The presenters of the Folly Jazz Series have outdone themselves. The six concerts in the small-but-mighty 2026-27 season are the venue’s most artistically compelling set of offerings in years.
Linda May Han Oh
October 10, 2026
Grade: A
Linda May Han Oh is among the most consequential young artists in improvised music. The bassist’s Strange Heavens was Plastic Sax’s favorite jazz album of 2025. Her new album Beneath Lifted Skies consists of duets with saxophonist Melissa Aldana. There’s no word yet about the bassist’s accompanists on October 10.
Julian Lage
January 9, 2027
Grade: A-
Disgruntled people walked out of Julian Lage’s headlining appearance at Jazz Winterlude in 2013. As the innovative guitarist has subsequently become a star, agitated patrons aren’t expected during Lage’s return to the Folly Jazz Series.
Ambrose Akinmusire
February 13, 2027
Grade: A
Easily the most exciting trumpeter to emerge in the past quarter-century, Ambrose Akinmusire is a generational figure. He’s one of very few artists who has successfully fused hip-hop, rock and classical music with jazz.
Billy Childs
March 7, 2027
Grade: B+
Billy Childs’ gentle melodicism makes the pianist one of the most accessible mainstream jazz pianists of the past fifty years. Now 69, Childs is at the height of his powers.
A Tribute to Kevin Mahogany featuring David Basse with the Dave Stryker Trio and Lisa Henry
March 27, 2027
Grade: B
Kansas City’s jazz community took great pride in Kevin Mahogany’s major label albums in the 1990s. The lustrous vocalist died in 2017. Gregory Porter is Mahogany’s contemporary equivalent.
The Branford Marsalis Quartet with Dianne Reeves
April 24, 2027
Grade: A-
A 2025 concert by the Branford Marsalis Quartet at the Folly Theater was stupendous. The sublime vocalist Dianne Reeves is joining the band on tour in support of Dedicated to You, a September 18 release reinterpreting the beloved 1963 album John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman.
An assessment of the previous season is here.