2026 Ottawa Jazz Festival — Sunday, June 21

Sunday, June 21, 2026 Lineup

Daily lineup at Confederation Park. Headliner: Hiromi’s Sonicwonder on OLG Main Stage.

OLG Main Stage (Confederation Park)

6:30 pm — Bob James

• Bob James - piano
• Michael Palazzolo - bass
• John Mahon- drums

The career of Bob James is long, varied and continues to evolve at every turn. From his first days in Marshall, Missouri, the music of Bob James has captivated audiences throughout the world.

Discovered by Quincy Jones at the Notre Dame Jazz Festival in 1963, James recorded his first solo album, Bold Conceptions, that year for Mercury Records. 58 albums and innumerable awards would follow through five decades. He honed his skills working with Creed Taylor, working on albums for artists like Hank Crawford, Grover Washington, Jr, among others. While with CTI, James found great popular success overseeing significant hits for Paul Simon, Neil Diamond, Maynard Ferguson, and Kenny Loggins.

In 1974, James finally recorded his own album, One, which launched a lifelong career of recording and performing live. After three more albums, James began his own label, Tappan Zee Records. This allowed James to spend more time in the studio, focusing on his own creative works. It was during this time that he recorded his own gold seller, Touchdown, which included his composition, “Angela”, the instrumental theme from the sitcom Taxi, and possibly James’ best known work. Bob composed all the original music used in that television series for its entire run. One On One, the first in three collaborations with Earl Klugh, was awarded a Grammy in 1980 for Best Pop Instrumental Performance, and has sold over a million copies. During this time, James set the standard for the smooth jazz sound in the late 1970s.

A different aspect of the musical talent of Bob James was demonstrated on his three classical albums recorded for the CBS Masterworks division, the first of which was Rameau released in 1984, and followed by The Scarlatti Dialogues & Bach keyboard concertos with the Pekinel Sisters.

In 1985 James moved to Warner Bros Records, and kicked things off with Double Vision, a collaboration with David Sanborn, and produced by Tommy LiPuma. Double Vision was another Grammy winner, selling over a million albums.

While recording his album, Grand Piano Canyon, in 1990, James reunited with longtime friend, drummer Harvey Mason, Jr. It would also be the first time James would work with guitarist Lee Ritenour, and bassist Nathan East. This would be the start of something beautiful, as these early sessions ignited a spark which would engulf the Jazz world as Fourplay. Fourplay’s first album was recorded and released in 1991. The Group would collaborate on a total of three albums, until 1998 when Ritenour left the group, and Larry Carlton took over. This version of Fourplay continued the group’s huge success for seven more albums. After 12 years, Carlton decided to delve further into his solo career, and the band brought in guitarist Chuck Loeb in 2010.

A personal and professional highlight was the collaboration with his daughter, Hilary, on their Flesh & Blood album, which toured 15 U.S. cities. James continued collaborating on separate projects with Earl Klugh, (Cool) and Kirk Whalum (Joined At the Hip). Both albums were nominated for Grammys. His solo career continued throughout the 90’s, culminating with Joy Ride in 1999, and another Grammy nomination.

In 2001, Dancing On the Water, was released, once again showcasing James’ creative versatility. The album includes performances with Keiko Matsui, Joe Sample, Dave Holland, and Chuck Loeb. Fourplay released Heartfelt in 2002, and spent much of the year touring across the globe. That same year, James released Morning, Noon, & Night, whose title track went to #1 in Contemporary Jazz Radio.

While appearing at New York’s Blue Note, in February of 2003, James went into the Hit Factory with Billy Kilson, James Genus, and Ken Freeman on the board. The result was Take It From the Top, a tribute to pianists who inspired James; Ahmad Jamal, Duke Ellington, Bill Evans, and Oscar Peterson, among others.

The very next year James was at it again, with Fourplay releasing Journey in 2004. Fourplay toured most of the year, culminating with a trip to South Africa in November of 2005 and a final tour stop in Bangkok, Thailand in December. This event featured the world premiere live performance of James’ ‘The Angels of Shanghai.’ This project encompassed several months in the Far East collaborating with students from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, who played ancient Chinese instruments, as well as James Genus, Nathan East, and Harvey Mason. This project finally toured the U.S. in 2007, and culminated with a performance later in the year at the prestigious Seongnam Art Center in Seoul, Korea, where James was also invited to have a solo exhibit of his art in conjunction with the performance.

