The Performers

Marcus Miller's illustrious career spans over four decades, during which he has left an indelible imprint on jazz. Collaborating with some of the greatest names in jazz, such as Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Dizzy Gillespie, McCoy Tyner, George Benson, Joe Sample, Natalie Cole, David Sanborn, Grover Washington Jr and Bob James, it is Miller's pivotal role as the architect of Miles Davis' groundbreaking album Tutu that set new standards for contemporary jazz and cements Miller’s place in jazz music history.

Additionally, Miller's solo career boasts ten GRAMMY-nominated albums and a win for Best Contemporary Jazz Album for his 2001 release M2, further affirming his reputation as a masterful musician.

Acclaimed singer-songwriter Gregory Porter was raised in Bakersfield, California and cites the Bakersfield Southern Gospel sound, as well as his mother’s Nat King Cole record collection, as fundamental influences on his own sound. Porter began singing in jazz clubs in San Diego while attending San Diego State University on a football scholarship. Eventually Porter moved to New York City to pursue music full-time and his career began to ascend with the release of his first two albums—Water (2010) and Be Good (2012)—both of which received GRAMMY® nominations.

In 2013, he released his breakout Blue Note debut, Liquid Spirit, which grew into a global phenomenon, selling more than a million albums and earning Porter his first GRAMMY® Award with NPR declaring him “America’s Next Great Jazz Singer.” His 2016 follow-up Take Me To The Alley won Porter his second GRAMMY® Award and firmly established him as his generation’s most soulful jazz artist. In 2017, Porter released the heartfelt tribute album Nat King Cole & Me, and in 2020 returned to his original songwriting on the uplifting ALL RISE, both of which received GRAMMY® nominations. His 2021 release Still Rising collected new songs, covers, duets and a selection of his most-loved hits.

In 2023, Porter released his first-ever holiday album Christmas Wish. Porter has hosted the podcast The Hang, a conversation series featuring his famous friends, as well as his own cooking show The PorterHouse, in which the singer shared recipes inspired by his local community, experiences from touring the globe and family cooking traditions.

Diana Krall is a Canadian jazz pianist and singer known for her contralto vocals. She has sold more than 15 million albums worldwide, including over six million in the US. On December 11, 2009, Billboard magazine named her the second greatest jazz artist of the decade (2000–2009), establishing her as one of the best-selling artists of her time.

Krall is the only jazz singer to have eight albums debut at the top of the Billboard Jazz Albums chart. To date, her albums have garnered multiple GRAMMY Awards, 10 Juno Awards, and have earned nine gold, three platinum, and seven multi-platinum albums. Her unique artistry transcends any single musical style and has made her one of the most recognizable artists of our time. As The New York Times recently noted, she possesses “a voice at once cool and sultry, wielded with a rhythmic sophistication.”

Krall’s 1999 release of “When I Look in Your Eyes” spent an unprecedented 52 weeks in the No. 1 position on Billboard's Jazz chart, won multiple GRAMMY Awards, and went platinum in the United States and Canada.

Since the 1993 release of Stepping Out, her debut studio album, she has released more than a dozen albums, including Only Trust Your Heart in 1995, All for You: A Dedication to the Nat King Cole Trio in 1996, Love Scenes in 1997, When I Look in Your Eyes in 1999, The Look of Love in 2001, The Girl in the Other Room in 2004, Christmas Songs in 2005, From This Moment On in 2006, Quiet Nights in 2009, Glad Rag Doll in 2012, Wallflower in 2015, Turn Up the Quiet in 2017 and Love Is Here to Stay, with Tony Bennett, in 2018.

Her latest release, This Dream of You, has garnered critical acclaim from fans and press alike. Released in 2020, the album collects Krall’s scores of studio recordings she performed with her longtime producer Tommy LiPuma before his death in 2017. In addition to the title track — which is her rendition of the Bob Dylan song — the album features songs such as “But Beautiful,” “Autumn in New York,” “Almost Like Being in Love,” “How Deep Is the Ocean” and “Singing in the Rain.”

