Lakecia Benjamin is a 6x GRAMMY nominated New York-based saxophonist, arranger, composer, and educator. Her music offers a unique meld of R&B, several strains of jazz, and funk. Her warm, resonant tone — that has been compared to Johnny Hodges — lends itself to any form of music she chooses to play. In addition to honing her chops early with Clark Terry and later Terri Lyne Carrington, she is also a noted accompanist for vocalists — among them Gregory Porter and Theo Crocker. Retox, her 2012 leader debut, offered a beat-conscious set of soul and funk covers and originals produced by Ben Kane. Benjamin played on “Right on Brotha,” the closing track from Robert Glasper’s Everything’s Beautiful in 2018, a collection of reimagined Miles Davis tracks. Her sophomore date, Rise Up for Ropeadope, contained a Prince-inspired series of original jazz-funk jams. In 2020, she released Pursuance: The Coltranes. The widely acclaimed set contained six tunes each by Alice and John Coltrane, with Benjamin leading a large cast that included former Coltrane sideman Reggie Workman. In 2023 she returned with the star-studded Phoenix. Produced by Carrington, it wed jazz, funky soul, R&B, and hip-hop with an all-star cast. The album brought upon three GRAMMY nominations and universal praise.

Benjamin was born in New York City and raised in Manhattan’s predominantly Dominican Washington Heights neighborhood. She played recorder in grade school and junior high where she also began writing songs and lyrics. She won admission to the Fiorello LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts. It was there she began playing saxophone in earnest. She picked it up quickly and after graduating joined the renowned jazz program at New York’s New School University.

At New School she studied with jazz veterans including Billy Harper, Workman, Buster Williams, and Gary Bartz. Bartz proved an important mentor. He introduced her to training technical exercise techniques while facilitating her interest in the music of jazz saxophonists including Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, and Jackie McLean. She also played in and performed with Clark Terry‘s Young Titans of Jazz, and some of Workman’s ensembles. While struggling to make ends meet, she won paying gigs with Missy Elliott and Alicia Keys, widening her approach. These influences made their presence known on Benjamin’s Motema leader debut, Retox, in 2010. The unusual set included Benjamin’s Soul Squad band backing a number of singers and rappers in a host of originals and covers, some of which didn’t feature her horn at all. She explained in an interview that she didn’t want to be heard as merely an instrumentalist and soloist, but as an arranger and bandleader, too. She also won opportunities to play and tour with a wide array of artists including former Coltrane drummer Rashied Ali, the David Murray Big Band, vocalist Vanessa Rubin, and guitarist James Blood Ulmer. Her deep jazz roots and reputation for hard yet innovative work, made her a first-call sidewoman, arranger, and horn section leader, and she landed a touring gig with Anita Baker.

In 2015, she was part of the star-studded cast that played on vocalist and arranger Charenee Wade’s Offering: The Music of Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson. In addition to Benjamin, some of its other participants included Marcus Miller, Christian McBride, Malcolm Jamal-Warner, and Lonnie Plaxico. The following year she was invited by pianist Robert Glasper to participate in the sessions for his Miles Davis tribute, Everything’s Beautiful; she appeared with Stevie Wonder and DJ Spinna on the set’s closing track, “Right on Brotha.”

In 2018, Benjamin issued her Ropeadope debut album, Rise Up, leading a large ensemble in a savvy jazz-funk update for the 21st century that included not only players but singers and rappers. In the aftermath, she played dates in and around New York, joined Porter’s road band, worked with Carrington, and was a featured musician and arranger for comedy star Craig Robinson. In addition to performing, Benjamin also became an educator, teaching at Jazz atLincoln Center and at Jazz House Kids.

Benjamin turned heads with her third album — and second from Ropeadope — by leaving R&B and funk by the wayside. May 2020’s Pursuance: The Coltranes is unlike any other tribute project. Its 13 tunes were equally divided between compositions by Alice and John and offered sometimes radical reinterpretations. The outlier was “Going Home.” Composed by Benjamin, its lineup included bass clarinetist Marcus Strickland and string group Rootstock Republic. In addition to Benjamin’s alto were the selectively featured horns of Bartz, Steve Wilson, Greg Osby, and Bruce Williams, harpist Brandee Younger, violinist Regina Carter, bassists Workman, Plaxico, and Me’Shell Ndegéocello, and vocalists Dee Dee Bridgewater, Jazzmeia Horn, Zakiyyah Modeste, and Dudley Perkins. The set was greeted with global acclaim by critics upon release, and subsequently charted at streaming.

In January 2023, Benjamin released Phoenix on Whirlwind Recordings. The 12-track, mostly original set was performed by her septet and produced by Terri Lyne Carrington. Phoenix featured many guests including Dianne Reeves, Georgia Ann Muldrow, Patrice Rushen, Wayne Shorter, Wallace Roney, Sonia Sanchez, and Angela Davis. The album led to three GRAMMY nominations, and universal praise.

Sullivan Fortner is a pianist, composer and bandleader whose music moves between deep jazz tradition and an irrepressibly exploratory musical imagination. A New Orleans native known for his command of harmony, rhythm and improvisation, Fortner has emerged as one of the defining pianistic voices of his generation, equally distinctive as a solo artist, ensemble leader and collaborator.