James stayed busy in 2006, releasing Urban Flamingo in February, and on April 7, was awarded the George Benson Lifetime Achievement Award by the Canadian Smooth Jazz Awards. Summer saw the release of Fourplay’s tenth record, appropriately called X. This tour literally took James around the world again with stops in Spain, London, California, Hong Kong, Japan, Kuala Lumpur, and Indonesia.

In 2008, James released a Christmas album with Hilary James, and another Fourplay album Energy. Energy featured Grammy winner Esperanza Spalding, and another Grammy nomination with the first single, “Fortune Teller”. The year ended on a high note with James and close friend, the Tony award winning Broadway director Jack O’Brien, receiving the International Achievement Award by the state of Michigan.

Bob has maintained a commitment to sophisticated production and arrangements, while stretching out in different and new directions. This culminated with another busy year in 2009 with the release of The Very Best of Bob James. Not stopping there, James also released Botero, a collaboration with Jack Lee, composed music for the Broadway play ‘Impressionism’, and recorded Across the Groove, a collaboration with Japanese sax player Masato Honda, all in the same year. This again led James touring across Asia, Europe, and the U.S.

2010 saw the twelfth Fourplay album released, Let’s Touch the Sky, which led to another world tour, culminating with an unforgettable collaboration with the New Japan Philharmonic in Tokyo in December. This premiered new orchestral pieces arranged specifically for this concert, and was Fourplay’s first performance with a symphony orchestra. Fourplay was voted Best Group of the Year at the American Smooth Jazz Awards to wrap up a busy 2010.

2011 brought devastating natural disasters to Japan, and James, with a close relationship to the region wanted to contribute to the relief efforts. This led to the Jazz for Japan benefit album, and the Iwate benefit concert, headlined by James.

Then, in September 2011, Altair & Vega, the Four-Hand piano duet collaboration with Keiko Matsui, was released. This unique collaboration which took nearly 10 years, resulted in several memorable live tour performances, before being completed as a recorded album, along with a live performance DVD recorded at the Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild. Later that same year, James released a collaboration with Savannah guitarist Howard Paul with Just Friends: The Hamilton Hall Sessions. All this, while still touring with Fourplay, including headlining the Playboy Jazz Festival at the Hollywood Bowl, and receiving the Oasis Contemporary jazz award for ‘Group of the Year’. James was also honored in his hometown of Marshall, MO, with the inaugural ‘Bob James Jazz Festival’.

Fourplay joined forces again the following year with the release of Esprit de Four. The album hit the charts, producing several successful tracks, including the powerful “Put Our Hearts Together”, which featured vocals by Seiko Matsuda. The song was a tribute to the regions of Japan devastated by the natural disasters just months earlier, and spawned several benefit concerts, such as the Iwate Jazz Festival, and a full length documentary of James’ visit to the region.

In 2013 Quartette Humaine was released. This was the first creative collaboration between keyboardist-composer Bob James and alto saxophonist David Sanborn since their million-selling, Grammy-winning album, Double Vision, twenty-five years ago.

2015 brought the release of James’ first live album, Live at the Milliken Auditorium, which was captured on a magical night in his home town of Traverse City, Michigan. This same year also brought the first release from James and long time collaborator Nathan East, The New Cool, a masterful work of art which truly redefines the essence of cool. Still not finished, James and Fourplay came together for the release of the group’s 25th anniversary, with Silver, which was recorded old school at Sunset Sound Studios, where the group recorded their first album 25 years earlier.

While James is recognized as one of the progenitors of smooth jazz, his music has also had a profound effect on the history of hip hop, having been sampled often. Two of James’ songs – “Nautilus” from 1974’s One and “Take Me to the Mardi Gras” from 1975’s Two – are among the most sampled in hip hop history. According to whosampled.com, “Nautilus” and “Take Me to Mardi Gras” have been sampled in thirty-two and forty-three hip-hop recordings, respectively. The title track from his 1981 album Sign of the Times was sampled in De La Soul‘s “Keepin’ the Faith”, and Warren G‘s “Regulate”. His “Angela” was sampled in the track “Cab Fare” by Souls of Mischief. The track “El Verano” from the 1977 album “BJ4” is used as a sample in the song “Blown Away” by the Cocoa Brovaz and also in the Masta Ace Track “NY Confidential”. N.W.A‘s “Alwayz into Somethin'” uses a sample of “Storm King” from the album Three. “Can’t Wait” by Redman features a sample of “Caribbean Nights” from the album Touchdown. English Drum & Bass pioneer Adam F extensively sampled “Westchester Lady” on his 1995 breakthrough release Circles. Röyksopp sampled his version of “You’re as Right as Rain” for their instrumental track “Eple.” In addition, James is mentioned in a verse by André 3000 on “Black Ice” from Goodie Mob’s second album Still Standing.

