Our Guests

Quincy Jones

28-time Grammy Award winner, Grammy Legend Award winner, NEA Jazz Master, Academy Award winner, Kennedy Center Honors

​

Stevie Wonder

25-time Grammy Award winner

​

Herbie Hancock

14-time Grammy Award winner, NEA Jazz Master, Kennedy Center Honors, 6-time honorary doctorate recipient

​

Dizzy Gillespie

Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, Kennedy Center Honors, DownBeat Magazine Hall of Famer

​

Louis Bellson

NEA Jazz Master

​

Slide Hampton

Grammy Award winner, NEA Jazz Master, trombone player/arranger

​

Jon Faddis

trumpet player, educator

​

Nancy Wilson

Grammy Award winner, singer, civil rights activist

​

Benny Golson

NEA Jazz Master, DownBeat Magazine Hall of Famer, composer, tenor saxophonist

​

Ahmad Jamal

NEA Jazz Master, DownBeat Magazine Hall of Famer, pianist

​

Joshua Redman

4-time DownBeat Magazine Critics Poll winner

​

Monty Alexander

pianist

​

Wycliff Gordon

trombonist, trumpeter, educator

​

Freddy Cole

pianist, vocalist, composer, Nat King Cole's brother

​

McCoy Tyner

5-time Grammy Award winner, NEA Jazz Master, DownBeat Magazine Hall of Famer, Coltrane's pianist

​

Jack Jones

2-time Grammy Award winner, vocalist

​

Joe Williams

Grammy Hall of Famer, NEA Jazz Master, DownBeat Magazine Hall of Famer, vocalist

​

Roy Hargrove

2-time Grammy Award winner, DownBeat Magazine Hall of Famer, trumpeter, flugelhorn player, composer, bandleader

​

Kurt Elling

2-time Grammy Award winner, 10-time Grammy Award nominee, vocalist

​

Nicholas Payton

Grammy Award winner, 5-time Grammy Award nominee, trumpeter, composer

​

Joey DeFrancesco

5-time Grammy Award nominee, 9-time DownBeat Magazine Critics Poll winner, organist

​

Buddy DeFranco

20-time DownBeat Magazine award winner, NEA Jazz Master, Bebop clarinetist

​

Harry "Sweets" Edison

NEA Jazz Master, trumpeter

​

Randy Brecker

7-time Grammy Award winner, trumpeter, educator

​

Jimmy Heath

NEA Jazz Master, DownBeat Magazine Hall of Famer, tenor saxophonist, composer, educator, band leader

​

Benny Green

Grammy Award nominee, pianist

​

Kenny Barron

14-time Grammy Award nominee, NEA Jazz Master, DownBeat Magazine Hall of Famer, pianist

​

Diane Schuur

2-time Grammy Award winner, 5-time Grammy Award nominee, vocalist

​

Michael Feinstein

5-time Grammy Award nominee

​

Marvin Hamlisch

EGOT/PEGOT winner

​

Roberta Gambarini

2-time Grammy Award nominee, vocalist

​

Frank Wess

NEA Jazz Master, 6-time DownBeat Magazine Critics Poll winner for flute, tenor saxophonist

​

Ernie Watts

2-time Grammy Award winner, tenor saxophonist

​

Arturo Sandoval

4-time Grammy Award winner, 11-time Grammy Award nominee, Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient

​

Kathleen Battle

5-time Grammy Award winner, Emmy Award winner, operatic soprano

​

Gunther Schuller

3-time Grammy Award winner, Pulitzer Prize winner, DownBeat Magazine Lifetime Achievement Award

​

Oscar Brown Jr.

playwright, lyricist, composer

​

And dozens more, including:

 

Clark Terry

Eddie Johnson

Henry Johnson

Harold Jones

Perrian Jordan

Frieda Lee

Spider Saloff

Mike Smith

Milton Suggs, Jr.

Opal Staples

Sid Caesar​

Nicholas Payton

John Von Ohlen

Ben Paterson

Houston Person

Judy Roberts

Maurizio Rolli

Randy Sabien

Doc Severinsen

Brother Jack McDuff

Sid Caesar

Rodney Whitaker

Walter White

Phil Wilson

Bobbi Wilsyn

Mark Wood​

Jordin Sparks

Matthew Morrison

Sylvia McNair

Chuchito Valdés

Eric Alexander

Dee Alexander

Cyrille Aimée

Alyssa Allgood

Rubén Alvarez

Ernie Andrews

David Baker

Ron Blake

Diane Madison

Paul Marinaro

Lou Marini

René Marie

Tammy McCann

Charles McPherson

Anthony Molinaro

Bobby Broom

“Gatemouth” Brown

Ann Hampton Callaway

Sonny Cohn

Joan Collaso

Larry Combs

Orbert Davis

Johnny Frigo

Von Freeman

Yvonne Gage

Larry Garner

Sarah Gazarek

Victor Goines

Allan Harris

Bruce Henry

Marquis Hill

Red Holloway

Ron Hawking

Typhanie Monique

John Moulder

Devin Thompson

Thaddeus Tukes

Frank Wess

Sarah Marie Young

Zemrah