Sullivan Fortner Trio

Grammy-winning pianist returns with his trio. 'One of the best pianists in the world today.' (Fred Hersch)

For more than ten years, Sullivan Fortner has developed into an uncompromising unique voice as a pianist, composer, and bandleader. The Grammy winner and recipient of the Larry J. Bell Jazz Artist Award 2026 receives international acclaim, both as a leader and sideman. In 2025, he won the Grammy for Best Jazz Performance for his playing on Samara Joy’s Twinkle Twinkle Little Me, and in 2019 for Best Jazz Vocal Album with Cécile McLorin Salvant, for her acclaimed The Window, on which he both plays and produces. As a solo artist, he released Aria, Moments Preserved, Solo Game, and Southern Nights, which brought him to the cover of DownBeat, and collaborated with diverse voices such as Wynton Marsalis, Paul Simon, Dianne Reeves, John Scofield, and Roy Hargrove.

Now he presents Leave That In There, his sixth album and so far his most personal. On the record, produced by Derrick Hodge, he weaves memories of his youth in New Orleans with references to earlier work; the music moves from acoustic trio interplay to Hammond B3 organ, synthesizers, marimba, Bàtá drums, and free improvisation. It is the first studio recording with his regular trio, featuring Tyrone Allen II (double bass) and Kayvon Gordon (drums), which won the DownBeat Critics Poll in 2024 for Rising Star Jazz Group. That same trio was already with us in 2025, then for a sold-out hall, and now returns.

Sullivan Fortner piano, Tyrone Allen II double bass, Kayvon Gordon drums