8:30 pm — Hiromi’s Sonicwonder 🎤 headliner

• Hiromi - piano
• Adam O’Farrill - trumpet
• Hadrien Feraud - bass
• Gene Coye - drums

Over more than 20 years as a recording artist, the jazz piano phenomenon Hiromi has shifted seamlessly from one spellbinding project to the next. In the process, she’s earned a reputation as one of the most explosive live performers in jazz history and a global ambassador for the art form. Her many triumphs include an NPR Tiny Desk Concert that has racked up over 2.5 million views; the opportunity to represent her native Japan with a performance at the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo; 2024 winner for Best Music Score for the animated feature film Blue Giant (Award of the Japanese Academy); and a GRAMMY Award for a collaboration with fusion hero Stanley Clarke. Her artistry is — to borrow a descriptor The New Yorker favored — “dazzling.”

In 2023, she released Sonicwonderland, debuting perhaps the most expressive, dynamic and versatile working band of her career. Called Hiromi’s Sonicwonder and featuring Hadrien Feraud on bass, Gene Coye on drums and the trumpeter Adam O’Farrill, the group furthered Hiromi’s distinctive musical alchemy: the spirit of classic jazz-rock fusion melded with classically rooted virtuosity, entrancing funk, pop flourishes and, through O’Farrill’s trumpet, acoustic jazz’s state of the art.

The album also did a remarkable job of capturing Hiromi’s mastery as a live entertainer. As The Guardian noted, “Sonicwonderland is perhaps the closest thing to Hiromi’s onstage exuberance.”

But that was only the beginning.

In recent years, Sonicwonder has continued to tour and work together consistently, advancing their deep chemistry and fearless sense of interplay. The results can be heard on Hiromi’s new Concord release and 13th studio full-length album, OUT THERE, in which the group’s powerful rapport meets the pianist’s astonishing abilities as a composer on equal footing. As Hiromi explains, “On Sonicwonderland, I had the concept and the songs first, and I was looking for the people who could play the music in the ideal way that I had in my mind.

“Being with this group for well over a year,” she continues, “playing a lot of shows together and understanding each other, I started to see more of their strength and what shines in them the most. So I started to write music with them in mind.”

Azrieli Studio (National Arts Centre)

7:00 pm — ADHD

• Óskar Guðjónsson - saxophones
• Ómar Guðjónsson - electric guitar,electric bass, pedal steel
• Tómas Jónsson - piano, Hammond, Synth bass, melodica, etc.
• Magnus Trygvason Eliassen - drumkit, percussion

There are bands where every album is a step into the unknown. There are others whose development is a reliable and consistent expansion of their terrain. The latter applies to the Icelandic musicians’ collective ADHD.

It is almost impossible to describe their concerts along traditional musical parameters. A performance by these four Vikings is always an all-encompassing ritual, a magic potion of incantation dance and a phenomenon of nature. When keyboarder THÓMAS JÓNSSON, guitarrist and bass player ÓMAR GUÐJÓNSSON, saxophonist ÓSKAR GUÐJÓNSSON, und drummer MAGNÚS TRYGVASON ELIASSEN are on stage, the ordinary Middle European mortal will get at least a vague sense of how the island people in the very north of Europe have been able to survive the long and icy winters through the centuries. – They simply produce their energy out of themselves.

This unbridled stream of human vibration, which overrides all perimeters of genre and fascinates jazz fans as much as rock fans and ravers, follows a most ancient human desire, whose non-verbal impulse is older than any language and yet is entirely rooted in the present. The expanse of the cosmos and the infinity of time culminate in this happening of total music, as well as a profound mysticism of free imagination and an unflagging confrontation with contemporary issues.

The Gesamtkunstwerk ADHD cannot be quite captured in words. This sublime timelessness in the here and now can only be experienced.

Elgin St. Stage (Confederation Park)

10:30 pm — Leenalchi

Leenalchi is a seven-piece band from Seoul that draws on the folk storytelling tradition of pansori, and will remind you of the Talking Heads.

Their line-up is as singular as their sound – featuring two bassists, drums, keys, no guitar, and three singers. The band’s creator and visionary, the bassist Gyu Young Jang, is also behind several beloved movie soundtracks and the iconic now-disbanded art band SsingSsing, which NPR Tiny Desk's Bob Boilen described as "one of my most memorable Tiny Desk Concerts of all time."

Fourth Stage (National Arts Centre)

4:00 pm — In Conversation with the Grateful Dead's Legacy Manager and Archivist David Lemieux

Join renowned music archivist and legacy manager David Lemieux for a rare and engaging evening of stories, insights, and deep dives into the world of the Grateful Dead.

