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Matthew Whitaker Quartet

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2023 • 5 PM & 7:30 PM

“

Matthew Whitaker is music. To see and hear him play is to know that divine talent exists.”

— Monifa Brown, WBGO

Phenomenal 22-year-old pianist Matthew Whitaker has performed at venues including Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, and now shares his irrepressible musicianship with his quartet in the intimate space of The JAI.

Sean Mason Quartet

SUNDAY, JANUARY 14, 2024 · 5 PM & 7:30 PM

Lakecia Benjamin And Phoenix

SUNDAY, JANUARY 28, 2024 • 5 PM & 7:30 PM

A jazz pianist and composer based in New York City, Sean Mason is emerging as one of the premier talents of his generation. He has performed and toured with jazz legends including Branford Marsalis, Wynton Marsalis, and Herlin Riley, among many others, and was featured on Branford Marsalis’ film score to the acclaimed Netflix production of August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Hear him and the members of his quartet for the first time in San Diego!

TATIANA EVA-MARIE & AVALON JAZZ BAND

DISCOVERY ARTIST

FRIDAY, JANUARY 19, 2024 • 6 PM & 8:30 PM

— The Wall Street Journal

Growing up, Tatiana Eva-Marie was influenced by her father’s New Orleans jazz records and her mother’s heritage of Klezmer and Romany folk music. Acclaimed as a “millennial shaking up the jazz scene” by Vanity Fair, who included her in a list of rising jazz stars alongside Cyrille Aimée and Cécile McLorin Salvant, Eva-Marie’s original arrangements and lyrics are inspired by her French and Romany heritage and her love for the Parisian art scene of the 1920s to 1960s.

“Lakecia Benjamin plays jazz that is sprinkled with the rich flavors of funk and soul—she’s a crafty traditionalist who remains in step with the rhythms of the young generation.”

— The New Yorker

Voted “Rising Star Alto Saxophonist in the 2020 Downbeat Critics Poll and “Up and Coming Artist of the Year” by the Jazz Journalists Association, charismatic and dynamic young saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin fuses traditional conceptions of jazz, hip hop, and soul. For this JAI debut, Benjamin features the quartet from her 2023 release Phoenix, an album that also featured cameos by some of Benjamin’s heroes including Wayne Shorter, Angela Davis, Dianne Reeves, and Patrice Rushen.

Ambrose Akinmusire Trio

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2024 • 6 PM & 8:30 PM

Akinmusire sounds less like a rising star than one that was already at great heights and just waiting to be discovered.”

— Los Angeles Times

During his 15-year career, Ambrose Akinmusire has paradoxically situated himself in both the center and the periphery of jazz, masterfully weaving inspiration from other genres, arts, and life in general into compositions that are as poetic and graceful as they are bold and unflinching.