Community Calendar

Through his tenure in the great John Coltrane Quartet, McCoy Tyner revolutionized the harmonic language of Jazz. Alice Coltrane took that revolution to the stratosphere in the next iteration of the Quartet.

Piano Starts Here highlights the work of some of the most prolific and talented composers and pianists to have ever tackled the instrument. Each of the performances brings together Seattle's finest pianists to perform the works of the artist selected for that evening on the Royal Room's Steinway B grand piano. This series is sponsored by KNKX and the South Hudson Music Project.

Supported by KNKX. Touring in support of their new album, Cook. Cook isn't just a nod to Lettuce's musical heat; it's an invitation to join the band at the table, where funk, soul, jazz, rock, and hip-hop come together in one rich, flavorful dish.

Released on their own Lettuce Records label, the band's next studio album offers a menu of delights that marks a band exploring new sonic territory. For these six life-long partners, the new songs feel like a nourishing meal that entices all of your senses.

Like 2019's Elevate, 2020's Resonate and 2022's Unify, before it, Cook was recorded at Colorado Sound just outside East Coast transplants Deitch, Smirnoff, and Bloom's adopted home of Denver, where they gathered in one room to work on the new material. Ryan Zoidis did a masterful job mixing the final results with longtime Grammy-nominated engineer Jesse O'Brien.

On the new album, Lettuce has expanded its ever-widening musical palette again. Coming off tours with both rap icon GZA of Wu-Tang Clan and and reggae legend Ziggy Marley while earlier in this year releasing the live album and concert film 'Lettuce with the Colorado Symphony' capturing over 90 minutes of collaborative symphonic arrangements with the Colorado Symphony.

Welcomed by KNKX. With the release of Grab Bag: 2007-2023, The Greyboy Allstars, once again, redraw the boundaries and redefine the terms of their iconic brand of West Coast boogaloo. The title of this eighth LP from GBA could suggest a random assortment of miscellaneous tracks, yet rest assured there is nothing random, nothing miscellaneous about these nine stellar cuts, previously unreleased over the past decade and a half of the quintet’s illustrious 30-year history. Perhaps stylistic and sonic outcasts resulting in their exclusion from previous albums, here they seamlessly come together to highlight the more experimental side of the quintet’s ever-evolving sound and vision.

Born in San Diego as the “Allstars” of DJ Greyboy’s underground label, the five musicians offered living, breathing interpretations of his rare groove, crate-digging discoveries. Flash forward thirty years later and GBA have grown into legitimate “Allstars” in modern music. Away from GBA, guitarist Elgin Park aka Michael Andrews is a notable composer of scores for film and television, ranging from Donnie Darko to Freaks & Geeks to his most recent work on the upcoming animated documentary Piece by Piece that tells the life story of singer and producer Pharrell Williams through LEGO pieces. Robert Walter, the group’s keyboardist, has been jumping between tours with Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters, and Phish’s Mike Gordon, among others, while leading his own 20th Congress. Saxophonist Karl Denson divides time between his touring juggernaut Tiny Universe, as well as the jazz-based KD3 trio, while handling saxophone duties on tour with no less than The Rolling Stones. And then there’s the liquid cool of GBA’s rhythm section: bassist Chris Stillwell and drummer Aaron Redfield, a formidable, first call rhythm section on pop and hip-hop sessions, including credits on recordings by Sia, Elton John, CeeLo, and Charli XCX.

In December of 2023, when GBA’s recording sessions focused on new material ran out of time as various members were called back to their other “Allstar” jobs, they’d take advantage of the pause to dig into a generous back catalog of songs that hadn’t been previously issued. Many of the tunes were too experimental or didn’t quite fit within the context of the albums for which they were originally recorded, yet had still gone onto become staples of their live shows. The nine tracks sizzle in sequence, opening with “Slip the Grip,” a classic GBA party starter that used to ignite their live sets. There’s “Watch Out Gail,” another cast-iron cooker, and “Speed Freak,” that dazzles, as its title suggests, with pinpoint frenzy awash in the ensemble’s telepathic sense of the group mind. Next up is “Boxes,” sliding into Walter’s compositional jazz, and again pushing the five to outer territory.

Presented by KNKX. Nduduzo Makhathini is an improvisor, scholar and musicologist at the University of KwaZulu Natal school of the arts with a PhD in music.

Makhathini is also a multi award winning artist and internationally acclaimed musician from Pietermariztburg in KwaZulu Natal. As a bandleader, Makhathini holds 12 albums under his belt and he features on many as a sideman and producer. He is currently signed to the prestigious Blue Note Records in the US and has a busy tourist schedule that keeps him relevant in current jazz practices and discourses. Makhathini has collaborated with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Centre Orchestra, Richard Bona, Hamilton de Holanda, (the late) Zim Ngqawana, Omagugu, Shabaka Hutchings, Black Coffee, Thandiswa Mazwai, Mbuso Khoza and most recently, the WDR Big Band just to name a few of his favourite musicians that he has worked with. Makhathini has also done reputable festivals around the globe.

Currently, Makhathini is performing his recent offering uNomkhubulwane (2024) out on Blue Note Records. uNomkhubulwane is understood to be a mythical rain Goddess who regulates fertility through the language of water. The album is underpinned by an understanding of mythical institutions of Nguni peoples of Southern Africa, their connection to the cosmos and how that relates to ingoma.

