Announcing The Gilmore's Inaugural 2026 Larry J. Bell Young Jazz Artist Awardees: Tyler Bullock And Esteban Castro

September 12, 2025

A conversation with the Bell Young Artists + acclaimed pianist Bill Charlap now streaming at TheGilmore.org and via The Gilmore��s YouTube channel. Dr. Pierre van der Westhuizen, Executive and Artistic Director of The Gilmore, today announced Tyler Bullock and Esteban Castro as the recipients of The Gilmore��s inaugural 2026 Larry J. Bell Young Jazz Artist Awards, ...

Announcing The Gilmore��s 2025 Rising Stars Concert Series Of Emerging Jazz And Classical Pianists

August 28, 2025

Chelsea Guo (Sep 21) Luther S. Allison Trio (Oct 4) Giorgi Gigashvili (Oct 5) Miki Yamanaka Trio (Dec 6) The Gilmore 359 S. Kalamazoo Mall Kalamazoo, MI Tickets Now on Sale: General $28 / Students $10. To reserve tickets, visit TheGilmore.org or call 269.359.7311. Livestream: Free at YouTube.com/TheGilmore. Dr. Pierre van der Westhuizen, Executive and Artistic ...

The Gilmore Releases Exclusive Concert Video Of Mehldau-McBride-Gilmore Trio on July 8, 2025

July 8, 2025

Available on Tuesday, July 8, 2025, at 1:00 p.m. EST via YouTube Dr. Pierre van der Westhuizen, Executive and Artistic Director of The Gilmore, announced today the premiere video release of a recent concert by three Grammy-winning jazz artists: acclaimed pianist Brad Mehldau, bassist extraordinaire Christian McBride, and increasingly renowned drummer Marcus Gilmore. Performed before a ...

Gilmore Piano Festival 2024

by John Ephland
June 5, 2024

Irving S. Gilmore International Piano FestivalKalamazoo, MIApril 24 to May 12, 2024 Thelonious Monk ends his 1967 album Straight, No Chaser with the song “We See." This Monk classic quartet remake from the 1950s was also the last piece of jazz music performed at this year's Irving S. Gilmore International Piano Festival. ...

Jazz Host Celebrates 40 Years On the Air

March 1, 2023

Joining Blue Lake Public Radio��s staff in the spring of 1983, Lazaro Vega has provided listeners with four decades of exceptional Jazz programming, interviews, reviews, and unwavering advocacy of this uniquely American art form. As Jazz Director at BLPR, he is encyclopedic in his knowledge of the medium and well known in the Jazz community both ...

Kevin Bujo Jones And Tenth World

Tenth World is a group formed by Kevin Jones and pianist/composer, Kelvin Sholar through a partnership created back in 1999 in New York City. Together Jones and Sholar formed a collective of young talented master musicians on the cusp of realizing a new and creative sound that combined the harmonic sensibilities of Jazz and Soul with the rhythms of the African Diaspora. The nucleus of Tenth World formed around Kelvin Sholar’s group Esoterica which was a quartet. Other members were added; Saxophonist Brian Horton, Drummer Jaimeo Brown, Trumpeter Kevin Louis and both Bassists Damon Warmack out of Detroit and Joshua David Barrett out of New Jersey worked interchangeably

Lushh

Born: February 18, 1996

Lushh is an electronic jazz band based out of Kalamazoo, MI. The band has been together since late 2015, after meeting through the Jazz Studies program at Western Michigan University. While merging their jazz roots with more modern and contemporary styles, Lushh draws their influences from the likes of Kneebody, Donny McCaslin, Hiatus Kaiyote and much more. Lushh frequently performs around the Midwest, particularly in Michigan, collaborating with various musicians and artists. In addition to performing, Lushh teaches masterclasses at local Michigan high schools. Recently, Lushh performed at the Audiotree Music Festival in Kalamazoo, MI

Andrew Saliba

Andrew Saliba is a guitarist and composer from San Diego, CA. Based in Kalamazoo, he performs throughout Michigan and the Chicagoland area. He has performed with and written for WMU's Advanced Jazz Ensemble and Gold Company, Miracosta College's Frequency, Jazz Collective, and Jazz Orchestra (MOJO), and the Sam Pilnick Project. He is also part of the Downbeat award-winning electronic jazz group Lushh. In addition to awards from Miracosta College and Western Michigan University, Andrew has won several Downbeat awards: four as a member of various groups, and three individually. He recently won a 2019 Downbeat award as a soloist

Jonathan Barrera Mikulich

My name is Jonathan Barrera Mikulich. I live and work in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I play the saxophone and am currently a member of an alt.Latino band named Cabildo (cabidoband.com). I am very much interested in many different genres of music but have an affinity toward music that is part of the jazz tradition; improvisational, inspirational, and without boundaries.

Matthew Fries

Born: September 24, 1968

Matthew Fries is a joyful voice on the piano with a unique and recognizable style that is authentically rooted in the tradition of the classic jazz pianists, while still looking forward to the future of the music and the instrument.

As a composer and leader he has performed his own music extensively, recording ten albums of mostly original compositions. His music has been described as playful and hopeful, introspective, full of joy and wonderment, and awash with tonal colors. But it is his deeply swinging piano style and collaborative spirit that have also made him an in-demand sideman for both instrumentalists and vocalists. He has toured worldwide, appears on scores of recordings, and his work has been described as “the best jazz accompaniment I’ve seen in a cabaret in years” (The New York Times), and “the crispest rhythm section imaginable” (The London Times).