Drumroll please...
Announcing this year's artists!
Summer Jazz Café
Jazz Arts Project proudly announces the return of its ever-popular Summer Jazz Café at Triumph Brewery. These evenings present luminaries in the jazz world and this year promises to be another treasure trove of great artistry. The lineup includes:
7/10-11: Paul Jost
7/17-18: Ava Preston
7/25-26: Brandon McCune
7/31-8/1: Winard Harper & Jeli Posse
Triumph Brewery | 1 Bridge Ave, Red Bank, NJ 07701
Friday and Saturday evenings at 7pm!
July 10 & 11: Paul Jost Quartet
Paul Jost, vocalist, arranger, composer, multi-instrumentalist, kicks off the Summer Jazz Cafe series with a night of passionate storytelling. Both critics and contemporaries alike say he is one of the best male jazz vocalists since Mark Murphy.
Paul has performed worldwide with recent tours in Asia and Europe. Back home in the U.S, he is making his mark in New York with an ongoing residency at the internationally acclaimed jazz club 55 Bar, a stint at SMOKE performing with Orrin Evans, guest appearances with vibraphonist Joe Locke at Dizzy’s Coca Cola Club at the Lincoln Center in and performances at such popular clubs as Mezzrow, Jazz at Kitano’s and more.
July 17 & 18: Ava Preston - Ava + The Hit Men
Ava Preston is a 21-year-old up-and-coming vocalist known for her rich blend of jazz, blues, indie, and original music. Winner of the 2026 International Ella Fitzgerald Jazz Vocal Competition and a recent graduate of Juilliard with a Master’s of Music in Jazz Voice, Ava brings soulful expression, deep musicality, and storytelling to every performance.
On the national scene, Ava has performed at Jazz at Lincoln Center-Dizzy’s Club, the Monterey Jazz Festival, NuBlu Classic, Blues Alley, and Blue Llama, among others. Ava draws inspiration from jazz legends Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, and Astrid Gilberto, as well as contemporary artists Carol King and Alanis Morissette.
July 24 & 25: Brandon McCune Quintet
Celebrating Miles Davis at 100
Chicago native and pianist Brandon McCune joins the Summer Jazz Cafe lineup for a night of soulful music. As a professional musician— piano, organ, drums, trumpet, bass, vocals, and choir director— he has worked as a band leader, music director, or as a sideman for artists such as Abbey Lincoln, Terence Blanchard, Nneena Freelon, Betty Carter, Miki Howard, Wynton Marsalis, Bruce Williams, Chrisette Michele, Ted Dunbar, Larry Ridley, Russell Malone, Lenora Zenzalai Helm, Mark Gross, Antonio Hart and Orbert Davis.
An active educator, Brandon currently serves as Musical Director for all music and dance ministry programs at Union Baptist Church (Montclair, NJ), and is also a lead instructor for the Jazz Arts Academy Summer Intensive. (Red Bank, NJ).
July 25: Saturday Night Only (See Below)
Opening showcase set by Jazz Arts Academy Students
And, as is our tradition each year during the Summer Jazz Café series, we present a concept which has become known as “Legends and Lions” in jazz. Students from our Jazz Arts Academy Summer Session perform an opening set followed by a set featuring master Jazz artist professionals, in this case Brandon McCune. This is exactly what our organization’s vision is about; the pairing of young students with masters of the art form, giving them the opportunities and the spark that can ignite either a career path or simply an enduring love of the music that we honor and cherish.
July 31 & August 1: Winard Harper and Jeli Posse
Drummer, band leader, composer, and educator, Winard Harper is dedicated to “bringing Jazz to where it is needed.” Constantly in reverence of his predecessors while remaining innovative in his own right, Harper has been among the most celebrated drummers in jazz for many years.
He is a virtuoso on the drum set and the balafon, the West African equivalent of the marimba, he is a sought after collaborator at home and abroad, a band leader of his quartet, his quintet and his exciting band the Jeli Posse, a regular with the legendary New York clubs, an educator of future jazz professionals, an events organizer - successfully running the weekly Fish Fry Jazz Jam and the Sunday "Meet the Artist" Series at Moore's Lounge in Jersey City. Bringing Jazz to the community from which it originated, relating the story of The Great American Art Form, the only music that is 100% "made in America", spreading the joy that Jazz brings is the quest to which Winard Harper is dedicating himself.
