Grammy Award-winning New Orleans trumpeter Nicholas Payton infuses everything he plays with the singular history of his hometown. Blues and funk, parade rhythms and R&B and a century of evolving jazz idioms course through his horn, as well as various keyboards, delivered with power, precision and poise. He will be joined by Nate Edgar (bass), and Nikki Glaspie (drums).

New Orleans-born saxophonist Donald Harrison is a master of jazz, soul, funk, and orchestral composition, praised by legends like Eddie Palmieri and Mike Clark. HBO’s Treme featured characters inspired by his innovations, and he has appeared in Rachel Getting Married, Luke Cage, and more. As Big Chief of the Congo Square Nation, he’s an honored leader of the Mardi Gras Indians, carrying the torch of New Orleans culture. His Quartet features Dan Kaufman (piano), Nori Narakoa (bass), and Brian Richburg (drums).

Melissa Aldana cemented her reputation as a blazing young star in 2013 when the Chilean-born tenorist won the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition (a contest in which her father had been a semi-finalist in 1991). At 24, she was the youngest person to take top honors, as well as the first female and the first South American. With her brawny tone and hurtling delivery, she’s delivering one galvanizing performance after another, but in recent years she’s emerged as an equally formidable composer, with a concept deeply informed by Wayne Shorter. Her Quartet features Glenn Zaleski (piano), Pablo Menaroes (bass), and Kush Abadey (drums).