Over the course of a multifaceted career, GRAMMY and Tony Award-winner Dee Dee Bridgewater has ascended to the upper echelon of vocalists, uniquely spinning standards and taking intrepid leaps of faith re-envisioning jazz classics. Fearless pioneer and keeper of tradition, the three-time GRAMMY-winner’s most recent win was for Best Jazz Vocal Album - Eleanora Fagan (1915-1959): To Billie With Love From Dee Dee.

Bridging genres, her first professional experience was as a member of the legendary Thad Jones/Mel Louis Big Band. Throughout the 70’s, she performed with jazz notables Max Roach, Sonny Rollins, Dexter Gordon and Dizzy Gillespie, among others.

Bridgewater began self-producing with 1993’s release, Keeping Tradition (Polydor/Verve). In 2006, she created DDB Records in 2006 under a Producer/Distribution agreement with Universal Music Group - releasing critically-acclaimed albums, including Dear Ella, a double GRAMMY-winning tribute to Ella Fitzgerald. She signed Theo Croker to DDB and released a project with the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra (Dee Dee’s Feathers), with Sony/OKeh - all to critical acclaim.

With a parallel career in musical theater, Bridgewater won a Tony Award for her role as “Glinda” in The Wiz (1975). Her other theatrical credits include Sophisticated Ladies, Black Ballad, Carmen and Cabaret. She revived her Laurence Olivier-nominated role as Billie Holiday in Lady Day (West End and Off-Broadway) and recently appeared in the Anna Deveare-Smith penned Ella Broadway workshop. With film, television and soundtrack credits, Bridgewater is an accomplished entertainment “polymath.”

As a legacy Goodwill Ambassador to the UN FAO, Bridgewater champions global efforts in the fight against world hunger. A 2017 NEA Jazz Master, Bridgewater is an ASCAP Champion Awardee, Doris Duke Artist (2018) and Memphis Music Hall of Fame inductee (2019). She serves as co-Founder and co-Artistic Director of The Woodshed Network.

In a career spanning more than 60 years, both as a solo artist and bandleader, Chucho Valdés has distilled elements of the Afro-Cuban music tradition, jazz, classical music, rock and more, into a deeply personal style. Winner of seven GRAMMY® and four Latin GRAMMY® Awards, Mr. Valdés, received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Latin Academy of Recording Arts & Science last year and was also inducted in the Latin Songwriters Hall of Fame.

His most recent project on record, Jazz Batá 2, revisits a revolutionary idea that Valdés first recorded in 1972: a piano jazz trio featuring batá drums, the sacred, hourglass-shaped drums used in the ritual music of the Yoruba religion in Cuba, in place of the conventional trap set. Jazz Batá 2 won a Latin GRAMMY® as Best Latin Jazz album and was selected as one of Billboard magazine's list of The 50 Best Latin Albums of the Decade.

These days he appears energized by his much-awaited reunion with his old friend and bandmate, the extraordinary clarinetist, saxophonist and composer Paquito D'Rivera. They have rarely played together for the past 40 years, and since their reunion, they have wasted no time in making appearances.

Ron Carter is among the most original, prolific, and influential bassists in jazz. With more than 2,500 albums to his credit, he has recorded with many of music's greats: Tommy Flanagan, Gil Evans, Lena Horne, Bill Evans, B.B. King, the Kronos Quartet, Dexter Gordon, Wes Montgomery and Bobby Timmons. In the early 1960s, he performed throughout the United States in concert halls and nightclubs with Jaki Byard and Eric Dolphy.

He later toured Europe with Cannonball Adderley. From 1963 to 1968, he was a member of the classic and acclaimed Miles Davis Quintet. He was named Outstanding Bassist of the Decade by the Detroit News, Jazz Bassist of the Year by Downbeat magazine, and Most Valuable Player by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.

