San Francisco

Cory Henry and The Funk Apostles at Miner Auditorium

by Steven Roby
September 9, 2025

Cory Henry and The Funk Apostles Miner Auditorium San Francisco, CA September 5, 2025 SFJAZZ Center's digital director, Ross Eustis, started the evening with a brief welcome, highlighting more than 350 shows on the new season's schedule. The crowd greeted the band with the kind of enthusiasm associated with Cory Henry's ...

Anthony Wilson Nonet At Joe Henderson Lab

by Steven Roby
September 8, 2025

Anthony Wilson Nonet Joe Henderson Lab San Francisco, CA September 4, 2025 Anthony Wilson chose a high-wire debut for his first time leading his own band at SFJAZZ: nine musicians packed onto the Joe Henderson Lab's stage--roughly 20 by 12 feet--to open the 2025-26 season. The Nonet fit like a ...

Blue Note Black Radio Experience

by Ronald Davis
September 8, 2025

A collection of photos from the Blue Note Black Radio Experience in Napa from August 29, 2025 to August 31, 2025 featuring Robert Glasper, Esperanza Spalding, Terrace Martin, Questlove, {m: Aneesa Strings, Braxton Cook, freelance, Earth, Wind & Fire, The Roots, DJ Jazzy Jeff, The Soul Rebels, Goapele, Warren G, Little Brother, Willow Smith, Big Daddy ...

OKAN: Joy as Resistance, Rhythm as Home

by Steven Roby
September 7, 2025

Afro-Cuban duo OKAN creates music that bridges gaps--between Havana and Toronto, ritual and dance floor, refined conservatory training and raw street style. Their name, taken from Santer��a, means “heart." That rhythm energizes everything they perform: violin complemented by luminous vocals, bat�� drums, and caj��n intertwined with jazz harmony and songs that emphasize joy as both an ...

Dominique Fils-Aim��: Jazz as Freedom, Healing, and Connection

by Steven Roby
September 5, 2025

Montreal vocalist--composer Dominique Fils-Aimé discusses music as essential as breath--something vital, grounding, and shared. In conversation, a few recurring themes emerge: freedom as the driving force of jazz, healing as the restorative power of music on the body, and connection--among people, across generations, and through history--as the quiet foundation that allows songs to travel. These ideas ...

LabRats: Groove Experiments and the Mwandishi Connection

by Steven Roby
September 2, 2025

LabRats didn't aim to fit neatly on a shelf. The Sacramento-based collective, led by drummer and bandleader Jacob Swedlow, moves wherever the groove takes them--through jazz fusion, hip-hop, and live improvisation--while maintaining a tight, communal vibe both on stage and in the studio. “LabRats was an idea I had about two years before I ...

Lady Day Reimagined: Stella Heath��s Jazz Story

by Steven Roby
August 31, 2025

Vocalist Stella Heath describes Billie Holiday the way a director describes a great actor--precise about choices, attentive to subtext, and focused on how a story resonates in the room. “Stories are front and foremost for me," she says. Heath's connection to Holiday starts with feeling. What drew her in wasn't just her timbre or ...

SFJAZZ Spring Concerts

by Ronald Davis
August 28, 2025

ELEW Finds His Frequency: From Camden Roots to ELEW Plays Sting at SFJAZZ

by Steven Roby
August 26, 2025

Pianist Eric Lewis (ELEW) grew up in a house where music was infrastructure. He is the fourth generation of classical musicians in his family, raised in Camden, New Jersey, where practicing the piano felt like another chore alongside washing dishes and mowing the lawn. That immersion, combined with conservatory training, forged a touch that is both ...