Jazz artists

Who to know

Ranked by festivals still to come, then tour dates, then every booking we have on record.

• ThundercatHoliday Hootenanny · Dec 2026Six-string bass played like a lead instrument, sung over in a helium falsetto, with virtuosity worn so lightly it reads as comedy until you follow the changes.
• Robert GlasperBig Ears · Apr 2027Houston pianist who built the Black Radio albums around rotating rap and R&B vocalists, and whose keys turn up on To Pimp a Butterfly.
• The RootsBig Ears · Apr 2027Philadelphia's live hip-hop institution since the late '80s: Black Thought's marathon verses over Questlove's drums, a band that has never needed a backing track.
• Norah JonesBig Ears · Apr 2027Pianist and singer whose hushed debut for Blue Note, 'Come Away With Me,' sold into the tens of millions. Country, jazz and blues handled at a whisper.
• Bob JamesBig Ears · Apr 2027Keyboardist behind the Taxi theme and a catalogue of fusion records that hip-hop producers have been cutting up since the 1980s.
• SoozaWhippersnap · Feb 2027Gainesville brass band of five horns and a drum kit that calls its sound brass funk, or on louder nights brass metal.
• Amina Claudine MyersBig Ears · Apr 2027Pianist, organist and singer from the Chicago AACM circle, folding gospel, blues and church organ into free improvisation. Her catalogue includes a tribute to Bessie Smith.
• Bill Frisell & Eyvind Kang DuetBig Ears · Apr 2027Two long-standing collaborators, guitar and viola, working in the open space between folk melody and sustained drone.
• Bill Frisell Trio featuring Luke Bergman & Tim AnguloBig Ears · Apr 2027The guitarist's quiet, elastic trio setting, where country tunes, standards and looped ambience blur into each other at low volume.
• Brad Mehldau Trio with Larry Grenadier & Marcus GilmoreBig Ears · Apr 2027Piano trio jazz built on decades of shared language with bassist Grenadier, rhythmically knotty and deeply attentive to song form.
• CPChris Potter “Alive With Ghosts Today”Big Ears · Apr 2027Tenor saxophonist with a torrential harmonic command, schooled in Dave Holland's bands and equally at home on soprano, clarinet and keys.
• Craig Taborn TrioBig Ears · Apr 2027Pianist whose touch runs from hushed single notes to churning mechanical patterns, with years in James Carter's and Tim Berne's bands behind him.
• CACriolo, Amaro e DinoLollapalooza Brasil · Mar 2027Transatlantic collaboration where São Paulo rap meets Amaro Freitas's jazz piano over morna and funaná rhythms, from the 2026 album Criolo, Amaro e Dino.
• Dave Harrington, Jay Bellerose & Billy MohlerBig Ears · Apr 2027Darkside guitarist meets the drummer heard across many T Bone Burnett productions and a bassist-producer with jazz records of his own, in open-ended trio playing.
• David Murray Quartet feat. Francesca CinelliBig Ears · Apr 2027Tenor saxophonist and bass clarinettist out of the New York loft scene and a founding member of the World Saxophone Quartet, leading a quartet with a vocalist out front.
• Heart TrioBig Ears · Apr 2027William Parker, Cooper-Moore and Hamid Drake, as likely to reach for flutes, frame drums and homemade instruments as bass and kit.
• Holey Miss MoleyWhippersnap · Feb 2027Central Florida funk sextet with jazz, rock and blues in the mix and reggae and ska bleeding in, bridging the Orlando and Tampa scenes.
• JBJakob Bro / Joe Lovano / Midori TakadaBig Ears · Apr 2027Guitar, tenor saxophone and percussion from three improvisers who work mostly in open space, ECM hush alongside Japanese minimalism.
• James Brandon Lewis QuartetBig Ears · Apr 2027Tenor saxophonist James Brandon Lewis's working band, playing big-toned, gospel-rooted jazz built on his Molecular Systematic Music concept, drawn from the structure of DNA.
• Jeff Parker ETA IVtetBig Ears · Apr 2027Tortoise guitarist's quartet, grown out of a long Monday residency at a small Highland Park bar. Loops, modal vamps and improvisations that stretch past twenty minutes.
• John “Papa” GrosWhippersnap · Feb 2027New Orleans piano and organ man, once of Papa Grows Funk, carrying the city's funk, R&B and second-line rhythm through thirty years of clubs.
• Josh Johnson ANIMATIVEBig Ears · Apr 2027Los Angeles alto saxophonist who runs the horn through pedals and loopers until one player sounds like a small ensemble.
• Kahil El’Zabar & David MurrayBig Ears · Apr 2027Duo pairing a Chicago percussionist steeped in the AACM tradition with a tenor saxophonist of enormous range. Spiritual groove and searching horn lines meet head to head.
• Kalia Vandever QuartetBig Ears · Apr 2027Small group led by a New York trombonist and composer whose writing favours patience and warm, unhurried melody over showpiece blowing.