In 1993 Ron Carter earned a GRAMMY® award for Best Jazz Instrumental Group, the Miles Davis Tribute Band and another GRAMMY® in 1998 for Call 'Sheet Blues', an instrumental composition from the film 'Round Midnight. In addition to scoring and arranging music for many films, including some projects for Public Broadcasting System, Carter has composed music for A Gathering of Old Men, starring Lou Gosset Jr., The Passion of Beatrice directed by Bertrand Tavernier, and Blind Faith starring Courtney B. Vance.

Carter shares his expertise in the series of books he authored, among which are Building Jazz Bass Lines and The Music of Ron Carter; the latter contains 130 of his published and recorded compositions. Carter earned a bachelor of music degree from the Eastman School in
Rochester and a master's degree in double bass from the Manhattan School of Music in New York City. He has also received two honorary doctorates, from the New England Conservatory of Music and the Manhattan School of Music, and was the 2002 recipient of the prestigious Hutchinson Award from the Eastman School at the University of Rochester.

Carter has lectured, conducted, and performed at clinics and master classes, instructing jazz ensembles and teaching the business of music at numerous universities. He was Artistic Director of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Studies while it was located in Boston and, after 18 years on the faculty of the Music Department of The City College of New York, he is now Distinguished Professor Emeritus although, as a performer, he remains as active as ever.

In 2010 Ron Carter received the order “Commandeur dans l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres” of the French Republic.

Bassist, composer, arranger and producer, John Clayton is a busy man. He is a GRAMMY® winner with nine additional nominations and has written and/or recorded with artists such as Milt Jackson, Diana Krall, Paul McCartney, Regina Carter, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Gladys Knight, Queen Latifah, McCoy Tyner, YoYo Ma and Charles Aznavour, to name only a few. John was the principal bassist in the Amsterdam Philharmonic Orchestra (The Netherlands) from 1980-1984.

In 1986, John co-founded the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra and rekindled The Clayton Brothers Quintet. In addition to his individual clinics and workshops, he was the Artist Director of Jazz for Centrum, The Port Townsend Jazz Festival and the Vail Jazz Workshop. It is John’s arrangement of the “Star Spangled Banner” that helped propel Whitney Houston in her 1990 performance at the Super Bowl (the recording went platinum). His recordings with the Clayton Brothers, the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, Milt Jackson, Monty Alexander, Count Basie and others are plentiful. John feels “I’ve been guided by a village of musicians who helped me understand the humility that goes along with playing music at the highest level you can. Ray Brown used to tell me to ‘Just learn how to play the bass!!’ If you take care of the music, it will take care of you.”

Cécile McLorin Salvant, is a composer, singer and visual artist. The late Jessye Norman described Salvant as “a unique voice supported by an intelligence and full-fledged musicality, which light up every note she sings.”

Salvant has developed a passion for storytelling and finding the connections between vaudeville, blues, theater, jazz, baroque and folkloric music. Salvant is an eclectic curator, unearthing rarely recorded, forgotten songs with strong narratives, interesting power dynamics, unexpected twists and humor.

Salvant won the Thelonious Monk competition in 2010. She has received three consecutive GRAMMY® Awards for Best Jazz Vocal Album for The Window, Dreams and Daggers and For One To Love and was nominated for the award in 2014 for her album WomanChild.

In 2020, Salvant received the MacArthur fellowship and the Doris Duke Artist Award. Nonesuch Records released Ghost Song in March 2022, and has since gone onto receive two GRAMMY® nominations as well as appearing on a number of year end best lists for 2022. On March 24th, 2023 Nonesuch Records released the highly anticipated follow up Mélusine, an album mostly sung in French, along with Occitan, English and Haitian Kreyòl.

Born and raised in Miami, Florida, of a French mother and Haitian father, she started classical piano studies at 5, sang in a children’s choir at 8 and started classical voice lessons as a teenager.

Salvant received a bachelor’s in French law from the Université Pierre-Mendes France in Grenoble while also studying baroque music and jazz at the Darius Milhaud Music Conservatory in Aix-en-Provence, France.

