Acclaimed Artists, Returning Collaborators, and a Full Season of Performances Highlight Knox Jazz Year

The Knox College Music Department is proud to announce the 2026–27 Knox Jazz Year, bringing an exceptional lineup of nationally and internationally acclaimed musicians to Galesburg for performances, residencies, workshops, and collaborations with Knox students.

This year’s schedule builds on relationships that Knox has developed with musicians over many years, with several artists returning to Galesburg in new projects and configurations.

“We always bring really great musicians to Knox, but the caliber of artists coming this year is really exceptional,” said Andy Crawford ’00, managing director of the music performance program. “We’ve built relationships with many of these musicians over the years. Galesburg isn’t just another stop on a tour. Artists enjoy coming back, and our students and audiences get to experience these musicians in a really personal and immediate way.”

Fall Jazz Guests

The year begins with two special guest appearances at Thursday Jazz Night at Smokin’ Willies BBQ.

October 1 – Doug Stone

Saxophonist Doug Stone returns to Galesburg to perform with the Cherry St. Combo. Stone, a Peoria native and professor of jazz studies at Louisiana State University, was a featured guest artist at the 2026 Knox-Rootabaga Jazz Festival.

October 15 – Matt Wilson’s Leap Day Trio

Drummer Matt Wilson DFA ’19 returns to Knox with his Leap Day Trio. A Knoxville, Illinois, native and longtime friend of the Knox Jazz program, Wilson and the trio will present a masterclass before performing that evening as a trio and with the Cherry St. Combo at Jazz Night.

Jerome Mirza Jazz Residency

November 2–6, 2026

Violinist and composer Jenny Scheinman returns to Knox as the featured artist for the Jerome Mirza Jazz Residency, bringing her acclaimed All Species Parade project to Galesburg.

Scheinman last visited Knox in 2021 as a member of drummer Allison Miller’s band. Knox has been looking for an opportunity to bring her All Species Parade project to Galesburg ever since.

Inspired in part by the dramatic landscape and biodiversity of Northern California’s Lost Coast, where Scheinman was raised, All Species Parade draws from jazz, Americana, folk, rock, and other musical traditions while leaving extensive room for improvisation and musical conversation.

Joining Scheinman at Knox will be guitarist Keith Ganz, pianist Carmen Staaf, bassist Tony Scherr, and drummer Kenny Wollesen. Scherr and Wollesen have performed together for decades in numerous acclaimed projects and previously visited Knox as part of the 2018 Jerome Mirza Jazz Residency with Steven Bernstein and the 2023 Rootabaga Jazz Festival with Bill Frisell.

“I was really captivated by Jenny when she was here in 2021, both by her playing and by who she is as a person,” Crawford said. “She’s a phenomenal musician, but she’s also incredibly warm and down-to-earth. That combination is really special for our students.”

Throughout the residency, Scheinman and members of the band will work closely with Knox students through rehearsals, masterclasses, private lessons, and classroom visits.

The residency includes two public performances. On Thursday, November 5, the artists will perform with the Cherry St. Combo at Jazz Night at Smokin’ Willies. The residency concludes Friday, November 6, with a concert featuring the Knox Jazz Ensemble, the Cherry St. Combo, and All Species Parade at the historic Orpheum Theatre.

Knox and Bradley Jazz Ensembles with Jeff Coffin

February 22, 2027

Knox will renew a collaboration with Bradley University when the Bradley Jazz Ensemble visits Galesburg with internationally acclaimed saxophonist Jeff Coffin.

Coffin is a three-time Grammy Award winner from his years with Béla Fleck & the Flecktones and has been a member of Dave Matthews Band since 2008. He is also an active educator and clinician who teaches jazz saxophone at Vanderbilt University.

During his visit, Coffin will work with Knox students in a masterclass. The evening performance at Smokin’ Willies will feature the Knox Jazz Ensemble followed by the Bradley Jazz Ensemble with Coffin. The concert begins at 7 p.m.

47th Annual Knox-Rootabaga Jazz Festival

May 11–15, 2027

The Knox Jazz Year concludes with five days of performances, education, and community events during the 47th Annual Knox-Rootabaga Jazz Festival.

The festival begins May 11 and 12 with the annual Rootabaga Jazz School Tour. The school tour band will visit six Galesburg-area schools, bringing live jazz directly to local students. Tuesday evening will feature a collaborative concert with the United Bands and the school tour band.

On Wednesday, May 12, area high school big bands and the Cherry St. Combo will perform at Smokin’ Willies.

May 13 – Faculty and Friends

The annual Faculty and Friends concert brings together Knox jazz faculty, professional musicians, and music educators from throughout the region for an evening of music at Smokin’ Willies.

The event has become a local festival favorite, allowing audiences to hear familiar musicians perform together in a variety of configurations. Last year’s concert featured nearly 20 musicians throughout the evening.

May 14 – Matt Gold & Storms of Love

Friday night at Smokin’ Willies will feature area high school big bands, the Rootabaga Alumni Band, and Chicago guitarist Matt Gold’s Storms of Love.

Gold, known in part for his work with drummer and producer Makaya McCraven, brings together elements of Americana, soul, jazz, and classic rock in Storms of Love, reimagining familiar music through instrumental performance and improvisation.

Joining Gold will be drummer Quin Kirchner and Knox alumnus Gus Martini ’19. Martini performed in the Cherry St. Combo while a student at Knox and has since built a career as a professional musician in Chicago, performing and touring with artists across the city’s jazz and indie music scenes.

May 15 – Allison Miller’s Boom Tic Boom

The festival concludes Saturday, May 15, at the Orpheum Theatre with drummer and composer Allison Miller and her acclaimed band Boom Tic Boom.

The concert will open with the Knox Jazz Ensemble performing with Miller as its featured guest artist, followed by a set from Boom Tic Boom featuring Miller, trumpeter Jason Palmer, saxophonist Caroline Davis, pianist Shamie Royston, and bassist Jorge Roeder.

Miller returns to Knox after leading the 2021 Jerome Mirza Jazz Residency and being a member of Ben Allison’s band in the first Mirza residency in 2013. Several members of this year’s band also have connections to Knox. Davis led the Mirza residency in 2019, while Palmer and Roeder have also performed at Knox.

For Crawford, those returning relationships are an important part of what the Knox Jazz Year has become.

“One of the things that makes these experiences so meaningful is that our students get to interact with these musicians as people,” Crawford said. “They hear them perform at an incredibly high level, but then they’re sitting next to them in rehearsal, talking with them in a masterclass, or getting individual attention. It can inspire students to work harder and get better, but it also creates experiences they’ll remember and reflect on for years.”

The season also continues Knox Jazz’s longstanding connection with the Galesburg community, with performances at Smokin’ Willies and the Orpheum Theatre, collaborations with area musicians and high school ensembles, and Rootabaga events reaching students throughout the community.

“Galesburg is a small community, and bringing musicians of this caliber here is significant,” Crawford said. “You don’t have to know all of these artists or even know exactly what you’re going to hear. Come with an open mind and let yourself be surprised. There’s something incredibly powerful about experiencing live music in the moment.”