As the band’s official audiovisual archivist since 1999 and Legacy Manager since 2010, Lemieux has overseen dozens of acclaimed releases, including the celebrated Dave’s Picks series, and served as Supervising Music Producer on Long Strange Trip: The Untold Story of the Grateful Dead. With decades of unparalleled access to the Dead’s vault, he offers a unique perspective on one of the most influential bands in modern music history.

In this intimate “in conversation” format, Lemieux will share behind-the-scenes stories, rare archival insights, and reflections on the band’s enduring legacy—followed by a live audience Q&A, where fans will have the opportunity to ask questions and engage directly.

A must for devoted Deadheads and curious listeners alike.

6:30 pm — Brandon Woody's UPENDO

Brandon Woody is a Baltimore-born, Bach-endorsed trumpeter, composer, and bandleader whose music flows from the rich lineage of Black music, including jazz, gospel, improvisation, and beyond, to explore themes of love, resilience, and community. Hailed by The New York Times and Los Angeles Times as a rising force in contemporary jazz, Woody signed with the legendary Blue Note Records in November 2024 and released his debut album, For The Love Of It All, in May 2025. Featuring his longtime band Upendo — Troy Long (keys), Quincy Phillips (drums), and Michael Saunders (bass) — the album showcases Woody’s ability to craft music that is both deeply personal and universally resonant.

Rooted in Baltimore, Woody has built his career from his hometown, drawing on its vibrant creative culture and community spirit. His work has received praise across major publications, with DownBeat highlighting his “rich and expressive” tone and the Financial Times noting the album’s emotional range “from gentle lyricism to swaggering virtuosity.” The Washington Post described Woody’s music as “staggeringly self-assured” and “radiating warmth, purpose, and a sense of place,” reflecting both the clarity of his artistic vision and his deep connection to his community.

As a performer, Woody has played venues and festivals including ATL Jazz Fest, The Shed, the August Wilson Center, the University of Maryland, Michigan State University, the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Reginald F. Lewis Museum, Roots Picnic, and the Walters Art Museum, among others. He has collaborated with artists such as Terri Lyne Carrington, BADBADNOTGOOD, Danilo Pérez, Casey Benjamin, Marcus Gilmore, the Robert Glasper Black Radio Orchestra, Paul Russell, Derrick Hodge, Marc Cary, and Solange Knowles. Woody has also worked with international brands including Calvin Klein, Saucony, Reebok, Eames, Vogue Italia, Plain Jane, and Highsnobiety. His television appearances include Godfather of Harlem (MGM+), Lady in the Lake (Apple TV), and The Bride (Warner Bros.).

Dedicated to bridging generations through music, Woody has led masterclasses and workshops at institutions across the country. Through both his performances and community work, he uses music as a tool for healing, connection, and joy.

9:30 pm — Dálava

• Julia Úlehla - vocals / she/her
• Aram Bajakian - guitar, bass, oud, piano / he/him
• Peggy Lee - cello / she/her
• Josh Zubot - violin / he/him

Dálava, the genre-defying ensemble led by vocalist Julia Úlehlawith guitarist Aram Bajakian (Lou Reed, John Zorn, Diana Krall), returns with Understories, a deeply evocative new album that explores uncharted territories of sound. Seamlessly weaving Moravian folk traditions with an experimental, improvisational approach, Understories takes the listener on a journey through captivating sonic worlds. Dálava’s music has received critical acclaim for its expressive depth: fRoots extolled their prior release as “so overwhelming and so intense that it is hard to put into any category…. Saying that The Book of Transfigurations is a masterpiece is not an exaggeration.”

Most of the pieces in Dálava’s repertoire are inspired by a collection of folk songs compiled in the book Živá Píseň (Living Song) written by Úlehla’s great-grandfather. A biologist and ethnomusicoloist, Vladimír Úlehla (1888-1947) meticulously transcribed hundreds of folk songs from his hometown, the Moravian village of Strážnice in southeast Czechia. On Understories Julia Úlehla exhibits an ineffable kinship to these songs, a deeply-rooted living bond to the land of her father’s and great-grandfather’s birth. The American-born daughter of a refugee from communist Czechoslovakia, Julia Úlehla directs Dálava’s interpretations of these centuries-old transcriptions, ensuring they are conferred with a respect not only for the music as a historical artifact, but as living, breathing organisms that speak to their metaphysical universality. Dálava, which means ‘the disappearing line on the horizon, where sky and land merge into each other,’ is an apt description of the group’s approach: The music resides in that indeterminate, liminal space between past and future, magic and realism, neither primordial nor of this world. The album is a sonic exploration that transcends time and borders, fusing disparate traditions into a singular, emotionally charged experience.