Salvant’s latest work, Ogresse, is a musical fable in the form of a cantata that blends genres (folk, baroque, jazz, country). Salvant wrote the story, lyrics and music. It is arranged by Darcy James Argue for a thirteen-piece orchestra of multi-instrumentalists. Ogresse, both a biomythography and an homage to the Erzulie (as painted by Gerard Fortune) and Sara Baartman, explores fetishism, hunger, diaspora, cycles of appropriation, lies, othering and ecology. It is in development to become an animated feature-length film, which Salvant will direct.

Wycliffe Gordon has an impressive career touring the world performing to great acclaim from audiences and critics alike. Jazz Journalists Association named him “Trombonist of the Year” for a record-breaking 15 times, and he topped Downbeat Critics Poll for “Best Trombone” for an unprecedented six times (2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2018 & 2020). Recent awards include the “Louie Award”, the International Trombone Award and the Satchmo Award, among others. Wycliffe is a prolific recording artist and is extremely popular for his unmatched signature sound, plunger technique and unique vocals. He can be heard on hundreds of recordings, soundtracks, live DVDs and documentaries, and has an extensive catalog of original compositions that span the various timbres of jazz and chamber music. His arrangement of the theme song to NPR’s “All Things Considered” is heard daily across the globe. 

In addition to a successful solo career, Gordon tours regularly leading the International All Stars performing at festivals and performing arts centers worldwide. Gordon is also one of America’s most persuasive and committed music educators and is highly sought after as a clinician and guest speaker.  He has his own line of mouthpieces by Pickett Brass and is a Yamaha artist.

Ravi Coltrane is a critically acclaimed and GRAMMY®-nominated saxophonist, bandleader and composer. In the course of a twenty plus year career, Mr. Coltrane has worked as a sideman to many, recorded noteworthy albums for himself and others and founded a prominent independent record label, RKM.

Born in Long Island, the second son of John Coltrane and Alice Coltrane, Ravi was named after Indian sitar legend Ravi Shankar. He was raised in Los Angeles where his family moved after his father’s death in 1967. His mother, Alice Coltrane, was a significant influence on Ravi and it was he who encouraged Alice to return to performance and the recording studio after a long absence. Subsequently, Ravi produced and played on Alice Coltrane’s powerful Translinear Light, which was released in 2004.

Ravi has released six albums as a leader, including Spirit Fiction, released in June of 2012 for the Blue Note label. Additional credits include performances as well as recordings with Elvin Jones, Terence Blanchard, Kenny Baron, Steve Coleman, McCoy Tyner, Jack DeJohnette, Matt Garrison, Jeff 'Tain' Watts, Geri Allen, Joanne Brackeem, The Blue Note 7, among others. He is a co-leader of the Saxophone Summit with Joe Lovano and Dave Liebman.

Ravi lives in Brooklyn, NY and maintains a fast-paced touring, recording, composing and performance schedule. He leads the effort to restore the John Coltrane Home in Dix Hills, Long Island and presides over important reissues of his parent’s recordings.

Award-winning composer, orchestral arranger, lyricist and performer, Christopher Brubeck is equally at home playing jazz, rock, classical, funk and folk music, displaying his multiple talents on three instruments. An award-winning composer, Chris has been called “…a 21^st Century Leonard Bernstein” by John von Rhein of the Chicago Tribune. Chris’s composition, “Vignettes for Nonet,” for woodwind quintet and the BBQ was commissioned by, and premiered at Bay Chamber Concerts, Rockport, Maine to great acclaim. A recent composition, Affinity, was commissioned and premiered by internationally respected guitarist, Sharon Isbin, in May 2015, and has just been recorded by Ms. Isbin and the Maryland Symphony Orchestra.

