Getting your
Trinity Audioplayer ready...You don’t have to look hard to find what makes the Stanford Jazz Festival different than higher profile jazz festivals around the region.
For the past decade, Stanford has kicked off its summerlong series with Indian Jazz Journey, an evolving gathering led by Berkeley saxophonist George Brooks and Saratoga-based Maharashtrian vocal star Mahesh Kale. And over the years the event has featured some of the most celebrated North and South Indian classical musicians in virtuosic musical dialogue with leading jazz artists.
Each performance follows its own particular flight path, and this year’s opening concert on Sunday, June 21 upgrades to first-class accommodations at Bing Concert Hall. Brooks and Kale have booked passage for a creatively volatile musical cohort that includes sarangi master Sabir Khan, the scion of a Hindustani musical dynasty from Rajasthan dating back to the early 1800s.
Even before he started the Indian Jazz Journey with Kale, whose international career has blossomed since winning the “best playback singer” award at the 63rd National Film Awards in 2015, Brooks was bringing various Indo-jazz summits to Stanford Jazz.
“I think it’s pretty extraordinary. I don’t know of any jazz festival that has committed themselves in this way to connecting jazz and Indian music,” said Brooks, who celebrates his 70th birthday at the Freight in Berkeley on July 17 with a reunion of his groundbreaking 2000 project Summit.
This year’s Indian Jazz Journey lineup extends beyond the subcontinent with Afghan-American tabla expert Eman Hashimi, who also hails from a long line of masters. Los Angeles-based percussionist Greg Ellis has performed in the Bay Area with Iranian vocalists Mahsa and Marjan Vahdat, and he brings a sensuous textural palette to the proceedings.
Electric bassist Michael Manring, who’s also making his first Indian Jazz Journey appearance, has been a catalyst on the Bay Area improvised music scene for some four decades. After studies with Jaco Pastorius he has thrived in broad spectrum of duos, trios and larger ensembles, including Yo Miles!, guitarist Henry Kaiser’s and trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith’s Miles Davis fusion project (experience that might come in handy).
“I’d like to bring in an element of the Miles Davis and John Coltrane centenary,” Brooks said. “I’m looking to see what kind mosaic we can create.”
Details: Indian Jazz Journey, featuring Mahesh Kale and George Brook; 4 p.m. June 21 at Bing Concert Hall, Stanford University; $22-$100; stanfordjazz.org. The Stanford Jazz Festival presents some two-dozen concerts through July 31. Here are some other highly recommended offerings.
Billy Childs Quartet: Billy Childs has earned renown and multiple Grammy Awards for his work as composer of chamber jazz and orchestral works that often combine elements of jazz and classical music. But the Los Angeles pianist still loves stretching out with a small combo. In May, Mack Avenue released his first trio album in a quarter century, and he plays Stanford Jazz and Kuumbwa with a quartet featuring the superlative LA rhythm section tandem of bassist Dan Chmielinski and drummer Christian Euman. The wild card is Chicago alto saxophonist Lenard Simpson, a prodigious young player known for his impassioned improvisational flights.
Details: 7:30 p.m. June 27 at Dinkelspiel Auditorium, Stanford University; $12-$62; stanfordjazz.org/stanford-jazz-festival; 7 p.m. June 28 at Kuumbwa Jazz Center, Santa Cruz; $23.50-$47.25; www.kuumbwajazz.org/calendar. Luciana Souza & Marcel Camargo: New Moon with String Quartet: São Paulo-raised vocalist Luciana Souza, a longtime Los Angeles resident, has teamed up with Brazilian guitarist and arranger Marcel Camargo to hone a program of arrangements encompassing Hermeto Pascoal, Jobim, and Catalan composer Federico Mompou. Camargo moved to San Jose as a teenager and graduated from Lynbrook High School. He credits the late Santa Cruz pianist Smith Dobson with taking him under his wing, encouraging him to sit in at Garden City. He’s become a sought-after arranger in LA, and his charts for the string quartet directed by Stanford faculty violinist Livia Sohn are contoured for Souza’s exquisite voice. The New Moon project also rises at Kuumbwa June 29.
Details: 7:30 p.m. June 28 at Dinkelspiel Auditorium, Stanford University; $12-$62; stanfordjazz.org/stanford-jazz-festival; 7 p.m. June 29 at Kuumbwa Jazz Center, Santa Cruz; $23.50-$47.25; www.kuumbwajazz.org/calendar. Michael Mayo Quartet: Raised in a family of working musicians in Los Angeles, Michael Mayo has emerged over the past five years as one of the most dynamic and emotionally insightful male jazz vocalists on the scene.
For his Stanford Jazz debut he’s joined by bassist Noah Garabedian, drummer Cory Cox, and pianist Caili O’Doherty, who featured Mayo on her 2025 album focusing on the music of Lil Hardin Armstrong, “Bluer Than Blue” (he’s accompanied by the same combo July 19 at Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society). His second “Fly” in 2024 garnered two Grammy Award nominations, and with each appearance in the Bay Area he’s more impressive.
**Details:** 7:30 p.m. July 16 at Dinkelspiel Auditorium, Stanford University; $12-$62; stanfordjazz.org/stanford-jazz-festival; 4:30 p.m. July 19 at Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society, Half Moon Bay; $12-$60; bachddsoc.org/calendar/.
Stefon Harris & Blackout: The driving force behind the current wave of stellar young vibraphonists on the contemporary jazz scene, Stefon Harris has been a scarce presence in the Bay Area since his six-year stint with the SFJAZZ Collective (2007-2013). While focusing on his work as an educator, entrepreneur and consultant his music has continued to evolve. He’s marking the 20th year of his band Blackout, offering a preview of his upcoming album “Legacy Dances,” which expands on builds on the band’s springy blend of R&B, jazz and West African idioms. The group features vivacious vocalist Alicia Olatuja, alto sax firebrand Jaleel Shaw, veteran bassist Dezron Douglas, ace L.A. drummer Jonathan Pinson, and soul-steeped Atlanta pianist Kenny Banks Jr.
**Details: **7:30 p.m. July 23 at Dinkelspiel Auditorium, Stanford University; $12-$62; stanfordjazz.org/stanford-jazz-festival. Aldo López-Gavilán: Hailing from an illustrious Cuban family deeply engaged with classical music, pianist López-Gavilán has distinguished himself across a verdant musical landscape. An acclaimed composer whose concerto recording was recently nominated for top honors in Cuba’s leading music awards, he’s also a masterly jazz improviser deeply versed in Cuban rhythms. He’s joined by a powerhouse tandem from the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Nuyorican bassist Carlos Henriquez and Haitian American drummer Obed Calvaire.
Details: 8 p.m. July 29 at Dinkelspiel Auditorium, Stanford University; $12-$62; stanfordjazz.org. Contact Andrew Gilbert at jazzscribe@aol.com.