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,

Friday, April 21st Two Sets: 7:30 & 9:30 p.m. Band leader, composer and sax man John Ellis has a taste for southern soul that’s as deep and rich as the sounds from his tenor saxophone. His band, Double Wide, conjures the spirit of New Orleans with each foot-stomping performance. We can’t promise jambalaya, but we can promise great down-home jazz and

Thursday, April 6 – Sunday, April 9, 2017 Thursday at 7:30 p.m. Friday - Saturday at 8 p.m. Sunday at 3 p.m. A quartet of powerful vocalists from the worlds of jazz, soul and gospel join Byron Stripling and the Columbus Jazz Orchestra for Soul Session: From Ray Charles to Whitney Houston April 6 – 9 at the Southern Theatre.

Thursday, March 16 – Sunday, March 19, 2017 Thursday at 7:30 p.m. Friday - Saturday at 8 p.m. Sunday at 3 p.m. With a nod to the great, roaring big bands of Cab Calloway and Lionel Hampton, expect concerts bursting with spontaneous, raucous, red-hot solos by your favorite CJO players and our special guest tenor sax star, Harry Allen, and

A top notch line-up of some of the city’s most respected musicians sets the tone and tempo for an evening celebrating the style, sass and songs of the Harlem Renaissance. Expect stirring performances by Columbus’-own jazz and blues songstresses, show-stopping cameos by Columbus Jazz Orchestra members...

2017 marks the centenary of America's “First Lady of Song,” the incomparable Miss Ella Fitzgerald. We honor Ella’s remarkable legacy, and those of her contemporaries with performances by two outstanding guest vocalists. Get ready to swing to the passionate vocals of Marva Hicks and the sultry stylings of vocalist/bassist Nicki Parrot.

Thursday, January 19, 2017 Two sets: 7 & 9 p.m. Made up of Matt Wilson on drums, Martin Wind on bass, Jeff Lederer on tenor sax and clarinet, and Kirk Knuffke on cornet, The Matt Wilson Quartet has been called “one of the best working bands in New York City” by the New York Times. See why when they take over

For “Swingin’ in the New Year,” internationally renowned trumpet virtuoso and Columbus Jazz Orchestra Artistic Director, Byron Stripling, will lead his quartet and the 17 members of the Jazz Arts Group’s Columbus Community Jazz Band in a rousing year-end musical celebration filled with holiday favorites, jazz standards, blues and gospel. This is a great opportunity to hear Byron step outside

Wednesday, November 30 – Sunday, December 4, 2016 Wednesday - Thursday at 7:30 p.m. Friday - Saturday at 8 p.m. Sunday at 3 p.m. Watch the live webcast HERE Jazz up your holidays with Carly Thomas Smith and Micah Thomas, performing beloved standards and holiday favorites with the high-powered 16-piece Columbus Jazz Orchestra. This is the perfect gift for the music lover on your

Thursday, October 20 – Sunday, October 23, 2016 Thursday at 7:30 p.m. Friday - Saturday at 8:00 p.m. Sunday at 3 p.m. Bourbon Street comes to Main Street when Byron Stripling and the Columbus Jazz Orchestra are joined by world-renowned New Orleans-based clarinetist, Evan Christopher, and Grammy Award-nominee and Thelonius Monk International Jazz Competition winning drummer and vocalist, Jamison Ross.

Thursday, September 15, 2016 Two sets: 7 & 9 p.m. Wycliffe Gordon’s skill and versatility have made him one of the most celebrated and respected jazz trombonist on the planet.  Similar superlatives have been accorded keyboardist extraordinaire and Columbus Jazz Orchestra member, Bobby Floyd, whose trio joins with Gordon on the first concert of our new “Jazz Arts Group Presents” Series.