Chris’s composition “Interplay for 3 Violins and Orchestra” featuring The Boston Pops and violin virtuoso Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Jazz violinist Regina Carter and Celtic fiddler Eileen Ivers of Riverdance fame was broadcast on PBS’ “Evening at Pops” and won the ASCAP Deems Taylor award for Chris for best composition for television broadcast. Chris, along with father Dave, were Grammy finalists for Best Orchestral Composition for their composition, Ansel Adams: America. In addition to his instrumental work with the Brubeck Brothers Quartet, Chris tours, records and sings with his acoustic funk-blues group, Triple Play. The L.A Times wrote: “Chris has become one of the most capable electric bassists, delivering imaginative solos.” The New York Post wrote of a Carnegie Hall performance, “The high point of the night came when Chris horned in on a beautifully reflective solo and switching instruments, blew one of the best trombone solos I’ve heard in years.”

Drummer Dan Brubeck is the rhythmic force of the DBQ and has toured the international music circuit for more than two decades. He has led his own group, The Dolphins, in addition to performing with the legendary Dave Brubeck Quartet. Dan also plays with the Vancouver-based Dan Brubeck Quartet (DBQ), featuring vocalist/bassist Adam Thomas. The DBQ released Celebrating the Music and Lyrics of Dave and Iola

Brubeck, which showcases his father’s music and little-known lyrics of his mother, was named one of the Top 2015 CDs by Downbeat Magazine and was nominated for a Juno Award for Best Jazz Vocal album. As a featured soloist with many of the world’s top jazz artists, Dan's original drumming style and use of odd-time signatures have earned him international acclaim. A stylistically versatile musician, he’s toured with acts ranging from The Band and David Benoit to Gerry Mulligan and Paul Desmond. He’s recorded with jazz guitar legend Larry Coryell, singer-songwriter Livingston Taylor, jazz-pop singer Michael Franks, and pioneering blues guitarist Roy Buchanan. Dan and Chris were featured on the Dave Brubeck CD Live with the London Symphony Orchestra. Dan produced and played on Trio Brubeck, a Music Masters CD with Dave & Chris Brubeck which received a GRAMMY® nomination. Dan has appeared on The Today Show, The Tonight Show, The GRAMMY® Awards Show with an all-star jazz group including Dave Brubeck and Christian McBride, BBC specials and the nationally syndicated PBS series Jazz in America. JazzTimes Magazine wrote “Dan will cause your mouth to drop open when you hear him. To call his drum solos exciting is to sell him short, but it is awesome soloing like this that characterize the entire recording.” His original drumming style, distinctive polyrhythmic solos, and use of odd time signatures have earned him standing ovations worldwide, and the respect of the international jazz community.

Renee Rosnes is enjoying an illustrious career as one of the premier pianists and composers of her generation, having performed and recorded with some of the most iconic figures in jazz including Joe Henderson, JJ Johnson, Wayne Shorter, Bobby Hutcherson and James Moody. She has released 18 albums as a leader, which showcase her virtuosity, creativity and collaborative spirit. Her recording, Kinds of Love (Smoke Sessions) featuring Chris Potter, Christian McBride, Carl Allen and Rogério Boccato, received a Canadian JUNO Award, her seventh. Rosnes is the musical director of the supergroup ARTEMIS, who were named 2023 Jazz Group of the Year by the 88th DownBeat Readers Poll. The band has performed at many of the world’s prestigious venues including Carnegie Hall, the Monterey Jazz Festival, the North Sea Jazz Festival and the Newport Jazz Festival, among others. NPR raved, “A killer line-up of players, composers and performers who hail from all over the world…converge on an extremely cosmopolitan, sleek, rhythm-forward, modern sound.”

During the 2018 Montréal Jazz Festival, Rosnes was awarded the Oscar Peterson Prize in recognition of her outstanding contributions to jazz. In addition to leading her own bands, Rosnes is the pianist for the legendary bassist, Ron Carter’s Foursight Quartet. Rosnes’ piano duo with her husband and acclaimed pianist Bill Charlap, is marked by mutual respect and dazzling interplay. The duo was featured on the recording, Tony Bennett & Bill Charlap: The Silver Lining, which garnered a 2015 GRAMMY® for Best Traditional Pop Album.

