SFJAZZ Announces October 2026 Lineup with Cyrille Aimée, Hiromi, and More

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Performances include Snarky Puppy, Lila Downs, John Scofield, and more.

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SFJAZZ's October programming will feature a wide-ranging lineup of performances, including Cyrille Aimée, Snarky Puppy, Lila Downs, John Scofield, and more, with concerts taking place throughout the month at the SFJAZZ Center and venues across the Bay Area.

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Thursday, October 1, 7 & 8:30 PM

Friday, October 2, 7 & 8:30 PM

Saturday, October 3, 7 & 8:30 PM

Joe Henderson Lab

Winner of the Sarah Vaughan International Vocal Competition, Cyrille Aimée truly has jazz in her blood. A performer possessed of an infectious joy, lightness of touch and deep feeling for the lyric, Aimée released her breakout 2014 hit on Mack Avenue, It's a Good Day, mixing Roma jazz inspirations, bossa nova, flamenco and the Great American Songbook. A relocation to Costa Rica and new motherhood have instilled a fresh inspiration in Aimée, and for these performances, she performs a cross-section of her wide-ranging repertoire including music from her latest Whirlwind release, à Fleur de Peau and live session, Cyrille Aimée: 4.24.

Thursday, October 1, 7:30 PM – SOLD OUT

Saturday, October 3, 7:30 PM

Miner Auditorium

Virtuoso pianist Hiromi returns to the Miner stage with four exclusive nights with projects ranging from solo to trio. She kicks off her residency with a remarkable duo evening with Japanese tap dance master Kazunori Kumagai, revisiting their ongoing collaboration that goes back to their showstopping debut performance at the 2011 Tokyo Jazz Festival.

Friday, October 2, 7:30 PM

Miner Auditorium

No pianist alive imbues the solo piano format with more explosive virtuosity or thrilling unpredictability than Hiromi Uehara – a GRAMMY-winning artist the All Music Guide calls “one of the most remarkable pianists of the past half century.” For the second night of her 2026-27 residency, Hiromi brings her inimitable fire and passion to this solo performance.

Friday, October 2, 8 PM

Paramount Theatre, Oakland

The five-time GRAMMY-winning juggernaut Snarky Puppy returns to Oakland's Paramount Theatre for a highly anticipated performance.

The global collective which features a revolving cast of up to a dozen musicians makes what it likes to call “music for your brain and booty.” Led by bassist and composer Michael League, the band features a rotating lineup of world class instrumentalists whose résumés boast work with stars like Erykah Badu , Marcus Miller, Justin Timberlake , Roy Hargrove, Snoop Dogg and John Mayer .

Sunday, October 4, 7 PM – SOLD OUT

Miner Auditorium

An utterly original improviser and composer who turns each piece into a thrilling ride, Japanese-born pianist Hiromi reunites with her power-packed Trio Project, featuring drumming phenomenon Simon Phillips and electric bass master James Genus, who picks up the mantle from the late genius Anthony Jackson . From 2011 to 2016, this supercharged band released four albums that stretched the boundaries of the possible, forging a dynamic that transcended their matchless individual abilities to form a cohesive group approach in which no instrument is confined to its traditional role.

Sunday, October 4, 6 & 7:30 PM

Joe Henderson Lab

GRAMMY-nominated drummer, producer, and composer Blaque Dynamite has become one of the most dynamic and influential beat masters of his generation, celebrated for a style that merges explosive technical mastery with deep groove, humor, and boundless creativity. Born Mike Mitchell Jr. in Houston, Texas, he emerged as a prodigious talent at a young age, absorbing gospel, jazz, funk, and hip-hop into a singular musical language. His remarkable versatility quickly made him one of the most sought-after drummers in contemporary music.

In recent years, Blaque Dynamite has expanded his profile as a bandleader, producer, and multimedia artist, releasing projects that blur the boundaries between jazz fusion, beat culture, electronic music, and comedy-infused performance art. His latest work continues to push contemporary Black music into adventurous new territory, combining virtuosic musicianship with fearless experimentation and unmistakable personality.

Thursday, October 8, 7:30 PM

Friday, October 9, 7:30 PM

Miner Auditorium

Modern jazz giants Kurt Elling and The Yellowjackets make their joint debut on the Miner Auditorium stage in tribute to the groundbreaking fusion of Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter's Weather Report.

There is simply no artist in jazz having more fun than vocalist Kurt Elling . Over the past decade, the 17-time GRAMMY Award nominee (and two-time GRAMMY winner) has cut loose, following his quicksilver muse wherever it flows. With The Yellowjackets he soars into the universe of fusion's definitive band, transforming beloved instrumental pieces into enthralling songs. It's a powerhouse collaboration that captures the celestial explorations, deep funk, world rhythms, and extended forms that made Weather Report a creative juggernaut.

Thursday, October 8, 7 & 8:30 PM

Friday, October 9, 7 & 8:30 PM

Joe Henderson Lab

An L.A. native, Austin spent five years in Japan as a singer before moving to the East Bay in 2009 to study at the UC Berkeley School of Law. During her studies, the pull of music was too strong to ignore, and she earned a full scholarship to the California Jazz Conservatory (formerly known as the JazzSchool), where she worked extensively with renowned Brazilian pianist Marcos Silva.

