All 2026 concerts will be in the 297-seat Margaret Lesher Theatre in the Lesher Center for the Arts.
A limited number of single tickets may become available closer to each concert, priced at $75 each.
Jane Monheit is a jazz vocalist with a deep passion for the Great American Songbook. With many highly acclaimed solo albums, countless awards and accolades, and over two decades of international touring experience, Jane has had the privilege of making music with some of the greatest musicians, arrangers, and producers in jazz. Her distinctive lyrical voice, elegant yet swinging, brings new life to familiar standards.
During her childhood on Long Island, New York, Jane studied woodwinds and piano, sang in choirs, and performed in community theater. During her senior year at the Manhattan School of Music, she placed second in the Thelonious Monk Competition. This catapulted the young singer into the jazz stratosphere overnight.
By age 22, Jane was working with legends such as Tommy Flanagan, Ron Carter, and Kenny Barron, recording her first albums, and touring the planet. Her collaborators included such jazz luminaries as Terence Blanchard, Tom Harrell, John Pizzarelli, Christian McBride, Vince Mendoza and many more. Television appearances followed, including David Letterman, Conan O’Brien, CBS Sunday Morning, Good Morning America, The Tonight Show, The View, and many popular international talk shows.
After two decades as an established jazz star, the unstoppable chanteuse continues to tour the world’s top venues such as Carnegie Hall, the Hollywood Bowl, the Village Vanguard and Birdland.
Ms Monheit will be accompanied by a pianist to be announced.
Grammy nominated Martin Taylor deploys a signature style that artfully combines virtuosity, passion and wit with a strong, engaging stage presence. His remarkable musical career spans five decades, with more than 100 recordings to his credit. Although completely self-taught, he has developed a unique approach to the guitar that is both admired and emulated by guitarists all over the world.
He has collaborated with such diverse artists as Jeff Beck, Bireli Lagrene, Tommy Emmanuel, Bill Wyman, Chet Atkins, Stephane Grappelli, David Grisman, George Harrison, Jamie Cullum, Bryn Terfel, Dianne Schuur and Gary Burton. Over his stellar career, Taylor has amassed a record 14 British Jazz Awards as a guitarist. Several of his albums have been in the Top 10 in both the USA and Europe.
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Constant touring, twenty-one recordings as a leader, countless sideman recordings including Ray Brown and Bobby Hutcherson; soundtrack performances on three of Clint Eastwood’s distinguished films (most notably Oscar-winning Million Dollar Baby); arranger, educator… when does Bruce Forman rest?
His Texas origins and his early career in San Francisco and New York all inform his highly personal vision. With projects like Reunion! (revisiting the famed Poll Winners sessions with cohorts John Clayton and Jeff Hamilton, playing instruments owned by Barney Kessel, Ray Brown and Shelly Manne); The Red Guitar; his podcast GuitarWank; his band Cow Bop; JazzMasters Workshop; Junkyard Duo; GrumpsTV, Forman’s endlessly fertile imagination fuels an American saga still in full swing.
Not only a distinguished composer and educator but also an unstoppable force of nature performing onstage, trombonist Wycliffe Gordon holds a unique position in the jazz world.
Some career highlights include membership in the Wynton Marsalis Septet (1989-1995); being a founding member of the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra (1995-2000); featured as guest artist on Billy Taylor’s “Jazz at the Kennedy Center” Series; his “Jazz a la Carte” was named one of the Five Best Moments in Jazz by the Wall Street Journal in 2011.
Gordon’s illustrious collaborators include David Sanborn, Paul Simon, Rene Marie, Dianne Reeves, Anat Cohen, Ricky Skaggs, Arturo Sandoval, Doc Severinsen, Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton, Tommy Flanagan, Shirley Horn, Joe Henderson, Eric Reed and Branford Marsalis, to name a few.
Television appearances include the 2000 Grammy Awards with Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. “Swingin’ with the Duke” (a PBS special documentary), “Uptown Blues, Ellington at 100” (a collaboration with the New York Philharmonic), “Big Train” live from Lincoln Center with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Ken Burns’s documentary “Jazz” (as featured soloist” and “A Carnegie Hall Christmas Concert.”
His many accolades include being presented with The ASCAP Foundation Vanguard Award and receiving an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Scranton (Pennsylvania). Remarkably, Mr. Gordon has been named “Trombonist of the Year” by the Jazz Journalists Association an unprecedented fifteen times.
Though young (born in 1994), Veronica Swift has already established herself as a sophisticated jazz vocalist with a swinging sound, steeped in tradition. Acclaimed for her extraordinary musicianship – including impeccable intonation, plus a gift for improvised virtuosic “scatting” – Ms. Swift is a consummate professional in all aspects of a performer’s craft.
Swift was raised in in Virginia, her parents both musicians. After releasing her second album, It’s Great to Be Alive, when she was only 11 years old, Swift began performing at major venues such as Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola at Jazz at Lincoln Center. After high school, she attended the University of Miami, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in 2016.
In the summer of 2016 she headlined at the Telluride Jazz Festival, her 10th appearance there – but her first as a headliner (she had first appeared there at age 10, singing a duet with Paquito d’Rivera).
While still attending college, Swift had competed in the 2015 Thelonious Monk International Vocal Competition, in which she placed second and caught the attention of the wider jazz world. After graduation, she moved to New York City and has never looked back. In 2017 she started her residency at Birdland, and now performs regularly with such artists as Emmet Cohen, Benny Green, Wynton Marsalis, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and Chris Botti, appearing in top jazz venues worldwide, as well as the Monterey and Montreal Jazz festivals. She was a featured guest artist with Michael Feinstein at Jazz at Lincoln Center.