Bria Skonberg is a Juno-award winning artist, ten-time Downbeat Rising Star, Jazz at Lincoln Center Swing! Awardee and the 2022 recipient of the "Legend" Award by the Society for the Preservation of the Great American Songbook. The trumpeter, vocalist, and composer has been called the "shining hope of hot jazz" (NY Times) and is considered "one of the most versatile and imposing musicians of her generation." (WSJ) She has been a featured artist at hundreds of festivals and stages the world over, including New Orleans Jazz & Heritage, Monterey, Newport, and Montreal Jazz Festivals.

The daughter of teachers, Bria was introduced to jazz by a spirited public school band program and local festival in her hometown of Chilliwack, British Columbia. A professional band leader since her teens, she moved to Vancouver and obtained her degree in Trumpet Performance from Capilano University. Since arriving in New York in 2010 she has been at the forefront of a revival of classic American music as both a performer and educator, programming concerts and workshops for students of all ages on behalf of Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Louis Armstrong House Museum, Jazz House Kids and more. Bria is an active mentor in the Women in Jazz Organization, a Bach Conn-Selmer artist, a board member of the International Trumpet Guild, and became a mother in 2020.

Her upcoming seventh studio album, What it Means, was recorded in New Orleans with the Crescent City’s finest and is set for release in July, 2024.

Multifaceted American jazz pianist and composer Emmet Cohen is one of his generation's pivotal figures in music and the related arts. Leader of the Emmet Cohen Trio and creator of the Masters Legacy Series, he is an internationally acclaimed jazz artist, a dedicated educator, the winner of the 2019 American Pianists Awards and a finalist in the 2011 Thelonious Monk International Piano Competition.

Cohen headlines regularly at Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Village Vanguard and Birdland, and has appeared at the Newport, Monterey and North Sea jazz festivals. His artistry has taken him to venues and festivals in over 30 countries. Cohen's entrepreneurial energies led to his developing "Live From Emmet's Place," a live-streamed "Harlem rent party" that unites a worldwide audience via tens of millions of internet views. Cohen has released over ten albums as leader and has performed or recorded with Ron Carter, Benny Golson, Jimmy Cobb, George Coleman, Jimmy Heath, Tootie Heath, Houston Person, Christian McBride and Kurt Elling. Signature Jazz Cruises is fond of claiming to provide Emmet with his first professional gig on The Jazz Cruise and we consider him to be a true “son” of the cruise.

By age 33, Emmy-nominated trumpeter and vocalist Benny Benack III has already become a leading voice in Jazz for his generation, headlining clubs and festivals around the world on the heels of his latest critically acclaimed album Third Time’s the Charm, which ascended to #2 on the JazzWeek International Radio Charts in 2023. He is the rare talent who is just as formidable as a fiery trumpeter ranging from Freddie Hubbard to Louis Armstrong and everyone in between, while as a singer he delivers sly, mature, naturally expressive post-Sinatra vocal stylings.

His sophomore album A Lot of Livin’ to Do (2020) featured the likes of bass luminary Christian McBride, achieving viral online fame with his vocalese rendition of "Social Call" ft. Veronica Swift that's been transcribed and covered by singers around the world. He has crooned his way to millions of more listeners alongside groups such as the GRAMMY®-winning 8-Bit Big Band and YouTube sensation Postmodern Jukebox.

His double-threat credentials were first apparent when he was a finalist in the 2014 Thelonius Monk Competition on trumpet and then won Third Place in the 2021 Sarah Vaughan Vocal Competition. His resume for both was recently bolstered in Downbeat Magazine’s Critics Poll for 2023, where he appeared in two categories: The #2 Rising Star Male Vocalist and #15 Rising Star Trumpet.

His global recognition has been bolstered by the recent advent of live-streaming concerts, both through his weekly residency at Smalls Jazz Club, as well as frequent appearances at fellow young lion Emmet Cohen’s “Emmet’s Place” online series. He has emerged from the pandemic as one of the most in-demand touring artists in the Jazz world, with a never-ending intercontinental schedule that reflects his indefatigable love for the music, with his smile and panache on full-display wherever it takes him next.

