The Rochester International Jazz Festival offers many choices that pull you in different directions. But, you have to make a choice. So, you do you, but if you’re interested here are the artists/groups I am aiming to hear on June 20th, the second night of the 2026 RIJF. The headings are links to their RIJF page so you can check them out yourself. It is possible to go hear the full sets on these picks (depending on how fast you walk, in some cases). I’ve added links at the end to a couple more I wish I could fit in.
Alexa Tarantino Quartet
It’s great to see Alexa Tarantino getting a prominent place at the Rochester International Jazz Festival. Alexa is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music who has clearly made her way as a force to be reckoned with in the jazz world. I remember Tarantino gigging around Rochester while a student and heard her raw talent. Her career has blossomed since graduating from Eastman with a bachelor’s degree in Jazz Saxophone Performance and Music Education along with a Certificate in Arts Leadership. She also obtained a master’s degree in Jazz Studies from The Juilliard School. Recently, Tarantino was named to replace Ted Nash, the first woman in a permanent position in the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. She has also made a name as a leader. Tarantino was nominated as a “Rising Star – Alto Saxophone” in Downbeat Magazine’s Critics’ Poll in 2021 and 2020, and the JazzTimes Critics’ Poll named her one of the “Top 5 Alto Saxophonists of 2019”. Tarantino has also performed with Sherrie Maricle and the DIVA Jazz Orchestra, Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society, Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, and with Cécile McLorin Salvant among others. She is an RIJF Producer Pick as well.
Venue: Kilbourn Hall (Club Pass)
Time: 6:00 pm & 9:00 pm
Bob James Trio
Keyboardist, arranger, and record producer (and Producer Pick) Bob James made his mark at with producer Credd Taylor at his CTI label in the 1970s, where he helped build an innovative new sound that fused jazz with classical music and funk. During this period that he arranged for major CTI artists including saxophonist Stanley Turrentine, vibraphonist Milt Jackson, and saxophonist Grover Washington Jr. While still with CTI, James recorded his solo debut One in 1974, which featured the track “Nautilus,” which is one of the most sampled songs in hip-hop, which earned him the nickname the “unlikely godfather of hip-hop.” James co-founded the band Fourplay, a local favorite, which became a commercially successful smooth jazz group in the 1990s and beyond. He is widely regarded as the godfather of smooth jazz. While I’m not a major fan of this sub-genre in jazz, I think anyone who, like James, is always looking for something different is worth a listen.
Venue: Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre (Club Pass)
Time: 7:00 pm
Harvey Mason’s Chameleon
Producer Pick Harvey Mason is among the most recorded and in-demand drummers of all time — a legendary, he has been nominated for multiple Grammy’s as a session drummer, producer, composer, and recording artist. Mason started his career with jazz piano titan Erroll Garner in 1970. Mason played on Donald Byrd’s seminal fusion bestseller for Blue Note, Black Byrd. In 1974, he was asked by Herbie Hancock to join his new band, with which Hancock aimed to fuse jazz with funk and reach a larger audience. The result was one of jazz’s landmark recordings. Herbie Hancock’s million-selling Head Hunters, which contained the funk-jazz fusion classic Chameleon (co-composed by Mason) and an arrangement of Hancock’s 1962 standard Watermelon Man. Harvey Mason has worked with musical giants including Barbra Streisand, James Brown, Herbie Hancock, Beyoncé, Christina Aguilera, Usher, Jennifer Hudson, Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, Björk, Carlos Santana, Michael Jackson, John Legend, Seal, and the London Symphony Orchestra. He has also composed and written songs recorded by artists ranging from Nancy Wilson and Mary J. Blige to The Notorious B.I.G., Lupe Fiasco, and T.I. He linked up with Bob James as a founding member of Fourplay. As Mason has noted, naming his group “Chameleon . . .defines me. That’s what I identify myself as. I can easily switch into different areas of quality music.”
Venue: Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre (Club Pass)
Time: 9:30 pm
You Might Also Consider …
There were more choices than I had time or speed between venues to catch. I won’t be hearing these artists, but that doesn’t mean you can’t:
Whatever you choose, I hope you take some chances and let something unexpected grab your ears. Tell me who you’re planning on seeing in the Comments below (for those of you who get the email, you’ll have to come to the site first). I’ll be back with more picks for the rest of the RIJF soon.
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