Friday, December 5, 2025
7:30 PM

*AT THE ATHENAEUM MUSIC & ARTS LIBRARY*

The fall series concludes on Friday, December 5, with Matt Wilson’s Christmas Tree-O. Described as “An ambassador of good feeling” (New York Times), drummer Matt Wilson is one of the most in-demand musicians in jazz. He presents this joyous trio project celebrating the holiday season with his own characteristically humorous and at times eccentric sendups of holiday classics. The band, now in its 25th year, features sax virtuoso Jeff Lederer and bassist Paul Sikivie. Wilson’s greatest gift is his knack for invention and the unbridled sense of fun he brings to the bandstand—a perfect combination for the holiday season. As The New York Times remarked, “Wonder and innocence, gaudiness and cheer: can it be any surprise that the jazz drummer Matt Wilson thrives around the holidays?”

Wednesday, November 19, 2025
7:30 PM

*AT SCRIPPS RESEARCH AUDITORIUM*

Next up, on Wednesday, November 19, is a return visit by the Django Festival Allstars, who will be joined by the remarkable jazz vocalist Veronica Swift. This masterful French gypsy jazz quintet returns for its first local performance since debuting on the Athenaeum series in 2016. Step into a night that feels lifted from a Parisian café and reimagined for the 21st century. The Django Festival Allstars deliver a musical experience bursting with spirit, swing, and soul in what The Wall Street Journal calls “the best jazz show in town.”

Sunday, November 9, 2025
7:30 PM

*AT SCRIPPS RESEARCH AUDITORIUM*

The series continues Sunday, November 9, with the Anthony Wilson Nonet. A longtime Athenaeum favorite, guitarist-composer Anthony Wilson brings his new nine-piece ensemble to the Scripps Research Auditorium to perform music from his latest album, House of the Singing Blossoms. Wilson has cultivated a diverse body of work shaped by long-standing collaborations with jazz greats like Diana Krall (whose quartet he has been a core member since 2001), Charles Lloyd (with whom he last appeared on the Athenaeum series in 2023), and John Clayton, as well as by the deep musical influence of his father, legendary bandleader Gerald Wilson.

Wednesday, October 29, 2025
7:30 PM

*AT THE ATHENAEUM MUSIC & ARTS LIBRARY*

The series opens on Wednesday, October 29, with an Athenaeum debut by the Kris Davis Trio, featuring Davis on piano, Robert Hurst on bass, and Johnathan Blake on drums. Recognized in the DownBeat Critics Poll as Pianist of the Year in 2025, 2022, and 2020, Davis has become one of the most celebrated jazz pianists of her generation. A Grammy Award–winner, she has been described in The New York Times as a beacon for “deciding where to hear jazz on a given night.” She was named a Doris Duke Artist in 2021, alongside Wayne Shorter and Danilo Perez, and Pianist and Composer of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association, also in 2021. Her 2019 album, Diatom Ribbons, was voted jazz album of the year by both The New York Times and NPR Music’s Jazz Critics Poll.

Thursday, April 24, 2025
7:30 PM

*AT THE ATHENAEUM MUSIC & ARTS LIBRARY*
The series concludes on Thursday, April 24, at the Athenaeum with the Ben Wendel Quartet, featuring Wendel on saxophone with an all-star rhythm section of Gerald Clayton on piano, Luca Alemanno on bass, and Jonathan Pinson on drums. Grammy-nominated saxophonist Ben Wendel was born in Vancouver and raised in Los Angeles. Currently living in Brooklyn, he has enjoyed a varied career as a performer, composer, and producer. Highlights include tours, performances, and/or recordings with artists such as Terence Blanchard, Bill Frisell, Cécile McLorin Salvant, Tigran Hamasyan, Antonio Sanchez, Eric Harland, Taylor Eigsti, Linda May Han Oh, Moonchild, Louis Cole, Daedelus, Snoop Dogg, and Prince. Wendel is a founding member of the Grammy-nominated group Kneebody. His 2023 record, All One, was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Contemporary Instrumental Album category. His latest release, Understory: Live at the Village Vanguard (October 2024), features his longtime colleague, Gerald Clayton.

