Take 6 and the Architecture of Harmony
Four decades into their career, Take 6 still builds its singular sound on disciplined arranging, close listening, and melody. A San Francisco masterclass, an interview with Claude McKnight, and the closing night of the group’s SFJAZZ residency revealed how that architecture continues to evolve.
Lettuce Turned SFJAZZ into Funk Church
Lettuce capped its four-night SFJAZZ residency by turning Miner Auditorium into a joyous funk revival. Steve Roby reviews a night of deep grooves, fearless improvisation, and a dance floor that refused to stay seated.
Sexmob's Psychedelic Sixty-Minute Serenade
Steven Bernstein brought Sexmob back to the Bay Area for a set devoted to 1960s psychedelic rock. The opening night at SFJAZZ's Joe Henderson Lab began unevenly before finding its groove with inventive takes on Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead.
Gunhild Carling’s SFJAZZ Stomp
On May 24, Gunhild Carling brought her family band, six instruments, and an impromptu stomp to SFJAZZ's most intimate room.
Meshell Ndegeocello’s “People’s Playlist” Drifts From Its Own Premise
A promised tribute to Bay Area radio pioneers gives way to a slow, meditative evening that finds its footing only in flashes.
Aaron Diehl Trio Finds Focus and Flow at Miner Auditorium
At SFJAZZ’s Miner Auditorium, Aaron Diehl led his trio through a measured, deeply focused set that balanced originals, standards, and seven Roland Hanna preludes, all shaped by precision, space, and attentive interplay.
Gerald Clayton Trio Reunites at Miner
Gerald Clayton closed his reunion tour at SFJAZZ’s Miner Auditorium with bassist Joe Sanders and drummer Justin Brown, delivering a set that balanced space, precision, and trio interplay. The performance traced a shared musical language shaped over decades and still evolving in real time.
Lee Ritenour Revisits the Road to Fusion at Miner
Lee Ritenour brought a refined quartet to SFJAZZ’s Miner Auditorium, balancing fusion-era precision with a controlled, groove-centered approach shaped by tone, phrasing, and ensemble interplay.
Stewart Copeland Tests The Police at Orchestral Scale
Stewart Copeland brings Police Deranged for Orchestra to Miner Auditorium, reworking the Police catalog with symphonic scale and raising questions about how much bite survives the expansion.
Emmet Cohen Keeps Miles and Coltrane Moving
Emmet Cohen’s sold-out SFJAZZ performance approached Miles Davis and John Coltrane’s centennial as a living tradition, balancing high-velocity interplay, atmospheric depth, and a forward-looking original suite.
Keb' Mo' Opens Four-Night SFJAZZ Run
Keb’ Mo’ opened his sold-out four-night SFJAZZ run with an intimate, story-rich set at Miner Auditorium, joined by his son K. Roosevelt on drums and percussion. The evening balanced warmth, humor, political resonance, and the lived authority of a musician fully at home in his own sound.
Monty Alexander’s Musical Journey Live
At SFJAZZ, Monty Alexander turned a Sunday-night set into a vivid memoir in sound, folding swing, reggae, humor, and hard-earned feeling into a performance shaped by a lifetime of stories.
Pasquale & Benjamin: An Unusual Pairing
At SFJAZZ’s Miner Auditorium, Pasquale Grasso opened with elegance and finely controlled swing, but Lakecia Benjamin’s blazing second set supplied the night’s real dramatic center. The contrast made for an intriguing double bill, even if the programming never fully found its arc.
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.
Immanuel Wilkins’ World Premiere of “Recitations” at SFJAZZ
Immanuel Wilkins’s March 2026 SFJAZZ residency moves from conversation to premiere to performance, tracing a four-day arc that includes a listening party, the debut of his commissioned work Recitations, and intimate Joe Henderson Lab sets with special guest David Murray.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.