For landmark 30th season, SCP Jazz brings in stellar veterans and newcomers

A host of musical stars will appear in the landmark 30th season of Symphony Center Presents Jazz: Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Dianne Reeves. The eight-concert series, which runs from the autumn of 2023 through the spring of 2024, features headliners ranging from legendary veterans to young artists already achieving widespread acclaim. Popular small groups, new combinations of collaborators and vibrant epic scores are all a part of this milestone season.

Here’s the lineup:

Samara Joy, Oct. 27: Vocalist Samara Joy shocked music fans worldwide when she snagged best new artist honors at the 2023 Grammy Awards. But to those who have been following her outstanding career in jazz, this achievement came as no surprise. With a smooth alto voice and deep knowledge of the classic repertoire, Joy employs an approach that echoes the classic vocalists she reveres. The 23-year-old singer grew up singing in the church and became immersed in jazz as a teenager. Shortly afterward, in 2019, she won the prestigious Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition and released her self-titled debut album two years later. The follow-up, “Linger Awhile,” received its own Grammy, this one for best jazz vocal album. Joy’s Symphony Center performance will undoubtedly affirm the accolades that have just started to build.

Brad Mehldau Trio, Nov. 17: While pianist Brad Mehldau has fascinated large audiences for more than three decades, 2023 has been especially auspicious. In March, he released his long-awaited autobiography, Formation: Building a Personal Canon Part 1. The book details the diverse sources that have shaped his own music, including the uncanny way he recombines jazz and classical traditions and draws inspiration from literature. Mehldau’s recent live solo album, “Your Mother Should Know,” highlights another of his influences — the music of The Beatles (along with one David Bowie track). Throughout his career, Mehldau has consistently taken on challenges, from working with a chamber orchestra (for the recording “Variations on a Melancholy Theme”) to collaborating with opera vocalists Anne Sofie Von Otter and Renée Fleming. For this concert, he will perform with his longstanding trio of bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jeff Ballard.

Makaya McCraven, Jan. 19: Chicago-based drummer Makaya McCraven has forged a new sound in jazz, which he describes as “organic beat music.” His widely acclaimed 2022 album, “In These Times,” is the ideal presentation of this mixture of acoustic improvisation, hip-hop beats, displaced rhythms and electronic effects. McCraven also brings together indelible melodies, spoken-word samples and multilayered orchestrations with his own post-production tape loops and manipulations. Social-justice themes frequently run throughout his works. Onstage, his group reinvigorates these audio collages in constantly exciting new ways. A sharp observer of the music’s history, McCraven has previously released “Deciphering the Message,” his reworking of Blue Note vault tracks, and “We’re New Again,” a remix of Gil Scott Heron’s final album, “I’m New Here.” The Chicago Tribune named him Chicagoan of the Year for Jazz in 2022.

Christian McBride’s The Movement Revisited, Feb. 2: Christian McBride has been one of the most sought-after bassists and bandleaders in jazz since he arrived on the scene almost 30 years ago (along with his roles as educator, radio broadcaster and DJ). He has worked with artists ranging from Betty Carter and Chick Corea to Questlove and James Brown. Along with currently leading the sharp New Jawn quartet, McBride also directs a boisterous 17-piece big band. Equally crucial: He’s a brilliant composer and The Movement Revisited may be his pivotal work. This piece will be the focus of his Symphony Center performance.

The Movement Revisited is a four-part suite that he wrote to celebrate civil rights heroes Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali and Martin Luther King Jr. Originally commissioned in 1998, the piece has continued to evolve and has also included a portion dedicated to Barack Obama. McBride has performed the work with his quartet and a 30-member gospel choir, as well as an 18-piece big band combined with actors and spoken-word artists. For this concert, McBride will collaborate with musical director J.D. Steele and the Chicago Jazz Orchestra.

Ron Carter’s Foursight Quartet and the Blue Note Quintet, Feb. 16: For nearly 85 years, the Blue Note label has stood for preserving the best of jazz’s history while encouraging its boldest innovators. This celebration of its anniversary features Ron Carter, who is one of the world’s most influential bassists with credits on more than 2,200 recordings — and who recently celebrated an 85th birthday. Along with serving alongside such luminaries as Miles Davis and Cannonball Adderley, Carter has garnered widespread attention for leading his own small and large ensembles.

He will bring his regular working group, the Foursight Quartet, which also features pianist Renee Rosnes, tenor saxophonist Jimmy Greene and drummer Payton Crossley. The night also will feature a collective of Blue Note artists who emerged as star bandleaders creating new sounds in the 21st century. Grouped as the Blue Note Quintet, this combo includes pianist Gerald Clayton, alto saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins, Chicago-born vibraphonist Joel Ross, bassist Matt Brewer and drummer Kendrick Scott.

Herbie Hancock, March 30: Chicago-born pianist Herbie Hancock has been setting the pace as the jazz world has followed his lead for almost 60 years. After serving as an invaluable part of Miles Davis’ pivotal 1960s groups, Hancock went on to lead myriad ensembles of his own on more than 50 albums. Classically trained with a virtuoso technique, Hancock became an early visionary in embracing electronic keyboards and has remained at the forefront of technological innovations in sound. He has also composed film scores and numerous standards, including “Watermelon Man,” “Cantaloupe Island” and “Maiden Voyage,” as well as the 1983 hit, “Rockit.”

Hancock expanded his global vision with his 2010 album, “The Imagine Project,” which featured a large cast of musicians from around the world to collaborate on a program of global folk and pop songs. An esteemed educator and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, Hancock has received 14 Grammy Awards, including one for lifetime achievement in 2016.

Duets: Dianne Reeves, Chucho Valdés & Joe Lovano, May 17: Fresh onstage dialogues between top jazz artists are always exciting. But when the participants are singer Dianne Reeves, pianist Chucho Valdés and saxophonist Joe Lovano, the results promise to be unmissable. The three have been collaborating in concert halls for the past three years.

Reeves — a multi-Grammy winner and National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master — also embraces pop, gospel and Latin music while always focusing on, in her words, “the story I could tell with a lyric.”

Cuba’s Valdés has been at the forefront of blending his country’s African-rooted traditions with classical technique and improvisational finesse since he founded the band Irakere more than 50 years ago. Along with recording several award-winning Latin jazz albums, he recently composed the epic La Creación (The Creation), a large-scale work inspired by the Santería faith.

For decades, saxophonist Lovano has excelled at finding his own voice as he delved into the classic jazz repertoire while creating groundbreaking original compositions. His most recent album, this year’s “Our Daily Bread,” is a trio with pianist Marilyn Crispell and percussionist Carmen Castaldi.