Jason Moran & Ambrose Akinmusire duo

Pianist, composer, and artist Jason Moran is the Artistic Director for Jazz at The Kennedy Center. He has released 18 solo recordings with Blue Note Records and Yes Records. In 2022, he was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and was recently awarded the 2023 German Jazz Prize for Pianist of the Year. His latest recording, From the Dancehall to the Battlefield, is devoted to the music of World War 1 jazz pioneer and organizer James Reese Europe, the big bang of jazz.

Ambrose Akinmusire is an artist in the truest sense of the word. Akinmusire has spent the last 20 years connecting worlds, bringing diverse influences and an intuitive flair for innovation to his work, whether garnering four Grammy nominations, releasing albums on labels like Blue Note and Nonesuch, collaborating with choreographers and filmmakers, or as an educator in his position as Director of Jazz at Stanford University. Widely acclaimed and impossible to pin down, Akinmusire is shaping the cultural conversation beyond music as one of the most urgent creative voices in contemporary America.