Everybody’s got heroes. One of alto saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa’s, not surprisingly, is the legendary Charlie Parker, whose music (among others, including John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, and Johnny Cash) inspired his Hero Trio with superfriends François Moutin and Rudy Royston. Click on the title of this event (above) for more details and a link to buy tickets.

The drummerless trio of bassist Ben Allison, guitarist Steve Cardenas, and tenor saxophonist Ted Nash, collaborators for three decades, returns to introduce a new album—their fifth—consisting this time of a program of all originals. Click on the title of this event (above) for more details and a link to buy tickets.

The trans-oceanic chamber jazz trio Reverso last graced the Playhouse stage just days before the world shut down in 2020. But during and after the pandemic, they've continued their Franco-American explorations of the jazz and classical crossroads first mapped by late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century figures like Ravel, "Les Six," and—most recently, the focus of a brand-new album (their sixth), Between Two Silences—Eric Satie. Click on the title of this event (above) for more details and a link to buy tickets.

Joel Frahm is an heir to icons like John Coltrane, Michael Brecker, and Chris Potter, a muscular modern-day tenor whose hard-swinging “chordless” trio (with Dan Loomis on bass and Ernesto Cervini on drums) roams territory staked out by Sonny Rollins at the Vanguard back in 1957 and advanced since then by only a select few. With grace and daring, fluency and emotion, this working unit, now nearly a decade old, is earning a place among that elite. Click on the title of this event (above) for more details and a link to buy tickets.

There's no such thing as "too often" when it comes to seeing drummer Allison Miller--she was here most recently in a duo with our last guest, pianist Carmen Staaf--but it's been seven long years since she brought her feel-good flagship band Boom Tic Boom. While the group has sported a rotating cast of musical aces over the years, this time it's five-sixths of the O.G. crew: Miller plus Myra Melford on piano, Jenny Scheinman on violin, Ben Goldberg on clarinets, and Todd Sickafoose on bass. Click on the title of this event (above) for more details and a link to buy tickets.

Pianist Carmen Staaf (frequent collaborator of Jenny Scheinman and Allison Miller, current musical director for NEA Jazz Master Dee Dee Bridgewater) returns with a program that plumbs the depths of jazz piano history through the converging currents of two modern geniuses, Thelonious Monk and Mary Lou Williams, in a mix of duets, trios, and quartets with veteran clarinetist & composer Ben Goldberg, vibraphonist (and Marimba One artist) Dillon Vado, and up-and-coming Bay Area drummer Hamir Atwal. Click on the title of this event (above) for more details and a link to buy tickets.

Grammy-winning pianist/composer/arranger/producer Matt Rollings has had a four-decade career in country, rock, pop, and jazz, playing on over 1500 recordings with the likes of Willie Nelson, Eric Clapton, Larry Carlton, Mavis Staples, Mark Knopfler, Alison Krauss and Bruce Springsteen, and serving as the longtime musical director for Lyle Lovett’s Large Band. Recently relocated to Humboldt County, he’s also returning to his jazz roots with a coolly vibey trio featuring bassist David Piltch and drummer Gary Novak. Click on the title of this event (above) for more details and a link to buy tickets.

From Quebec by way of New York City, trumpeter Therrien draws on her experience living and studying in Havana (and playing in a multitude of “Latin” groups in New York and abroad) as the animating force behind her own project, which weaves Afro-Cuban influences together with other Latin American and Caribbean musical strands, in the tradition of such giants as Gillespie, Puente, Tjader, and O’Farrill. Click on the title of this event (above) for more details and a link to buy tickets.

Another new year, another old friend: flautist Jamie Baum returns—fronting not her flagship Septet+, but a new quartet featuring pianist Leo Genovese (Wayne Shorter, Esperanza Spalding), bassist Matt Penman (SFJazz Collective, Joshua Redman) and drummer Rob Garcia (Noah Preminger, Ghost Train Orchestra). Click on the title of this event (above) for more details and a link to buy tickets.

Trombonist-composer-educator-humanist Keberle and his signature band Catharsis celebrate a dozen years together with a moving new album (Music Is Connection) that expands and deepens the group's sonic palette and marks the return of Chilean vocalist & guitarist Camila Meza. The touring lineup also features original member Mike Rodriguez on trumpet with bassist Ike Sturm filling in for Jorge Roeder and drummer Jimmy McBride subbing for Eric Doob. Click on the title of this event (above) for more details and a link to buy tickets.