On tour now

17 Jazz artists with dates on sale, soonest first. From Ticketmaster, refreshed daily.

• Ezra CollectiveNext: Nov 12 · San Francisco, CA15 dates →
• ThundercatNext: Nov 12 · Oklahoma City, OK7 dates →
• Robert GlasperNext: Nov 13 · London, GB14 dates →
• The California HoneydropsNext: Nov 14 · Napa, CA9 dates →
• Norah JonesNext: Nov 16 · Los Angeles, CA2 dates →
• aja monetNext: Nov 19 · Los Angeles, CA1 date →
• Cory WongNext: Dec 1 · Dublin, D821 dates →
• Kamasi WashingtonNext: Dec 3 · Seattle, WA5 dates →
• Anders OsborneNext: Dec 19 · New Orleans, LA1 date →
• Rebirth Brass BandNext: Dec 27 · New Orleans, LA5 dates →
• LettuceNext: Dec 31 · Miami Beach, FL1 date →
• The RootsNext: Jan 15 · Chicago, IL4 dates →
• Meshell NdegeocelloNext: Jan 21 · Atlanta, GA1 date →
• The Greyboy AllstarsNext: Jan 21 · Ventura, CA1 date →
• KneebodyNext: Mar 5 · Portland, OR1 date →
• Jacob CollierNext: Apr 2 · Las Vegas, NV3 dates →
• Bob JamesNext: Sep 10 · Boston, MA1 date →

Playing festivals next

Every festival still to come with Jazz artists on the bill, soonest first. The Jazz festival guide ranks them by how deep they book.

• Holiday Hootenanny 2026December 11–12, 2026 · Austin, TXThundercat
• Lollapalooza India 2027January 23–24, 2027 · Mahalaxmi Racecourse, Mumbai, IndiaVarijashree Venugopal
• Whippersnap 2027February 17–20, 2027 · Brooksville, FLSooza, Holey Miss Moley, John “Papa” Gros
• Lollapalooza Brasil 2027March 19–21, 2027 · Autódromo de Interlagos, São Paulo, BrazilCriolo, Amaro e Dino
• Big Ears 2027April 1–4, 2027 · Downtown Knoxville, TNThundercat, Robert Glasper, The Roots, Norah Jones, Bob James, Amina Claudine Myers, Bill Frisell & Eyvind Kang Duet, Bill Frisell Trio featuring Luke Bergman & Tim Angulo, Brad Mehldau Trio with Larry Grenadier & Marcus Gilmore, Chris Potter “Alive With Ghosts Today”, Craig Taborn Trio, Dave Harrington, Jay Bellerose & Billy Mohler, David Murray Quartet feat. Francesca Cinelli, Heart Trio, Jakob Bro / Joe Lovano / Midori Takada, James Brandon Lewis Quartet, Jeff Parker ETA IVtet, Josh Johnson ANIMATIVE, Kahil El’Zabar & David Murray, Kalia Vandever Quartet, Ken Vandermark / Paal Nilssen-Love, Linda May Han Oh, Lovano / Makhathini / Morgan / Cyrille, Matt Wilson’s Good Trouble, Matthew Shipp solo, Mayan Space Station, Midori Takada, Nduduzo Makhathini Trio, Ranky Tanky, SHABAKA, Sumie Kaneko, Tomeka Reid “A Tribute to Ellington”, Trio of Bloom, Vijay Iyer Quartet with Adam O’Farrill, Linda May Han Oh, Tyshawn Sorey, William Parker, SHABAKA, Hamid Drake, Yasuaki Shimizu

Most headline slots

The names printed in the biggest type, trusted to send everyone home.