Wednesday, April 9, 2025
7:30 PM

*AT SCRIPPS RESEARCH AUDITORIUM*
The series continues on Wednesday, April 9, at Scripps Research with the Bill Frisell Trio, featuring Frisell on guitar, Thomas Morgan on bass, and Rudy Royston on drums. Frisell’s career as a guitarist and composer has spanned more than 40 years and many celebrated recordings. Recognized as one of America’s most vital and productive performing artists, Frisell has contributed to the work of a staggering array of collaborators, including Paul Motian, John Zorn, Elvis Costello, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Rickie Lee Jones, Vinicius Cantuária, Marianne Faithfull, John Scofield, Bono, and Brian Eno, to name only a few. This work has established Frisell as one of the most sought-after guitar voices in contemporary music.

Thursday, March 27, 2025
7:30 PM

*AT SCRIPPS RESEARCH AUDITORIUM*
The spring series opens on Thursday, March 27, at Scripps Research with a long-anticipated local debut as a leader of acclaimed Cuban composer-pianist-bandleader Omar Sosa and his Quarteto Americanos, featuring Josh Jones on drums, Ernesto Mazar Kindelán on bass, and Sheldon Brown on sax, clarinet, and flute. Sosa is widely celebrated as one of the most versatile jazz artists on the scene today. His musical trajectory traces the African diaspora from Cuba to Brazil; from Central America to Ecuador’s African-descent communities; from San Francisco and New York to his current home base in Barcelona. True to his Afro-Cuban origins, Sosa fashions a spirited vision of uncompromising artistic generosity that embraces humanity at large. Nominated for seven Grammy Awards and twice for the BBC World Music Awards, Sosa received a lifetime achievement award from the Smithsonian Associates in Washington, D.C., for his contribution to the development of Latin jazz in the United States. 

Thursday, January 16, 2025
7:30 PM

The fall series concludes Thursday, January 16, with the Athenaeum debut of the Alex Kautz Quartet, featuring Kautz on drums, Chico Pinheiro on guitar, John Ellis on saxophone, and Hamish Smith on bass. Renowned for his musicality, groove, and knowledge of various genres, Kautz stands out as a distinguished percussionist, educator, and composer. With an unwavering passion for jazz and world music, he has crafted a captivating and distinct musical voice. A Brazilian artist based in New York City, Kautz has been an important part of the city’s music scene for the last decade and has played and/or recorded with some of the top artists in the industry today, including Tim Ries, Magos Herrera, Nilson Matta, Chico Pinheiro, Steve Wilson, Lenny Andrade, Fabio Gouvea, Helio Alves, Victor Prieto, and Lionel Loueke.

Sunday, December 1, 2024
7:30 PM

The series continues Sunday, December 1, with the Billy Childs Quartet, featuring Childs on piano, Matthew Stubbs on clarinet, Dan Chmielinski on bass, and Benjamin Ring on drums. Multi-Grammy-winner Billy Childs has been a favorite performer on the Athenaeum series going back to his debut at the library in 1996. He remains one of the most diversely prolific and acclaimed artists working in music today. As a composer, he has been commissioned by Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, the Kronos Quartet, the Dorian Wind Quintet, the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, the American Brass Quintet, the Ying Quartet, the Lyris Quartet, and Anne Akiko Meyers.

Saturday, November 2, 2024
7:30 PM

The fall series opens Saturday, November 2, with the Ben Williams Quartet, featuring bassist Williams with vibraphonist Sasha Berliner, guitarist Andrew Renfroe, and drummer John Davis. Since winning the prestigious Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition in 2009, Williams has made his mark as a producer, bandleader, arranger, and avidly sought-after accompanist for heavyweights in and beyond jazz, including Wynton Marsalis, Lauryn Hill, José James, and Pat Metheny (with whom he won a 2013 Grammy for the album Unity Band). As a bandleader, the Washington, D.C., native is a calmly charismatic presence whose music taps directly into the deepest wellsprings of African American culture.