Sponsored by KNKX. One Ticket, Eleven Venues, One Night of incredible Latin Jazz music!

Featuring: Adriana Giordano, Gabe Rodrigues, Jonathan Robinson, Nathan Vetter, Xavier Lecouturier, Cassio Vianna, Wagner Trindade, Mark Ivester, Chico Malo, Marty Tuttle, Julio Jauregui, Edsson Otero, Steve Kim, Jay Thomas, Reuel Lubag, Brent Jensen, Jamie Findlay, Chris Symer, Steve Tate, John Sanders, Jeff Norwood, Stuart Vazquez, Francesco Crosara, Jon Green, Steven Bentley, Milo Petersen, Steve Griggs, Jamie Maschler, Adam Kozie, Rita LiDu, Danny Kolke, Bill Leather, Ryan Donnelly, Ben Thomas, Eric Likkel, Moe Weisner, Chris Fagan, Scott Lytle, Greg Williamson, Lubag, Michael Glynn, Andrew Glynn, John Hansen and many more...

Styled by the Streets: Black Women in Hip-Hop Fashion explores how Black women transform Hip-Hop fashion into a cultural and political force, transcending the boundaries of music to influence global style, self-expression, and identity. From streetwear to couture, hair to jewelry, and iconic photography, the exhibition showcases style as a powerful expression of Black womanhood across 30 unique artifacts. Layered in late 1990s and early 2000s denim, holographic finishes, and Y2K palettes, the gallery highlights the artists and cultural creators who bring these iconic looks to life—centering the women visionaries whose creativity reshapes Black and Hip-Hop communities through storytelling, authorship, and legacy.

Sponsored by KNKX. The award-winning, bestselling author of Station Eleven and Sea of Tranquility returns with Exit Party, a breathtaking novel of doubles, shadow worlds, and fractured timelines as a man disappears from a glittering Los Angeles party, and a woman—a gunrunner, an art collector, an operative of the State—searches for answers.

Presented by KNKX. Shemekia Copeland possesses one of the most instantly recognizable and deeply soulful roots music voices of our time. The multi-GRAMMY nominee is beloved and honored worldwide for the fearlessness, honesty and humor of her revelatory songs, as well as for her winning, engaging personality. The Chicago Tribune says, “Copeland is the greatest female blues vocalist working today. There’s no mistaking the majesty of her instrument, nor the ferocity of her delivery.”

On Copeland’s new album, the GRAMMY-nominated Blame It On Eve, the songs all hit hard, with jaw-dropping performances that instantly take hold and command repeated listening. “There’s serious business on the new album,” Copeland says, “but there are a lot of smiles here too, a lot of joyous moments. It’s my blues for sure but it’s the brighter side. Issues are always important to me, but so is rocking, dancing and just having fun. And that’s something we all can all agree on.”

The album has become a fan and media favorite, winning a slew of “Album Of The Year” awards, including the DownBeat Critics Award; the Living Blues Readers’ and Critics’ Awards, and the Album Of The Year Blues Music Award. Additionally, Copeland won Living Blues and Blues Music Awards for Artist Of The Year.

Sponsored by KNKX. In this stunning and compulsively readable memoir, Never Say Die, the Oscar-winning star of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, The Goonies, and Everything Everywhere All at Once tells the story of his journey from Vietnamese refugee to 80s child star to the most inspiring comeback in Hollywood history.

Sponsored by KNKX. An annual independent film festival held in the historic, Victorian seaport town of Port Townsend, Washington. Affectionately nicknamed "Sundance by the Sea," it is the oldest and largest film festival on the Olympic Peninsula and was recently named one of the "25 Coolest Film Festivals in the World" by MovieMaker Magazine.

It screens over 50 independent films- including narrative features, documentaries, animations, and shorts across 8 distinct walkable venues.

Los Lobos: The legendary, multi-Grammy-winning East L.A. band is the 2026 headline guest. The festival is hosting the Pacific Northwest premiere of their documentary Native Sons, followed by a Q&A and a full live concert at the McCurdy Pavilion at Fort Worden on Monday, September 28.

September 24-27, 2026 and Virtual Fest - Sept. 28-Oct 4

Sponsored by KNKX. Tacoma Reads is a longstanding partnership between the City of Tacoma’s Mayor’s Office and Tacoma Public Library, with wide community support and collaboration. Tacoma Reads invites Tacomans to explore contemporary literature in community by reading, attending programs, and engaging in discussion.

Time: Doors at 5:30 p.m., program from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Location: William W. Philip Hall at the University of Washington Tacoma

Featured Book: Citizenship: Notes on an American Myth by Daisy Hernández

Special Guest: Mayor Ibsen in conversation with the author

Register today!

Sponsored by KNKX. Now in its 38th year, the Earshot Jazz Festival returns in October with performances, premieres, and workshops at more than a dozen venues across the city, showcasing esteemed Pacific Northwest resident artists alongside internationally renowned masters in a celebration of Seattle’s vibrant jazz scene.

In honor of the centennial of John Coltrane and Miles Davis, this year’s festival reflects on their enduring legacies while spotlighting the artists shaping jazz today and into the future.

This year’s lineup includes Dianne Reeves and Branford Marsalis, Gary Bartz and NTU Troop, Jun Ida, Jessica Lurie, Zaccai Curtis, Julian Lage, Kiefer, Christian Sands, Warren Wolf, Sasha Berliner, Fonville x Fribush and much more!