Music and spirituality have always been intertwined in trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and activist Sean Jones. Growing up in the church choir in his hometown of Warren, Ohio, the Bach-endorsed Jones is a musical chameleon and comfortable in any musical setting no matter the role or genre. He has released eight albums with Mack Avenue Records, the latest being 2017’s Sean Jones: Live From Jazz At The Bistro.

Jones is an internationally recognized educator, currently holding the Richard and Elizabeth Case Chair of Jazz at Johns Hopkins University’s Peabody Conservatory and is Artistic Director of Carnegie Hall’s NYO Jazz ensemble. Previously, Jones was Chair of the Brass Department at Berklee College of Music and served as President of the Jazz Educators Network.

Jones was lead trumpet for Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and the SFJAZZ Collective, and is now with the Baltimore Jazz Collective. He is featured on three GRAMMY® Award-nominated albums by Dianne Reeves, Nancy Wilson, and Gerald Wilson.

Sullivan Fortner was born and raised in New Orleans and started playing the piano at the age of four. His mother was the choir director of a Baptist church and he began playing the organ there at the age of seven. After studying at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, Sullivan went on to obtain a bachelor's degree from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and a master's degree from the Manhattan School of Music.

For more than a decade, Sullivan Fortner has been stretching deep-rooted talents as a pianist, composer, band leader and uncompromising individualist. The GRAMMY® Award-winning artist received international praise as both key player and producer for his collaborative work on The Window, alongside Cecile McLorin Salvant with whom he frequently tours and records. As a solo leader, he has released four recordings to critical acclaim: Moments Preserved, Aria, Tea for Two and Solo Game.

In addition to his associations with such diverse voices as Wynton Marsalis, Paul Simon, Diane Reeves, Etienne Charles and John Scofield, Sullivan’s frequent and longtime collaborators have included Ambrose Akinmusire, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Stefon Harris, Tivon Pennicott, Peter Bernstein, Nicholas Payton, Billy Hart, Gary Bartz, Christian Scott, Atunde Adjuah, Fred Hersch and the late Roy Hargrove. Recent collaborations include GRAMMY-nominated releases Dear Love (Empress Legacy) and Generations from leaders Jazzmeia Horn and The Baylor Project, respectively. Sullivan’s accolades include the 2015 Cole Porter Fellowship awarded by the American Pianists Association, Leonore Annenberg Arts Fellowship, the Lincoln Center Award for Emerging Artists and the prestigious Shifting Foundation Grant for artistic career development.

Music Director Eric Marienthal has won two GRAMMY® Awards and has been nominated eight times as a member of the Chick Corea Elektric Band, Jeff Lorber Fusion and Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band. Having performed in over 80 countries and played on hundreds of recordings, films and TV shows, Eric also has recorded 15 solo recordings including his latest entitled Double Dealin’ with his friend Randy Brecker. Eric's recordings have produced several top 10 radio singles including three tunes that reached #1 on its respective chart.

Eric is the recipient of the Berklee College of Music Distinguished Alumnus Award for outstanding achievements in contemporary music. Eric was also named one of the top 3 alto saxophonists in Jazziz Magazine's Readers Poll along with Phil Woods and David Sanborn. For the past 22 years Eric has organized an annual charity concert for the High Hopes Head Injury Program in Tustin, CA. These concerts have raised awareness for this great organization and have raised over 2 million dollars.

For the past few years, Eric has applied his vast knowledge and experience in the world of jazz to being the Music Director for all of Signature Jazz Cruises’ sailings. In that challenging role, Eric is charged with curating the performances, schedules and support for hundreds of the top musicians in the world. His ability to perform this task with skill and professionalism has made the quality of the programming on those sailings among the very best in the world.

