*Livestreams are Available for 48 Hours in Every Time Zone Steve Turre – trombone & seashells Vincent Herring – alto saxophone George Cables – piano John Webber – bass Willie Jones III – drums Trombone and seashell innovator Steve Turre makes a special guest appearance with the Vincent Herring Quintet featuring legendary pianist George Cables. Rolling Stone called Turre “perhaps the leading trombonist of this generation.” His storied career includes work alongside music legends Ray Charles, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, and Woody Shaw. He has consistently won both the Readers’ and Critics’ polls in JazzTimes, Downbeat, and Jazziz for “Best Trombone” and “Best Miscellaneous Instrumentalist (shells).” He is a versatile master and a true jazz original. Downbeat says, “Few artists ‘own’ their instrument to the degree that trombonist Steve Turre does. Whether playing the music of Rahsaan Roland Kirk, performing as a member of the Saturday Night Live house band, or with one of his own groups, his voice is distinctive and memorable.” Turre is featured in this quintet alongside the beloved pianist George Cables. All About Jazz writes, “Anyone who is serious about jazz will tell you that George Cables belongs in the pantheon of the greatest jazz pianists.” Finally, this auspicious quintet is led by the incredible Vincent Herring, one of the great alto saxophonists, who The New York City Jazz Record says, “has firmly established himself as one of his generation’s masters.” 

*Livestreams are available for 48 hours in every time zone Jazzmeia Horn – vocals Vincent Herring – alto saxophone Cyrus Chestnut – piano David Wong – bass Johnathan Blake – drums SMOKE’s New Year’s Eve Celebration is a perennial highlight of the year-end Coltrane Festival. This year features an encore performance by popular demand of the acclaimed vocalist Jazzmeia Horn with the SMOKE Jazz All- Stars, featuring alto saxophonist Vincent Herring, pianist Cyrus Chestnut, bassist David Wong, and drummer Johnathan Blake. It is a group guaranteed to deliver the best festive, swinging New Year’s Eve Celebration anywhere. Billboard reports that Horn is “undoubtedly among the jazz world’s most exciting young vocalists.” Herring, Chestnut, and Blake are reunited from Herring’s celebrated 2021 album Preaching to the Choir, which NPR’s Fresh Air said: “is aimed at folks who like their jazz with a dollop of swing, rhythm, and blues feeling, music steeped in the African American vernacular and played by a soloist with swagger.” These four instrumentalists know how to deliver a good time, and with the great Jazzmeia Horn, this will be a New Year’s Eve celebration for the ages. 

*Livestreams are Available for 48 Hours in Every Time Zone Vincent Herring – alto saxophone Eric Alexander – tenor saxophone Eric Scott Reed – piano Peter Washington – bass Johnathan Blake– drums “Herring fuses instrumental mastery with equal and unified parts of jazz’s holy trinity of heart, mind, and soul.” – WNPR Radio “Eric Alexander can play the tenor saxophone—never doubt that. He has the chops, power, and passion that make him one of the most blazingly bad-assed saxophonists of his generation.” – Downbeat Vincent Herring and Eric Alexander—two of the greatest saxophonists around—on alto and tenor respectively, close out our 13th Annual Coltrane Festival, Countdown 2026, as only they could, with the help of special guest pianist Eric Scott Reed and two of the very best in bassist Peter Washington and drummer Johnathan Blake. Alexander and Herring released a new album together in 2025 called Split Decision to rave reviews. Jazz Weekly called it “a knockout!” Paris Move, “a high-caliber classic,” and JazzWise, a “tour de force.” When these two virtuosos meet, the sparks fly, and the temperature rises. It’s been 20 years since they first went head-to-head on record for 2005’s The Battle: Live at Smoke. Both were already acclaimed among the powerhouse reedmen of their generation, and they have only garnered more acclaim in the two decades since. All About Jazz says, “For those who long for the time when hard bop reigned supreme... here's a sure cure for any lament that those days are lost and gone forever.”