, and Classic American Songbook For this show, Bernadette will be singing an eclectic mix of new and old jazz arrangements. She will be sharing her own journey of how jazz can be a powerful and positive way to exercise and build social connections through music. Omar Abdulkarim: Trumpet, Flugelhorn Pete James Johnson: Drums […]

With a solo career spanning two decades, Chris Botti is the highest-selling instrumental artist in the United States. His success has crossed over to audiences usually reserved for pop music. Additionally, his ongoing association with PBS has led to four Number One jazz albums, as well as multiple Gold, Platinum and Grammy Awards. He performs worldwide and […]

Folks, there’s a new rockabilly band in town – Grant Edwards & The Cousins-In-Law. Grant Edwards, 42, has “the music” in him. It may have first grown in spirit, raised in an extremely strict religious sect, Edwards divine is not complete without song. At age 28, Grant quit his church opening a path of continued […]

Johnnie Brown was born in Mississippi. He began singing as a child in his father’s church choir. As an adult, Johnnie’s sibling and friends encouraged him to take singing more seriously. Brown decided to take his vision as a performer to the next level and formed a band. Since, he has established a reputable name […]

The finale of Bryan Nichols’s October residency at Berlin, We Are Many is an improvisational large group playing Nichols' compositions. Based on a Pablo Nerudo poem, We Are Many combines some of the best elements of large and small group jazz and harnesses the power of an incredible assemblage of the Twin Cities' finest musicians. […]

The MNHBC Jazz Student “SIT-IN” Performance Series is funded by a grant from the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council and the St. Paul Cultural Star.   What is “Sitting-In”? Sitting in is not the same as a “jam session”. A musician’s definition of “sitting in” is to participate in a working group, as a guest, usually […]

Brandee Younger is revolutionizing the harps’ role in modern music. She has worked relentlessly over the past fifteen years to stretch boundaries and limitations for harpists. In 2022, she made history. Then, she became the first Black woman to be nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition. That same year, she was also nominated […]

Founded in 2014 by Geoffrey West Senn and Mac Santiago (percussionist/drum set), the Twin Cites Latin Jazz Orchestra (TCLJO) brings together the drama of big band jazz, the rhythmic intensity of Latin music, and the virtuosity of eighteen of the Twin Cities’ most accomplished musicians.

When the artistry of vocalist Jennifer Grimm met the mastery of composer-arranger Adi Yeshaya, a new sound was born. Don’t miss this thirteen-piece jazz orchestra in a night of compositions and new arrangements of jazz and pop favorites. Composer, arranger and jazz pianist Adi Yeshaya was born and raised in Israel. A graduate of Berklee College of Music, […]

After a musical meeting at Jazzorca in Mexico City earlier this year, Nathan Hanson and Álvaro Torres are joining forces to investigate the spaces where spontaneity meets the familiar, and where familiarity meets the unknown. Their quartet is completed by Liz Draper and Davu Seru, who expand the field of viable sound research. Pianist and […]

A Twin Cities-based swing Jazz band, performs a timeless jazz tradition commonly known as Jazz manouche, a blend of traditional Roma music and swing jazz. The ‘Hot Club’ jazz tradition brings back happy memories of the swing jazz era. Glen Helgeson: Guitar Gary Schulte: Violin Steve Pikal: Upright bass Jay Epstein: Drums Glen Helgeson Composing and […]

Pianist Alec Watson, upright bassist Pat Keen, and drummer Dave Power will play two sets of Alec Watson originals, improvised pieces, and jazz standards during the dinner hour. Alec Watson is a Minneapolis based pianist, songwriter, and improviser. Under the moniker DPCD, Watson has steadily released music ranging from minimalist folk to haunted parlor ballads. […]

A Jazz Trumpet “Throw-Down” Trumpeters Steve Kenny, Omar Abdulkarim, Jake Baldwin, and Solomon Parham appearing with a stunning Jazz rhythm section of Kavyesh Kaviraj, Kevin Washington, and Dan Carpel will be playing a host of crowd-pleasing Jazz Trumpet favorites and well-known Jazz Standards. Some of the arrangements are impromptu, with plenty of all-four-of-the-horns collaborating, but there’s […]

Guitarist Joel Shapira will perform original compositions and jazz classics off his new solo guitar release, Unscripted. He is a leader and/or member of multiple top Twin Cities jazz ensembles, and he is a master of the demanding discipline of solo guitar. He performs regularly with world-class musicians, has numerous recordings to his credit, and […]

The Bone Chance Jazz Quintet plays the first concert of the 2025-2026 Wayzata Musicales Concert Series. Members are trombonist-composer Dave Graf, saxophonist Doug Haining, pianist Adi Yeshaya, bassist Mark Peterson and drummer Phil Hey.

Backed by her powerhouse Minneapolis band, Lucia Sarmiento will deliver explosive sax solos, unstoppable energy, and a bold new take on pop and jazz from her debut album, Escape. Band Members: Lucia Sarmiento - Saxophone David Feily - Guitar Jason Craft - Keys Aníbal Soares - Bass Pete James Johnson - Drums On her remarkable […]

A Wonderful Night of Jazz - Cabaret Style Life is a cabaret! Four shows in one night. Three amazing vocalists. An all-star, award winning lineup of players. Jazz from four different eras /styles of jazz placed in historical perspective. Steve Clarke: Saxophones, Flutes and Host Phil Aaron: Piano Tom Lewis: Bass Haralds Bondaris: Drums Maurice […]