SFJAZZ

Give it up for the 11th Annual SFJAZZ Spring Season. This year's five-month-long concert series promises some of the most illustrious names in jazz from around the world. From old-world staples to new wave performers, expect the very best. The lineup includes jazz giants like Pharoah Sanders, Lou Donaldson, Kurt Elling and the Count Basie Orchestra as well as Caetano Veloso, Diana Reeves, Booker T. and Wil Blades O.G.D.. Check out the full schedule and start reserving your tickets now.

Each fall SFJAZZ presents a phenomenal array of jazz concerts, from the classic to the avant-garde, gathering the legends of today and the rising stars of tomorrow in premier venues throughout San Francisco and the Bay Area. Originally a small-scale event known mostly in the local community, the festival has risen to national and international prominence and features dozens of events, including new work by some of the most creative contemporary artists, unique "Jazz on Film" presentations, family matinee concerts and more.

Brazil is a country known for many things—hot women, all-night parties, amazing food. But were you aware of the seemingly endless supply of ravishing female singers including Astrud Gilberto, Eliane Elias and Bebel Gilberto. The latest to find an American audience is CéU, a 29-year-old vocalist from São Paulo with a soft, insinuating voice and a taste for reggae, jazz, samba and R&B—filtered through gauzy electronica textures. Her eponymous 2007 debut has already earned two Grammy nominations. See CéU at this special performance presented by SFJAZZ.

Philly-based rap group the Roots will take the city by storm for SFJAZZ's spring season. The Grammy Award-winning hip-hop trailblazers known for their live performances will touch down at Davies Symphony Hall on May 30. This one is not to be missed.

Watch as two of the swing era's greatest big bands duke it out in a '30s music battle presented by SFJAZZ. The Glenn Miller and Tommy Dorsey orchestras come face to face playing classics like "In the Mood" and "I'll Never Smile Again." Which side are you on?

Join today’s vanguard of musicians, artists, humanitarians and jazz hipsters at the annual SFJAZZ Gala honoring the legendary McCoy Tyner. The only living member of the John Coltrane Quartet who created such landmark recordings as “A Love Supreme,” Tyner released more than 60 albums including The Real McCoy. He will give a once-in-a-lifetime performance, joined by master of the vibraphone Bobby Hutcherson. Proceeds benefit SFJAZZ’s music education program.

Grammy Award-winning hip-hop trailblazers The Roots are one of the most influential groups in music. Known for their prolific lyrics and live instrumentation, the legendary Philadelphia crew is composed of Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter on vocals, Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson on drums, Kamal Gray on keyboards, Frank Knuckles on percussion, Kirk "Captain Kirk" Douglas on guitar and Owen Biddle on bass. Garnering critical praise throughout their career, The Roots have firmly established themselves as a band with uncompromised artistic control and integrity. 

Far more than a band, Mali’s Tinariwen stands as an icon of freedom and resistance among the nomadic Tuareg, one of the oldest and proudest peoples on earth. Over the past two decades this mesmerizing group of guitar-poets from the southern reaches of the Sahara Desert has transposed traditional melodies to the electric guitar, mixing them with blues, rock, Berber and Arabic influences.