Friday, April 26, 2024
7:30 PM

The series concludes on Friday, April 26, with the return of brilliant vocalist, Luciana Souza, with the São Paulo–based musicians of Trio Corrente: drummer Edu Ribeiro, pianist Fabio Torres, and bassist Paulo Paulelli. An Athenaeum favorite since her local debut at the library in 2004 in her long-standing duo with guitarist Romero Lubambo, Souza’s most recent appearances on the Athenaeum series in spring 2016 and fall 2018 were each chosen by the San Diego Union-Tribune’s George Varga as the number one jazz concert in both years. One of jazz’s leading singers and interpreters, Souza has been releasing acclaimed recordings since 2002, including her six Grammy-nominated records Brazilian Duos, North and South, Duos II, Tide, Duos III, and The Book of Chet. Billboard magazine has said of Souza, “She continues her captivating journey as a uniquely talented vocalist who organically crosses genre borders. Her music soulfully reflects, wistfully regrets, romantically woos, joyfully celebrates.”

Saturday, March 23, 2024
7:30 PM

The series continues on Saturday, March 23, with the return of one of today’s leading Hammond B3 organ trios, Goldings/Bernstein/Stewart, featuring the combined genius of Larry Goldings, Peter Bernstein, and Bill Stewart. The New York Times called them, “the best organ trio of the last decade.” JazzTimes called them, “an authentic organ trio with all the size and scope of Mount Everest, and twice the cool.” The trio, which has been together for over 30 years, has been recognized for charting new ground with its synergistic playing and thoughtful music. They have over a dozen recordings to their credit, all of which display their distinctive sound, whether exploring the depths of jazz standards or playing their own original compositions.

Sunday, March 10, 2024
7:30 PM

The spring series opens on Sunday, March 10, with a long-awaited return by celebrated jazz pianist Fred Hersch, who last appeared on the Athenaeum series in 2016 with clarinetist Anat Cohen. A select member of jazz’s piano pantheon, Hersch is a pervasively influential creative force who has shaped jazz music’s course over more than three decades as an improviser, composer, educator, bandleader, collaborator, and recording artist. He has been proclaimed “the most arrestingly innovative pianist in jazz over the last decade” by Vanity Fair, “an elegant force of musical invention” by the Los Angeles Times, and “a living legend” by The New Yorker. A 15-time Grammy nominee, Hersch has regularly garnered jazz’s most prestigious awards, including recent distinctions as a 2016 Doris Duke Artist, 2016 and 2018 Jazz Pianist of the Year from the Jazz Journalists Association, and the 2017 Prix Honorem de Jazz from L’Acádemie Charles Cros for the totality of his career.

Wednesday, April 12, 2023
7:30 PM

The series concludes on Wednesday, April 12, with the area debut of the collective trio, We ARE, which celebrates 25 years of creative friendship and empathic collaboration between three outstanding jazz artists: pianist Aaron Goldberg, bassist Reuben Rogers, and drummer Eric Harland. Goldberg is familiar to Athenaeum audiences from his past stellar appearances as leader of his own trio.

Saturday, March 25, 2023
7:30 PM

The series continues on Saturday, March 25, with a return visit by extraordinary drummer Allison Miller with a special edition of her Boom Tic Boom ensemble, featuring saxophonist Nicole Glover, pianist Shamie Royston, and bassist Ben Williams. NYC-based drummer/composer/educator Allison Miller engages her deep roots in improvisation as a vehicle to explore many musical genres. Described by critics as a Modern Jazz Icon in the Making, Miller has been named among the “Top 20 Jazz Drummers” in Downbeat Magazine.

Friday, March 17, 2023
7:30 PM

The series opens on Friday, March 17, with a celebration of the life and artistry of master saxophonist Charles Lloyd on the occasion of his 85th birthday, which falls two days before this event. A recipient of this nation’s highest jazz honor, the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master fellowship, as well as France’s Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres, Lloyd is widely revered as one of the greatest living jazz artists, having played the world’s leading festivals and stages throughout a remarkable seven-decade career.