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.
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.
Sketching Miles Davis in New Colors
Night 2 of SFJAZZ’s Miles Davis centennial series shifted from argument to atmosphere, as Gil Goldstein, Keyon Harrold, and Lenny White revisited the Davis-Gil Evans songbook with orchestral color, historical feeling, and a chamber-like sense of scale.
Madeleine Peyroux’s Multicultural Tapestry
On the second night of her two-night run at SFJAZZ’s Miner Auditorium, Madeleine Peyroux delivered a socially conscious, intimate performance that transformed the room into a global neighborhood.
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.
“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.
Greg Osby Returns to SFJAZZ
Greg Osby returned to SFJAZZ’s Joe Henderson Lab for a focused, one-hour set that balanced standards, originals, and lineage material with clarity and restraint.
Becca Stevens and The Secret Trio at Miner Auditorium
Becca Stevens and The Secret Trio brought an inward-focused, story-driven performance to Miner Auditorium on the third night of Michael League’s SFJAZZ residency, emphasizing restraint, deep listening, and cross-cultural collaboration.
Elipsis Opens Michael League’s SFJAZZ Residency
Elipsis opened Michael League’s SFJAZZ residency with a performance rooted in Afro-Cuban rhythm, collective authorship, and forward-moving tradition, setting the tone for the week ahead at Miner Auditorium.
Inside Elipsis at Soundcheck: Rhythm, Trust, and Preparation
At a public SFJAZZ soundcheck, Michael League and Elipsis revealed how rhythm, trust, and collective preparation shaped the music audiences would hear later that evening.
Jonathan Barber & Vision Ahead Bring Thunder to JHL
Jonathan Barber and Vision Ahead delivered a deeply unified, emotionally grounded performance at SFJAZZ’s Joe Henderson Lab, blending long-standing ensemble chemistry with new music from In Motion, including the forthcoming single “Dove” and the reflective ballad “When Love Calls.”
Radical Remix: How Braxton Cook and SMARTBOMB Turned SFJAZZ into an Oakland Block Party
If you typically associate the SFJAZZ Center with polite applause and established traditions, the scene on Franklin Street this past Sunday offered a radical remix of those expectations. Read our review of the Braxton Cook and SMARTBOMB takeover.
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.
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.
Marcus Shelby’s Orchestral Memory: Blues, Structure, and Community at SFJAZZ
On December 21, 2025, the Marcus Shelby New Orchestra brought Duke Ellington’s The Nutcracker Suite to Miner Auditorium, blending big band rigor with a deep meditation on Bay Area history and global resilience.
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.