Performances

With a golden trumpet and a keyboard smile, trumpeter Louis Armstrong ignited the flame of American Jazz. Join the Jazz Arts Group for The Wonderful World of Louis Armstrong, a free presentation accompanied by live music, video, and verbal commentary, summarizes the profound influence Louis Armstrong had on music and American Culture.

Over the course of a multifaceted career spanning four decades, Grammy and Tony Award-winning Jazz giant Dee Dee Bridgewater has ascended to the upper echelon of vocalists, putting her unique spin on standards, as well as taking intrepid leaps of faith in re-envisioning jazz classics.

The Columbus Jazz Orchestra, along with world famous vocalist Niki Haris and the Milt Ruffin Chorale come together in a soul-stirring concert featuring gospel, blues, and spirituals in a tribute to the legendary Aretha Franklin.

Featuring Quan Howell & Shayna Steele The Columbus Jazz Orchestra concludes its 2018-2019 season with Gospel & Soul Meet Rock & Roll featuring former “Sounds of Blackness” lead vocalist, Quan Howell (a guest artist on the CJO’s 2016-2017 “Soul Session” concerts), alongside Shayna Steele, whose dynamic vocals can be heard on tracks by Moby including his #1 Billboard Dance track,

Huntertones brings people together around the globe with fun, imaginative and fearless music. Their high energy, horn-driven sound features genre bending composition and unconventional covers. Every show is a social experience celebrating the joy of music. The band formed in Columbus, Ohio and is now based in Brooklyn, NY. They’ve performed in over 20 countries worldwide and continue to tour

Featuring Omar Coleman and Joel Frahm March madness kicks off with the CJO getting down and dirty in blues country with Nothing But the Blues, featuring windy city blues vocalist and harmonicist Omar Coleman and saxophonist Joel Frahm. Omar Coleman’s performances are rooted in the blues, spiked with R&B urgency, and resonant with deep-soul passion. He has appeared on jazz and

Ellis Marsalis, NEA Jazz Master and pianist, educator and patriarch of the first family of New Orleans jazz, brings his trio to the intimate Lincoln Theatre for one performance only as part of the Jazz Arts Group’s new Jazz at the Lincoln Theatre concert series.  Don't miss your chance to see this legendary pianist in a rare concert appearance. Read Ellis Marsalis

Featuring Benny Benack III & Lena Seikaly The CJO provides the romantic soundtrack to the Valentine’s Day weekend with Unforgettable: Love Songs of Nat King Cole & Others, celebrating the centenary of jazz legend Nat King Cole, and featuring two fresh-faced rising stars on the jazz scene, trumpeter-vocalist Benny Benack III, and vocalist Lena Seikaly, an audience favorite at last summer’s

The Jazz Arts Group joins in the year-long, city-wide celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Harlem Renaissance with a reboot of its sold-out, “Ladies Sing the Blues: Songs & Sounds of the Harlem Renaissance,” from the 2016-2017 season. Only this time it’s not just “ladies” singing. We’re expanding the list of classic songs on offer, and the roster of

Featuring Niki Haris The CJO heats up the yuletide season with the annual Home for the Holidays concerts, this season featuring vocalist Niki Haris, daughter of soul-jazz piano great, Gene Harris. While Niki excels at jazz, blues and gospel, and is in high demand at jazz clubs and festivals, it was on the international pop music scene where she first

Featuring Maurice Hines with John and Leo Manzari The Columbus Jazz Orchestra's Swingin’ with the CJO concert series kicks off with a high energy, tour-de-force evening of hot jazz and tap featuring Tony Award-nominee Maurice Hines and the dynamic, rapid-fire tap dancing duo of John and Leo Manzari. Maurice Hines and the Manzari Brothers join Byron Stripling and the 16-piece Columbus Jazz Orchestra for

Celebrating the lives and legacies of legendary tenor saxophonists Rusty Bryant, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, and Gene Walker, the concert will include a world premiere work composed by Columbus Jazz Orchestra principal arranger and saxophonist, Chad Eby, and feature a roster of top area saxophonists and instrumentalists. It’s especially fitting that the event takes place at the historic Lincoln Theatre where

Featuring Nicole Henry & Michael Lynche Chart-topping jazz vocalist, Nicole Henry, and American Idol finalist, Michael Lynche, lend vocal fireworks to concerts that get to the very heart and soul of rhythm and blues. Tickets on sale now at the CBUSArts Ticket Center (39 East State Street, Columbus), by phone at (614) 469-0939 or at www.ticketmaster.com.

Trumpeter-composer, Terell Stafford brings his top flight quintet to the Lincoln Theatre for one performance only Thursday, April 12th, presented by the Jazz Arts Group in collaboration with the King Arts Complex. Stafford is renowned in the jazz world, and has garnered numerous award nominations and accolades for his work as an outstanding performer, educator and leader. Stafford is Director

Featuring Herlin Riley & Vaughn Weister We listened when you said you loved our New Orleans show last season.  So we’re coming back with New Orleans One Mo’ Time featuring critically-acclaimed New Orleans drummer, Herlin Riley, and Columbus’ own New Orleans/Dixieland trombone master, Vaughn Weister. Tickets on sale now at the CBUSArts Ticket Center (39 East State Street, Columbus), by

Featuring Roberta Gambarini & Jeff Hamilton Trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and drummer Buddy Rich pushed the limits of jazz and their instruments with the force of their personalities, virtuosity of their playing and clear visionary ideas.  We celebrate their legacy with concerts featuring two-time Grammy®-nominated Italian vocalist, Roberta Gambarini, recently featured on Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Spring Gala, and jazz drummer extraordinaire,

Becca Stevens combines elements of classical, pop, folk and world music with traditional Appalachian and jazz to create songs the New York Times calls “impressively absorbing.”  Snarky Puppy, Esperanza Spalding, Brad Mehldau and David Crosby are among her fans and recent collaborators. Discover her for yourself in this intimate performance. For your convenience tickets for the Becca Stevens Band at

World renowned jazz trumpeter, band leader and Columbus Jazz Orchestra Artistic Director, Byron Stripling, trumpets jazzy, joyous refrains in his year-end party at the Lincoln Theatre.  The Byron Stripling quartet features the always amazing Bobby Floyd on piano and the Hammond B3, Larry Cook on bass, and Richard Thompson on drums.  Joining in this year’s revelry is special guest vocalist

Featuring Peggy Kriha Dye & David Pruyn We jazz up your holiday season with our annual Home for the Holidays concerts November 29 – December 3 with singer/drummer, David Pruyn, and internationally acclaimed soprano and Opera Columbus Artistic Director, Peggy Kriha Dye, performing seasonal favorites and jazz standards as only the CJO can. Tickets on sale now at the CBUSArts

Featuring John Clayton, Joshua Redman & Micah Thomas The 2017-2018 season opens October 12 – 15 with A CJO 45th Anniversary Extravaganza! featuring one of the greatest saxophonists of this generation, Joshua Redman.  The program also includes the world premiere of a new work by the great jazz bassist/composer/bandleader, John Clayton, starring Columbus native and piano wunderkind, Micah Thomas, and

The acoustic jazz ensemble, Rhythm Future Quartet, keeps the Gypsy jazz spirit alive and expanding with its dynamic and lyrical arrangements of both Gypsy jazz standards and original compositions drawn from diverse international rhythms and musical idioms. The virtuosic foursome, named for a Django Reinhardt tune, offers up a newly minted sound influenced by the classic Hot Club of France,