The hometown hero returns with an epic homage to Humboldt: an expansive, inclusive procession of tunes that conjure the extraordinary diversity of life and land, past and present, of the Pacific Northwest in general and the Lost Coast in particular. Orchestrated with multiple chordal instruments that weave a multi-textured network of sound--complex and ever-evolving, like the understory of a forest. With Jenny Scheinman, violin; Carmen Staaf, piano; Adam Ratner, guitar; Tony Scherr, bass; and Mark Ferber, drums. Click on the title of this event (above) for more details and a link to buy tickets.

The hometown hero returns with an epic homage to Humboldt: an expansive, inclusive procession of tunes that conjure the extraordinary diversity of life and land, past and present, of the Pacific Northwest in general and the Lost Coast in particular. Orchestrated with multiple chordal instruments that weave a multi-textured network of sound--complex and ever-evolving, like the understory of a forest. With Jenny Scheinman, violin; Carmen Staaf, piano; Adam Ratner, guitar; Tony Scherr, bass; and Mark Ferber, drums. Click on the title of this event (above) for more details and a link to buy tickets.

Veteran Bay Area bandleader and drummer Scott Amendola returns to explore the power of subtraction with young tenor saxophonist Raffi Garabedian and trombonist Danny Lubin-Laden in a stripped-down trio, that navigates an array of kinetic approaches with new sonorities and high-energy grooves.

The drummerless trio of bassist Ben Allison, guitarist Steve Cardenas, and tenor saxophonist Ted Nash, collaborators for three decades, revisits the work of mid-centry pianist, composer, and unsung genius Herbie Nichols.

Showcasing the works of politically conscious jazz composers of the late 60s Blue Note era, Civil Disobedience brings urgent messages of social justice from an earlier era to our own troubled times.

Our favorite Jazz Santa returns, bringing holiday cheer to the newly renovated and re-opened Basement, below decks at the Jacoby Storehouse. Expect mirth, merriment, and mistletoe-tapping tunes.

The audaciously swinging pianist augments her working quartet with strings, bringing what Nate Chinen calls her “radiant spirit” to a mix of originals and new arrangements of works by Toshiko Akiyoshi, Geri Allen, Carla Bley, Marian McPartland, and Mary Lou Williams.

The duo’s joyous new collaboration, Nearness, could almost be a wish-fulfillment of our longing to bridge the distance between us and their musical magic. How much nearer can you get than the Morris Graves Museum of Art?

A collective quintet of long-time friends builds cinematic soundscapes and earthy grooves around lyrical counterpoint and ravishing twin guitars.

A collective quintet of long-time friends builds cinematic soundscapes and earthy grooves around lyrical counterpoint and ravishing twin guitars.

The subliminal and sublime vibraphonist opens up and pares down his expansive sound within the intimate confines of the trio format.

The eclectic saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist on tour with the all-star quartet behind the acclaimed 2019 album "Tenormore."

Dayna Stephens, tenor & baritone saxophones and EWI; Aaron Parks, piano; Rick Rosato, bass; Billy Hart, drums

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Jamie Baum, flutes & compositions; Jonathan Finlayson, trumpet; Aaron Irwin, alto sax, bass clarinet; Chris Komer, french horn; Brad Shepik, guitar, singing bowls; John Escreet, piano; Ricky Rodriguez, bass, singing bowls; Jeff Hirschfield, drums

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Myra Melford, piano; Ron Miles, cornet; Liberty Ellman, guitar; Stomu Takeishi, electric bass; Rudy Royston, drums

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Ryan Keberle, trombone; Frank Woeste, piano; Vincent Courtois, cello

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Rudy Royston, drums; Gary Versace, accordion; John Ellis, bass clarinet/saxophones; Hank Roberts, cello; Yasushi Nakumura, bass

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Camila Meza, guitar & vocal; Eden Ladin, keyboards; Noam Wiesenberg, bass & arrangements; Keita Ogawa, percussion; with the Arcata Bay String Quartet.

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(a co-presentation with the Arcata Playhouse)

Jenny Scheinman, violin; Allison Miller, drums; Carmen Staaf, piano; Tony Scherr, bass

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(a co-presentation with the Arcata Playhouse)

Jenny Scheinman, violin; Allison Miller, drums; Carmen Staaf, piano; Tony Scherr, bass

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