OUr GUESTS

The Chicago Jazz Orchestra has performed with dozens of artists through the years.
Browse the list below to see some of your favorites!
Quincy Jones
Grammy Legend Award winner NEA jazz master, Academy award winner, Kennedy Center honors, 30+ Grammy Awards
Stevie Wonder
25 Grammy awards; plus, he's Stevie Wonder!!! (WOW!!)
Herbie Hancock
14 Grammy awards, NEA Jazzmaster, Kennedy Center Honors, 6 honorary doctorates, many keyboard player awards
Dizzy Gillespie
Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, Kennedy Center Honors, invented Bebop, Down beat magazine Hall of Fame
Louis Bellson
NEA Jazz Master, invented double bass drum technique
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 Hall of Fame, composer, tenor saxophone
Ahmad Jamal
NEA Jazz Master, Downbeat Magazine Hall of Fame, pianist
Joshua Redman
4-time Downbeat Critics poll winner
Monty Alexander
pianist
Wycliff Gordon
trombone, trumpet, educator
Freddy Cole
pianist, vocalist, composer, Nat's brother
McCoy Tyner
NEA Jazz Master, Downbeat Hall of Fame, 5 Grammy Awards,
Coltane's pianist
Jack Jones
2 Grammy Awards, vocalist
Joe Williams
NEA Jazz Master, Downbeat Hall of Fame, Grammy Hall of Fame, vocalist
Roy Hargrove
Downbeat Hall of Fame, 2 Grammy Awards, trumpet, flugelhorn, composer, bandleader
Kurt Elling
2 Grammy awards, 10 time Grammy nominee, vocalist
Nicholas Payton
Grammy award winner, 5 time nominee, trumpet, composer
Joey DeFrancesco
4 time Grammy nominee, 9 time Downbeat magazine critic poll winner, organist
Buddy DeFranco
20 awards from Downbeat magazine, NEA Jazz Master, Bebop clarinet
Harry "Sweets" Edison
NEA Jazz Master, played with Count Basie, Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, trumpet
Randy Brecker
6 Grammy Awards,trumpet, educator
Jimmy Heath
NEA Jazz Master, Downbeat Hall of Fame, wrote over 125 compositions, tenor sax, composer, educator, band leader
Benny Green
Grammy nominated, played with Art Blakey, Freddie Hubbard, Ray Brown, Milt Jackson, Oscar Peterson, Betty Carter, pianist
Kenny Barron
NEA Jazz Master, Downbeat Hall of Fame, 9-time Grammy nominee, on the faculty at Juilliard, pianist
Diane Schuur
2 Grammy Awards, nominated 6 times, vocalist
Michael Feinstein
5 Grammy nomination
Marvin Hamlisch
EGOT/PEGOT
Roberta Gambarini
2 Grammy nominations, vocalist
Frank Wess
NEA Jazz Master, Downbeat critics poll winner for Flute 6 times, tenor saxophone, flute
Ernie Watts
2 Grammy Awards, tenor sax
Arturo Sandoval
10 Grammy awards, 19 nominations, Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient
Kathleen Battle
5 Grammy Awards, Emmy award, Metropolitan Opera, operatic soprano
Gunther Schuller
2 Grammy Awards, Pulitzer Prize winner, Lifetime Achievement Award Downbeat magazine
Oscar Brown Jr.
playwright, lyricist, composer, civil rights icon
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