For over a decade, Sullivan Fortner has been developing an uncompromising voice of his own as a pianist, composer and bandleader. The Grammy winner and recipient of the 2026 Larry J. Bell Jazz Artist Award draws international acclaim, both as a leader and as a sideman. In 2025 he won the Grammy for Best Jazz Performance for his playing on Samara Joy’s Twinkle Twinkle Little Me, and in 2019 the award for Best Jazz Vocal Album with Cécile McLorin Salvant, for her acclaimed The Window, which he both played on and produced. As a solo artist he released Aria, Moments Preserved, Solo Game and Southern Nights, which put him on the cover of DownBeat, and he has worked with wide-ranging voices such as Wynton Marsalis, Paul Simon, Dianne Reeves, John Scofield and Roy Hargrove.

Now he presents Leave That In There, his sixth album and his most personal to date. Produced by Derrick Hodge, the record weaves memories of his New Orleans childhood together with references to his earlier work; the music moves from acoustic trio interplay to Hammond B3 organ, synthesizers, marimba, Bàtá drumming and free improvisation. It is the first studio recording with his working trio, featuring Tyrone Allen II (double bass) and Kayvon Gordon (drums), which won the 2024 DownBeat Critics Poll for Rising Star Jazz Group. That same trio played here in 2025, to a sold-out house, and now returns.

‘One of the best pianists in the world today.’ (Fred Hersch)

Sullivan Fortner piano, Tyrone Allen II double bass, Kayvon Gordon drums