Julian “J3PO” Pollack is a Los Angeles-based pianist/keyboardist and producer described by Timeout New York as a musician who “deftly balances virtuosity with tenderness.” Julian is known for his innovative use of keyboards and synthesizers in jazz, fusion, hip-hop and electronic styles of music. He has toured extensively with the legendary Marcus Miller, as well as Chris Botti, and has performed and/or recorded with Herbie Hancock, Santana, David Sanborn, Talib Kweli, Cindy Blackman, Joe Lovano, Mike Stern, Ledisi, David Foster, Lisa Fischer, Eric Harland, Marcus Gilmore, Casey Benjamin, Michael League, Bob Reynolds, Kamasi Washington, Jonathan Butler, Tierney Sutton and many others.

In 2020, he completed his first feature film score for the movie The Sound of the Wind. When he was 18 years old, having just moved to New York City from his native California hometown of Berkeley, he was featured on Piano Jazz, hosted by Marianne McPartland—the syndicated NPR show. He attended New York University, obtaining a master’s degree in jazz performance and composition. In his early twenties he recorded two piano trio albums: Infinite Playground (2010 - Junebeat Records) and Waves of Albion (2013 - Berthold Records). He also wrote music for orchestra: Piano Concerto (2012) and Night Flower (2013). Shortly thereafter, he began hanging out in the Lower East Side’s music scene of the early 2010s where he went on to meet his peers in the jazz-fusion/hip-hop/electronic genres that would influence the sound he is known for today. He joined the unique experimental hip-hop/progressive-soul ensemble The Lesson GK, which hosted a sold-out weekly event at Arlene’s Grocery for almost a decade, consisting of all improvised music.

In 2019 Julian released Small Plates under his moniker J3PO. The album is a collection of 12 compositions that range from simple lo-fi beats to complex jazztronica future house tracks. Inspired by analog synths and sample-based music, the album fuses Julian’s love for today's contemporary production styles with a nod to the jazz tradition and the spontaneity of live music and improvisation. In 2021, Julian released his follow-up album MAINS (2021 - Ropeadope) to much critical acclaim, and in 2023 he released a beat-tape called Sweet Treats.

Marcus Gilmore is a multi-GRAMMY® award winning drummer, composer, producer, and educator.  

The New York based musician has been recognized with numerous awards, residencies, and fellowships - including becoming a 2018 - 2019 Protege in the Annual Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative. 

Gilmore, in all his playing, integrates a unique style where he is musically expanding rhythm, while supporting the great musicians with whom he plays.  He has had the distinct privilege of performing/recording with Mulatu Astatke, Chick Corea, Pharoah Sanders, Savion Glover, Pat Metheny, Ambrose Akinmusire, Gonzalo Rubalcaba ,Clark Terry, Wynton Marsalis, Ravi Coltrane, Common, Flying Lotus, Robert Glasper, Natalie Cole, Steve Coleman, Vijay Iyer, Derrick Hodge, Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah, Thundercat, Brad Mehldau, Cassandra Wilson, Nicholas Payton, Jill Scott, Talib Kweli, Queen Latifah, Norah Jones, Black Thought, Zakir Hussain, The Cadillacs, Bilal, Terrence Blanchard, Roy Hargrove, Terrace Martin, Taylor Mcferrin, and Fred Armisen.

He was also commissioned by the American Composers Orchestra to write his first Orchestral work which debuted in 2020 with members of the Cape Town Philharmonic. In June 2023, Marcus premiered his full composition with the American Composers Orchestra, in NYC. 

After 30 years in comedy and over 30 jazz cruises, Alonzo Bodden has been able to marry his two passions: comedy and jazz. “There is nothing like the cool and creativity of the jazz world, I love it,” says Alonzo. His big break was “New Faces of Comedy” at the Just for Laughs Festival (Canada). He credits winning Season 3 of NBC's Last Comic Standing as his introduction to America. With four comedy specials, sitcoms, The Tonight Show, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, Comedy Central’s The Daily Show and The Nightly Show to his credit, he has done it all. His comedy CD, Man Overboard, was recorded on a sailing of The Smooth Jazz Cruise. His latest comedy special, Stupid Don’t Get Tired, is available on YouTube.

”The highest compliment I get is when I’m riffing onstage during a cruise and one of these brilliant musicians says 'that’s jazz.' What could be cooler than that?”