His recent work captures the breadth of that musical identity. Following Aria (2015) and Moments Preserved (2018), Fortner released the expansive Solo Game in 2023, an investigation of the possibilities of solo performance that moved beyond acoustic piano to incorporate organ, percussion, electronics, voice and other instruments. Southern Nights followed in 2025, bringing Fortner together with bassist Peter Washington and drummer Marcus Gilmore in a recording deeply connected to his New Orleans roots. The album won the 2026 GRAMMY Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Album and followed his February 2025 appearance on the cover of DownBeat.

Fortner’s work as a collaborator has been equally significant. His longstanding musical relationship with vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant has produced some of contemporary jazz’s most acclaimed recordings, including The Window, winner of the 2019 GRAMMY Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album. In 2025, Fortner earned another GRAMMY, this time for Best Jazz Performance with Samara Joy on “Twinkle Twinkle Little Me.”

Across his career he has performed and recorded with artists including Wynton Marsalis, Paul Simon, John Scofield, Ambrose Akinmusire, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Stefon Harris, Fred Hersch, Chief Adjuah and the late Roy Hargrove.

Fortner began playing piano at seven in New Orleans, growing within a musical culture in which rhythm, improvisation, blues and individual expression remain inseparable.

He later earned his Bachelor of Music from Oberlin Conservatory and a Master of Music in Jazz Performance from Manhattan School of Music. That combination of lineage and rigorous study continues to inform a musical language that respects tradition without treating it as fixed.

Whether working with a trio, accompanying a vocalist, performing solo or expanding the piano through electronics and other sound sources, Fortner approaches music as an active field of discovery.

That exploratory impulse is particularly apparent in Solo Game, where Fortner works alone in the studio while extending his musical vocabulary far beyond the conventional boundaries of solo piano.

Fortner’s curiosity extends naturally to his work as an educator and mentor. He has taught and presented masterclasses at institutions including Manhattan School of Music, the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, Purdue University, Belmont University and Oberlin Conservatory, where he has served on the faculty and returned as visiting professor of jazz piano.

His relationship to the music is rooted not simply in technical command, but in sustained engagement with its history, language and evolving possibilities.

Tyreek McDole is a multi-award-winning Haitian-American vocalist from Central Florida whose soulful baritone and deeply reflective artistry are making waves across the New York and international music scenes. Rooted in the belief that music is one of the highest forms of communication, McDole approaches performance as a space for healing, reflection, and collective dreaming — treating each concert as both offering and ritual.

He first gained national recognition at the 2018 Essentially Ellington Competition at Jazz at Lincoln Center, where he received the Outstanding Vocalist Award presented by Wynton Marsalis. In 2023, he won first place at the prestigious Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition, becoming only the second male winner in the competition’s history and joining the ranks of standout vocalists such as Samara Joy.

Since then, McDole has shared the stage with Jeff Goldblum, Rodney Whitaker, Theo Croker, Maurice Brown, Joey Alexander, Terri Lyne Carrington, Nicholas Payton, and Nick Jonas, among many others, and has appeared at leading venues and festivals worldwide.

A graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, he developed his craft under the mentorship of master artists such as Gary Bartz, Sullivan Fortner and Weedie Braimah, grounding his sound in the lineage of Black American Music while pushing its language forward.

His critically acclaimed debut album, Open Up Your Senses, blends original compositions with freedom songs, spirituals, and works that speak to justice, unity, and ancestral memory. The record reached #1 on JazzWeek charts, earned four stars from DownBeat, and has been praised for its emotional depth and spiritual resonance.

With a voice steeped in warmth, gravity, and soul, McDole creates performances that are both intimate and expansive — honoring tradition while inviting listeners toward reflection, healing, and shared imagination.

This is not simply a concert, but a healing space — a ritual and an invitation to open your senses.

He wishes you peace, love, and light.

“The Prince of New Orleans” – A title bestowed by Honorable Mayor Marc Morial – Davell Crawford is a Steinway & Sons Artist and one of the true wonders of the contemporary Crescent City music scene. One of the best-kept secrets in American Music, his name has become synonymous with the New Orleans piano tradition.

Performing professionally since age seven, Davell has enjoyed a widely acclaimed 43-year career. Now semi-retired, he maintains a selective performance schedule but is still greeted by sold-out audiences worldwide. His first recording is listed as one of the 100 Louisiana Essential Recordings.

As the grandson of 50’s R&B star James “Sugarboy” Crawford (architect of R&B and author of “Jock-A-Mo”/”Iko-Iko”) and godson of music legend Roberta Flack, Davell carries forward an incredible musical legacy while adding his own renewed vitality to American Roots music.

Raised in Florida with roots in the South and New York City, Georgia found her home in music. After studying jazz voice at Oberlin College and Conservatory she moved back to New York to complete her master’s degree at The Juilliard School.

Since graduating in 2023, she gained a footing in the New York jazz scene playing at clubs like Mezzrow, Dizzy’s Jazz Club, and Minton’s Playhouse. Through apprenticeship and the generosity of her peers, she’s been invited to play at notable venues around the country such as The Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall.

Georgia is featured in George Clooney’s Broadway adaptation of Goodnight and Good Luck—the first Broadway play ever to be broadcast on national television, airing on CNN. Her performance in the production marks a major milestone in her career, showcasing her talents on a historic stage and screen.

In 2024, Georgia was awarded the Performance Plus Grant from Chamber Music America and recorded her first album. Her debut album is expected to be released early next year.