Sunshine Jazz 40th Anniversary Concert

Leesa Richards celebrates influential women of jazz in a 40th-anniversary concert marking four decades of the Sunshine Jazz Organization’s work in South Florida. The performance takes place Friday, November 6 at the Black Archives Historic Lyric Theater in Overtown, with Richards joined by The New Canon Chamber Collective under conductor Waldron Dunkley. The evening also spotlights the next generation of jazz artists, with the winner of SJO’s China Valles Next Gen Jazz Scholarship Competition opening the concert.

A Detroit native and longtime presence in Miami’s music scene, Richards has performed or recorded with artists including Gloria Estefan, Carole King, Barbra Streisand, Lenny Kravitz, Peabo Bryson and Dionne Farris. For the anniversary program, she draws on that background in soul, jazz and contemporary music to interpret songs associated with prominent women in jazz.

Founded in 2021, The New Canon Chamber Collective is a South Florida ensemble dedicated to amplifying music by Black and Brown composers while expanding performance opportunities for Black and Brown classical musicians. Dunkley, a performer, composer, educator and multi-instrumentalist with Bahamian and Jamaican roots, conducts the ensemble.

Founded in Miami in 1986, the Sunshine Jazz Organization has supported jazz performance, education and preservation through concerts, workshops and community programs. The anniversary concert reflects both sides of that legacy, honoring established artists while providing an emerging South Florida musician with a $2,000 scholarship and a place on the Historic Lyric Theater stage.