The Houston Jazz Festival

Saturday Sept. 14th, 2024

VENUE: Miller Outdoor Theatre

James Francies Trio featuring Bilal

Presented by T-Mobile

The Houston Jazz Collective presents The American Masters Series featuring Blue Note recording artist James Francies with Grammy-winning vocalist Bilal accompanied live by the work of acclaimed audiovisual artist Ben Heim.

Embark on a transcendental journey, “… an immersive, multidimensional experience … step into (a) world of sounds, textures (and spectacular visual artwork)…”
“a pianist with liquid dynamism in his touch.” The New York Times

“…the pianist doesn’t so much compose music as conjure fascinating nebulae of sound.” DownBeat

All performances at Miller Outdoor Theatre are FREE!
Visit MillerOutdoorTheatre.com for details.

The Houston Jazz Collective is an organization that prides itself on showcasing the rich legacy of Jazz in Houston. They strive to accomplish this by producing and hosting cultural, jazz, and tribute-related events. Past events have featured critically acclaimed Houston-based or native Houston musicians that have gone on to achieve great international notoriety.

About James Francies

An artist with perfect pitch and the ability to see colors, Mr. Francies has performed and/or recorded with Childish Gambino, Pat Metheny, Drake, Mark Ronson, The Roots, YEBBA, Chris Potter, Common, Eric Harland, Marcus Miller, DJ Dahi, NAS and Ms. Lauryn Hill.

Mr. Francies’ regular rock-solid trio including Burniss Travis and Jeremy Dutton welcome special guest and frequent collaborator, the great jazz artist and vocalist Bilal.

About Ben Heim

Visual artist Ben Heim’s works have been featured in galleries and public spaces across the world including at OXO Tower Wharf Gallery (London), Times Square, IRCAM’s 2017 Vertigo Conference (Paris), Olsen Gruin Gallery (NYC), Galleri Image (Denmark), and HARPA Concert Hall (Reykjavik) and festivals including Splice Festival (UK), Tallinn Music Week (Estonia), Vivid Sydney (Australia), Digital Art Month (NYC) and the Reykjavik Winter Lights Festival (Iceland) and with the London Contemporary Orchestra at the Barbican.

The Duke Ellington Orchestra

Sept 16th 2023 Miller Outdoor Theatre 8PM

TRUSTED HANDS BEHIND US

Our great sponsors

“Sponsored in part by the City of Houston through the Miller Theatre Advisory Board”

If events like this inspire you, Please take a brief moment to contribute to the Houston Jazz Collective

The Mission

In the Spirit of Jazz, our mission is to entertain, enrich and expand the community for Jazz through Performance, Education and Advocacy.

Houston Jazz Collective Organization &
Houston Jazz Collective Performance Group

The Houston Jazz Collective is an non-profit organization that is a producer of events including the Houston Jazz Festival, other local jazz events and believe strongly in our educational outreach program. It is also the name of the performing entity, a “jazz band” or stated another way, “a collective”. The collective is comprised of well known, as well as local musicians or any musicians that believe in our greater vision.

Want to join us in making a difference? Our current focus is delivering a great Houston Jazz Festival this Fall 2019 at The Miller Outdoor Theater. Any donation will help make an impact!

Jazz Musicology:
The Educational Outreach Program

The organization’s mission also encompasses an education program called Jazz Musicology. It has several branch programs, one of which is “The Houston Center for After School Jazz Programs”. In this video you will see Bob Dorough, Andre Hayward & Shelley Carrol mentoring & entertaining the youth at the Boys and Girl Harbor, a charitable facility for abused, abandoned, neglected children ages (5-18) during an afternoon day program.

Past Events

head straight to the Houston Jazz Collective media page for footage of past events