Úlehla asserts that Understories marks a departure from her previous Dálava releases: “It used to really matter to me what my family and other Czechs —especially tradition bearers — thought about what I was doing with these songs. But at the time we made this record it felt like I was tuned to a layer of reality that was not human, fumbling through some strange form of unbidden mysticism. I’ve come to realize that to encounter the realm that the record yearns to conjure, a listener needs to be willing to venture down below — to descend through subterranean layers or meet the “understories” carried in folk song’s palimpsestic layers, some of which are fugitive and full of grief. Rather than provide a translation of the lyrical content of the songs, the song titles mark the stages of an underworld journey — what the Greeks called katabasis. “Open your ear to the great below” — the crossroad opens. “Escape velocity” — a song in which a girl leaves home and turns herself into a speckled bird corresponds to a protagonist’s decision to leave for the great below and the transformation that will be required.”

After graduating from Stanford University and the Eastman School of Music, Úlehla performed as a lyric mezzo-soprano in operas for years and was subsequently a member of the renowned laboratory theatre the Workcenter of Jerzy Grotowski and Thomas Richards in Pontedera, Italy. Moving to New York City to start a family with Aram, Julia began singing with Darius Jones’ Elizabeth-Caroline Unit, while also beginning explorations of her great-grandfather’s book. In 2013 the family moved to Vancouver, BC, for Julia to pursue a PhD in Ethnomusicology from the University of British Columbia. On Understories, singing in Czech and English, Úlehla’s hypnotic voice vibrates with intensity, spanning from whisper to holler, by turns vulnerable and stentorian. Her singing feels less like a performance than a fully-embodied life force emanating from every sinew and bone. “I’m compelled by a desire to learn to give voice to the full range of human emotions and experiences. It’s not about using strange voices, or extended techniques, or characters. It is about collaborating with whatever comes, being utterly in the present and attentive to what is unfolding.” Bajakian, who is married to Úlehla, was an active member of the downtown New York scene who toured extensively with musicians as disparate as Lou Reed, Diana Krall and Madeleine Peyroux, and performed the music of John Zorn with the group Abraxas. He has also explored folk traditions, both with Frank London’s Glasshouse Orchestra, and his own Armenian ancestry with his project Aram Bajakian’s Kef. They are joined by Peggy Lee on cello and Josh Zubot on violin, both of whom recently appeared on Darius Jones’s fLuXkit Vancouver (i̶t̶s̶ suite but sacred), and are important parts of the fertile creative music scenes in Vancouver and Montreal. Their music is by turns ethereal and ferocious, the sound of whispering winds and the crunch of dirt underfoot as one descends into a deep, unknowable chasm.

Úlehla says: “The song poetry is gorgeous in its own right, filled with magical, uncanny stories. A swarm of bees speaks to a man’s beloved, who spurns him. A woman has been bewitched by her malevolent mother and turned into a maple tree that bleeds and speaks. A woman weaves a wedding wreath from three plants: pennyroyal, rosemary, and white roses. She sings to her wreath—who she calls “you” and who seems like a beloved in its own right—as she weaves it. Each of these plants had magical and functional properties: rosemary for courage and steadfastness, roses for love, and pennyroyal for conflict resolution and as an abortifacient. As she sings and weaves, she uses four different verbs for crying (weeping, lamenting, hollering, crying with her voice) for a person who is alternately named as “boyfriend,” “someone I don’t know,” and “husband.” Because these songs connect me with my ancestors, the journey down feels like a trans-temporal group effort. In this dive, I start wondering if the phrase “fall in love” has alchemical significance. If the falling is significant. If a mysterious love whose source is below is significant. In dark times, may we find ways to fall into this strange love, to give attention to what needs attending, to transmute what is harmful into what is healing.”

Úlehla states that her goal for this repertoire is to “follow the life and spirit of a song as a catalyst for creating sound worlds. The song poetics teach me something about life, existence, being, and about relationships between humans and more-than-humans. The compositions arise from my relationships with the songs, and the existential field and emotional terrains the songs reveal. It isn’t about a reproduction or preservation of an old thing—that is, perfectly recreating a song from the past. It’s about renewal of life, and new forms of life.” The result is a layered tapestry woven with fantastical imagery, where physical and emotional landscapes meld into one. Each song on Understories emerges as a microcosm, evoking biotic life and an inspirited netherworld.