Steven Roby 3/28/26 Steven Roby 3/28/26

José James: Exit The Dragon

At Miner Auditorium, José James closed his 1978: Revenge of the Dragon tour with a set that moved through soul, fusion, disco, hip-hop, and jazz, turning Friday night into a charged, flirtatious, high-volume celebration.

Steven Roby 3/24/26 Steven Roby 3/24/26

At SFJAZZ, Miles Stayed in Motion

The final night of SFJAZZ’s Miles Davis centennial celebration brought the Miles Electric Band to Miner Auditorium, while a broader arc came into focus across the full four-night series. Through insights from Vince Wilburn Jr. and Keyon Harrold, the week revealed Miles Davis as an artist who kept moving toward the next sound.

Steven Roby 3/22/26 Steven Roby 3/22/26

SFJAZZ Recharged Miles’s Acoustic Years

Across two Saturday performances in Miner Auditorium, Eddie Henderson, Javon Jackson, Donald Harrison, Patrice Rushen, Buster Williams, and Lenny White treated Kind of Blue as living language, giving Night 3 of SFJAZZ’s Miles Davis centennial celebration its deepest historical weight and clearest spirit of musical exploration.

Steven Roby 3/1/26 Steven Roby 3/1/26

Hugo de la Lune’s Architecture of Identity

At the Joe Henderson Lab, Hugo de la Lune turned his SFJAZZ debut into a meditation on lineage, faith, and self-reclamation, shaping voice and harmony into a living architecture of identity.

Steven Roby 2/27/26 Steven Roby 2/27/26

The Sculpted Grooves of SML @ JHL

SML transformed the Joe Henderson Lab into a pressure chamber of modular synthesis and percussive force during a 53-minute, unbroken set that fused Chicago experimentalism with West Coast grit.

Steven Roby 2/23/26 Steven Roby 2/23/26

Five(ish) Finds Otherworldly Orbits in the Lab

In a raucous, high-voltage set at the SFJAZZ Joe Henderson Lab, Berkeley bassist and composer Lisa Mezzacappa led Five(ish) through the shifting biomes of a newly imagined cosmos.

Steven Roby 2/21/26 Steven Roby 2/21/26

Dianne Reeves Shapes an Evening of Grace

ransforming the Miner Auditorium into a velvet-draped sanctuary, the vocalist commanded 50 years of jazz history with industrial precision and domestic warmth.

Steven Roby 2/20/26 Steven Roby 2/20/26

Marsalis’ Mardi Gras Mayhem at Miner Auditorium

A brass-heavy New Orleans collective transformed the SFJAZZ Center into a technicolor street parade.

Steven Roby 2/14/26 Steven Roby 2/14/26

“A Better Inner World”: Tyreek McDole’s Call to Stay Human in Crazy Times

At the SFJAZZ Joe Henderson Lab, Tyreek McDole transformed a sold-out residency into a spiritual summons. Through the music of Horace Silver, Alice Coltrane, and Andre 3000, the 2023 Sarah Vaughan Competition winner explored how inner healing creates a better world.

Steven Roby 1/17/26 Steven Roby 1/17/26

Hamilton de Holanda Trio Debut Ignites Miner Auditorium

Hamilton de Holanda made a striking SFJAZZ debut at Miner Auditorium, reframing choro through modern jazz language with a virtuosic trio performance that bridged Brazilian, African, and post-bop traditions.

Steven Roby 1/6/26 Steven Roby 1/6/26

Botti Kicks Off 2026 SFJAZZ Residency with West Coast Warmth

Joined by jazz heavyweights Chris Potter and Mark Whitfield, the trumpeter’s annual residency bridges the gap between atmospheric pop and hard-bop virtuosity, solidifying Miner Auditorium as his West Coast home.

Steven Roby 1/1/26 Steven Roby 1/1/26

Dirty Dozen Brass Band Ushers In 2026

The Dirty Dozen Brass Band turned the pristine Miner Auditorium into a New Orleans Second Line, proving that their 50-year-old "codified revolution" still has the power to move bodies and minds as they rang in the New Year.

Steven Roby 12/29/25 Steven Roby 12/29/25

The Architect of Swinging Joy: Benny Green’s Living History at Miner Auditorium

In the steep, intimate amphitheater of the Robert N. Miner Auditorium, pianist Benny Green operated as a "Curator-Virtuoso." His Sunday evening solo recital was a pedagogical and emotional exhibition, synthesizing the distinct dialects of mentors Art Blakey, Ray Brown, and Oscar Peterson into a singular, exuberant voice.

Steven Roby 12/19/25 Steven Roby 12/19/25

Arturo Sandoval at SFJAZZ: Bebop Lessons, Cuban Fire, and the Joy of Staying Alive

At 76, Arturo Sandoval transformed SFJAZZ’s Miner Auditorium into a masterclass of Afro-Cuban rhythm and bebop history. Far from a standard holiday recital, his "Swinging Holiday" show blended virtuosity with intimate storytelling—from his black sequined sneakers to a moving tribute to Charlie Chaplin. Read the full review of a night defined by "Cuban fire" and the joy of staying alive.

Steven Roby 10/12/25 Steven Roby 10/12/25

Funk as a Commons: Dumpstaphunk’s Collective Groove

What if the beat were a social contract? That question lingered over a sold-out Saturday at Miner Auditorium, where Dumpstaphunk approached funk not as escapism but as a shared practice—an agreement to move, listen, and shape tension and release as a community. This thesis emerged in the music, in the crowd, and in the way bandleader Ivan Neville framed the evening: a collective body choosing the groove.

Steven Roby 9/13/23 Steven Roby 9/13/23

Herbie Hancock Turns Improvisation Into Communion at Chautauqua

At 83, Herbie Hancock fused funk, philosophy and fearless spontaneity in a sold-out Chautauqua Auditorium performance that felt both cosmic and deeply human.