Musicians have been exploring innovative ways to develop and present their art. Witness the future jazz at this in-person viewing party of this year’s video-streamed performers, then stay for Thomas Marriott’s weekly Royal Room jam session.

Winner of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz competition, the Chicago trumpeter Marquis Hill, embraces all African American musical forms in a jazz that is at once deeply distinctive and a reflection of all jazz-trumpet history.

With his hard-swinging quartet, the guitarist Dan Wilson, most recent LetterOne Rising Star title winner, merges the legacies of the jazz-guitar greats with gospel, blues, hip-hop, and hard bop. Opening, beloved Seattle-based vocalist Elnah Jordan soulfully delivers gospel, jazz, blues, and R&B songs.

This is a very authentic and honest production funneled through the vessels of Jacqueline Tabor and Marina Albero—a beautiful collaboration of music, love, and lived experience that blossomed during the pandemic in response to today’s modern Civil Rights movement.

Bad Luck performs in another cosmos from most bands and Kin of the Moon perform multi-disciplinary work with sound installations and visual elements to create “improvisation-centric and technology-friendly sound experiences.”

Multi-award-winning saxophonist Miguel Zenón, a MacArthur Fellow, and refined pianist Luis Perdomo perform with disarming emotional immediacy. Zenón’s delight in complex mathematical systems may drive it, but its questing immediacy is almost tangible.

Louis Cole is a Los Angeles based singer songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist. Genevieve Artadi, co-creator of electronic duo KNOWER with Louis Cole melds influences from jazz, psychedelia, bossa nova, and avant-garde electronics.

Earshot and descendants of pianist/clarinetist Oscar Holden, bandmate of Jelly Roll Morton and “Patriarch of Seattle Jazz,” honor the musical heritage of Jackson Street and the Central District.

Majid Bekkas, the Moroccan master of guitar, guembri, and oud merges tradition and the future, as he has done with jazz innovators like Archie Shepp and Joachim Kuhn. The result is the most soulful fusion of swirling, entrancing Gnaoua playing and blues-drenched African American styles.

“Beat scientist.” “Bleeding-edge drummer.” “Sonic collagist” of “organic beat music.” Those are some attempts at capturing the intuitive, cinematic styles of the longtime Chicago resident Makaya McCraven. Also on the bill, Theon Cross, the tuba player "bringing tuba back to jazz’s center,” Rolling Stone proclaimed.

The popular saxophonist Ben Wendel has been called on by leaders as varied as Tigran Hamasyan, Antonio Sanchez, Gerald Clayton… and Snoop Dogg and Prince! “With an unassuming breadth of style," Ben is a “naturally inquisitive musician whose credentials branch out beyond jazz,” said Nate Chinen, NYT. Tickets sold separately to early and late shows.

The popular saxophonist Ben Wendel has been called on by leaders as varied as Tigran Hamasyan, Antonio Sanchez, Gerald Clayton… and Snoop Dogg and Prince! “With an unassuming breadth of style," Ben is a “naturally inquisitive musician whose credentials branch out beyond jazz,” said Nate Chinen, NYT. Tickets sold separately to early and late shows.

The popular Portland pianist Darrell Grant has taken inspiration from the Modern Jazz Quartet, which for 40 years embodied jazz coolness. It deftly melded Bach fugues, American song, mid-century modernism, and the blues.

The inspired trombonist Christian Pincock spins jazz, classical music, folk music, and sound effects through a conducted improv sign language called Soundpainting. His relatable collages are imbued with unexpected juxtapositions.

The history and evolution of jazz music and tap dancing go hand in hand one foot with the other, cheek to cheek, etc. Tap dancing is how Alex Dugdale became introduced to and subsequently fell in love with music.

Grammy-nominated clarinetist-saxophonist Anat Cohen is ever charismatic, prolific and inspired. She has won hearts and minds from all over the world over with her expressive virtuosity and delightful stage presence.

Tonight we present  the M.O.M/Moutin-Omicil-Moutin trio, featuring bassist and drummer/identical twins François and Louis Moutin as well as Haitian-Canadian multi-genre, multi-horn player Jowee Omicil.

A favorite son of the Roosevelt jazz band program, Alex Dugdale presents a thrilling night of classic big band sounds. He guarantees a “big night of sonic delight with a large ensemble that’s outta sight.”

Kat Edmonson, a celebrated songwriter and singer "with an equal foothold in jazz, cabaret and vintage cosmopolitanism pop" (NYT) makes an appearance at Triple Door.

One of Africa’s most popular and recognized musicians, Habib Koité is a modern troubadour with extraordinary appeal because Koité’s musicianship, wit and wisdom translate across cultures. Hailing from the musically prolific West African nation of Mali, the guitarist and composer has been named the biggest pop star of the region by Rolling Stone.

Marking the release of the album Hodges: Front & Center, the saxophonist Owen Broder, pays tribute to Johnny Hodges, the lead alto saxophonist of the Duke Ellington Jazz Orchestra and band leader in his own right.

One of Africa’s most popular and recognized musicians, Habib Koité is a modern troubadour with extraordinary appeal because Koité’s musicianship, wit and wisdom translate across cultures. Hailing from the musically prolific West African nation of Mali, the guitarist and composer has been named the biggest pop star of the region by Rolling Stone.

The treasured, mesmerizing pianist Robin Holcomb, performs solo to celebrate her new CD and book of poetry and lyrics alongside Kelsey Mines' music which reflects a dreamed, collective transition from petroleum products and fossil fuels, towards the organic, compostable and renewable.

The genre-defying ensemble of four tenor saxophonists performs the music of Travis Laplante who is joined by Matthew Nelson, Jeremy Viner, and Patrick Breiner, all pushing their instrument to the limit, circular breathing hypnotic waves of sound and blistering runs to create intricate textures

The all-star big band performs a 1935 work that Duke Ellington composed in honor or his mother, who had just died. To recreate Ellington’s highly ambitious piece, SRJO co-artistic director Michael Brockman draws on an unpublished score from the original 1935 recording.

Describing themselves as “a modern day version of the Kansas City Blues, Black American Music, and Rock & Roll tradition,” this adventurous, genre-bending band is led by Logan Richardson.

Charles Lloyd continues to be a master of his domain. For the Charles Lloyd Ocean Trio, Lloyd will be joined by the remarkable and lyrically evocative guitarist Anthony Wilson and explosively creative bassist, Harish Raghavan.  

Resident Artist for 2022, Alex Dugdale, wraps up the Earshot Festival at the popular Wallingford venue with a hard-driving sextet packing a classic-jazz punch.