Recorded live for the Novus label at San Francisco's Great American Music Hall in 1988, Carmen Sings Monk was one of the final albums McRae completed in her lifetime, receiving a GRAMMY nomination for the vocalist and featuring a stunning lineup of greats including longtime Monk saxophonist Charlie Rouse, saxophonist Clifford Jordan, pianist Larry Willis, bassist George Mraz, and drummer Al Foster. With titles changed due to copyright restrictions, the songs were adapted with lyrics by Jon Hendricks , Abbey Lincoln, Mike Ferro, and Sally Swisher, and have become the definitive versions of Monk's compositions with vocals, particularly McRae's luminescent takes on “Ruby, My Dear” (“Dear Ruby”), and “Rhythm-A-Ning' (“Listen to Monk”).

Saturday, October 10, 7:30 PM

Miner Auditorium

To celebrate Thelonious Monk's birthday — an SFJAZZ tradition — Marcus Shelby and his New Orchestra honor the large ensemble work of the iconoclasic jazz legend with special guests including pianist Cyrus Chestnut , saxophonist Sarah Hanahan, and vibraphonist Warren Wolf.

Bassist, composer, arranger, educator and bandleader Marcus Shelby is a figure synonymous with Bay Area jazz and the spirit of collaboration. A recipient of the Charles Mingus Scholarship, Shelby attended Cal Arts and studied with Charlie Haden and James Newton while working simultaneously with the all-star jazz ensemble Black/Note, who released a series of highly regarded albums in the 1990s. Since moving to the Bay Area, he has led a highly regarded jazz orchestra and numerous small groups, with large-scale commissions focused on the history, present, and future of the African-American experience.

Sunday, October 11, 7 PM

Miner Auditorium

Vocalist, composer, actor, and playwright Somi Kakoma is a sublimely gifted artist possessed of rare power and clarity. She is a Doris Duke Performing Artist Award winner, TED Senior Fellow, and the first African artist nominated for the GRAMMY for Best Jazz Vocal Album. Following her standout performance at the 42nd San Francisco Jazz Festival in 2025, she returns for a night on the Miner Auditorium stage.

Born into a Rwandan & Ugandan family, the Illinois-born Kakoma spent her early childhood in Zambia, where she absorbed the music of her adopted home before returning to the States for college studies in anthropology and music — a balance of interests that has come to define her singular vision. Her latest album, What Does It Take To Bloom?, is a deeply personal song cycle on becoming and the courage to come home to oneself.

Thursday, October 15, 7:30 PM

Friday, October 16, 7:30 PM

Saturday, October 17, 7:30 PM

Sunday, October 18, 7:30 PM

Miner Auditorium

With “a stunning voice, a confident multicultural vision grounded in her Mixtec Indian roots” (LA Times), Lila Downs is one of Latin America's most influential voices - an artist with a singular sound, magnetic stage presence, and recognized with multiple GRAMMY and Latin GRAMMY Awards, including the recipient of the 2026 Latin GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award. With her new album Cambias mi Mundo (You Change My World), she returns to the Miner stage for four nights after her hugely successful run of Día de los Muertos performances at the Paramount. The album marks a return to her essence: deeply committed to global causes, passionate, intimate and celebratory.

Rooted in Oaxaca and shaped between Mexico and the United States, she weaves Mexican tradition with jazz, cumbia, folk, and contemporary rhythms. Her music is both celebration and conscience; she turns each concert into a gathering—intimate, fearless, and deeply human.

Thursday, October 15, 7 & 8:30 PM

Joe Henderson Lab

Known for his work with Braxton Cook and his brilliant string of releases as a leader, the rising pianist and composer Mathis Picard debuts at SFJAZZ with his trio.

Picard has emerged as one of the most innovative young voices in contemporary jazz, blending classical precision, stride piano, electronic textures, and global rhythms into a style uniquely his own. His latest acclaimed album, Heat of the Moment, explores themes of climate change, community, and resilience through rich collaborations and bold compositions. The album confirms Picard as not only a remarkable pianist, but also a visionary composer shaping the future of jazz.

Friday, October 16, 7 & 8:30 PM

Saturday, October 17, 7 & 8:30 PM

Joe Henderson Lab

For these two nights, pianist Zaccai Curtis leads a fiery sextet reviving Afro-Cuban bebop. His 2024 release Cubop Lives! reimagines jazz history with bold, modern swing, winning a GRAMMY for Best Latin Jazz Album. Born in New York and raised in Hartford, Connecticut, Curtis grew up immersed in jazz, Afro-Caribbean rhythms, and the rich musical traditions of his Puerto Rican and African American heritage

Over the years, Curtis has collaborated with major artists including Eddie Palmieri, Brian Lynch , Christian Scott, Donald Harrison, and Santana, while also building a celebrated musical partnership with his brother, bassist Luques Curtis. Together, they co-founded the Truth Revolution Recording Collective and have become leading voices in contemporary Latin jazz.

Sunday, October 18, 6 & 7:30 PM

Joe Henderson Lab

A jazz vocalist with “an awe-inspiring voice” (The Mercury News), Marina Crouse is known for her latest album Canto de mi Corazón and for her sold-out Hotplate tributes to Eydie Gormé and Ernestine Anderson . A powerful and versatile Bay Area artist, Crouse blends jazz, blues, soul, Latin music, and classic bolero traditions into performances marked by emotional honesty and deep cultural connection. Raised in California and deeply influenced by her Chicana heritage, she first gained recognition for her expressive interpretations and remarkable vocal control, shaped in part by early classical training. Her 2018 debut album, Never Too Soon, introduced audiences to a singer equally at home with blues, R&B,

_Originally reported by [BroadwayWorld](https://www.broadwayworld.com/san-francisco/article/Cyrille-Aime-Hiromi-and-More-Set-for-SFJAZZ-October-2026-Programming-20260921)._