1. 1The Roots2Philadelphia's live hip-hop institution since the late '80s: Black Thought's marathon verses over Questlove's drums, a band that has never needed a backing track.
2. 2Thundercat2Six-string bass played like a lead instrument, sung over in a helium falsetto, with virtuosity worn so lightly it reads as comedy until you follow the changes.

Most places played

Whose year reads like a world tour that happened to be made of festivals.

1. 1Thundercat3Six-string bass played like a lead instrument, sung over in a helium falsetto, with virtuosity worn so lightly it reads as comedy until you follow the changes.
2. 2Anders Osborne2New Orleans guitar poet, swampy blues-rock with a songwriter's soul, equally at home stretching into a festival jam or landing a confessional ballad.
3. 3Cory Wong2The rhythm-guitar machine of Vulfpeck fame, with relentlessly upbeat, impossibly tight funk, a horn-powered live band, and a clinic's worth of right-hand technique.
4. 4Ezra Collective2London jazz as a party rather than a seminar, with Afrobeat and dancehall pulling the horns along, and a drummer who conducts the room from behind the kit.
5. 5Hidden Orchestra2Edinburgh's studio project turned live band, with two drummers, layered strings and field recordings built into something cinematic.
6. 6Joe Armon-Jones2Keys player at the centre of London's jazz scene, with dub weight and hip-hop swing under long, unhurried solos.
7. 7Jon Batiste2New Orleans piano polymath who moves between jazz standards, gospel, and pop without changing his grin: Grammy-stacked joy as a performance style.
8. 8The Roots2Philadelphia's live hip-hop institution since the late '80s: Black Thought's marathon verses over Questlove's drums, a band that has never needed a backing track.

Most saved to a plan

The Jazz artists people are building a Saturday around.

1. 1Cory WongThe rhythm-guitar machine of Vulfpeck fame, with relentlessly upbeat, impossibly tight funk, a horn-powered live band, and a clinic's worth of right-hand technique.
2. 2Butcher BrownRichmond's garage-jazz five-piece fusing '70s fusion, boom-bap, and P-funk into a loose, heavy groove, with a rhythm section that could back anyone and chooses to lead.
3. 3Kamasi WashingtonTenor saxophonist who made spiritual jazz a big-stage sound, with a large band, choir-scale arrangements and solos that take their time.
4. 4LettuceBerklee-forged funk played with horn-section precision and zero interest in restraint, a groove institution drifting ever deeper into psychedelia.
5. 5Jon Stickley TrioInstrumental flatpicking pushed into jazz and surf territory by a trio with no singer to slow it down, giving acoustic velocity with a wink.
6. 6LaMPAn organ-guitar-drums supergroup trading in the kind of greasy instrumental interplay that needs no vocalist, with jam-world pedigree and pure pocket.
7. 7Qur'an ShaheedLA pianist, poet, and film composer blending jazz training with neo-classical and neo-soul improvisation, meditative, deeply personal, and quietly virtuosic.
8. 8The Greyboy AllstarsDeep-crate boogaloo and soul-jazz played by a band that has been doing it since the acid-jazz era, with grooves aged like good vinyl.
9. 9SGSautéed GrabbaFreshly minted Berklee quartet improvising at the seam of jazz harmony, live electronics, and modern dance rhythms, with conservatory chops and dancefloor aims.
10. 10The MerKaBa BrotherhoodRoman Norfleet and Brown Calvin's cosmic jazz duo on Mississippi Records, with sax, Rhodes, and percussion shaped by mystic thought.

All 76 Jazz artists

Sized by how many of the festivals we track have booked each act.