SFJAZZ Gala 2025 to Honor Don Was with SFJAZZ Lifetime Achievement Award

The annual Gala is SFJAZZ’s largest fundraiser of the year and includes a number of exciting events, including a festive VIP Cocktail Reception and Dinner catered by Paula LeDuc Fine Catering located in the Gala Tent, a Luminary Reception at SFJAZZ Center, and an All-Star Gala Concert featuring Terence Blanchard; honoree Don Was; jazz vocal great Kurt Elling; trumpet superstar Ambrose Akinmusire; rising star saxophonist Melissa Aldana; guitar icon Bill Frisell; jazz legend Charles Lloyd and his Sky Quartet with pianist Jason Moran, bassist Larry Grenadier, and drummer Eric Harland; and the award-winning ensemble SFJAZZ Collective! The festivities will continue into the night with the lively Gala After Party featuring an unforgettable dance party with musical entertainment, as well as late-night bites, wine, beer, and craft cocktails throughout the SFJAZZ Center.
 
The Gala Host Committee—led by Co-Chairs Jeffrey Whipps and Susan Greenleaf Whipps—includes Rafael Costas, Molly Joel Coye, Bruce and Hala Cozadd, David and Natasha Dolby, Lauren Harwell Godfrey and Patrick Godfrey, Rodney Haynes and Reno Cross, Jay Jeffers, Katie Hall and Tom Knutsen, Betsy Linder, Delroy and Nashormeh Lindo, Divesh and Diksha Makan, Mike and Alison Mauzé, Shakeya A. McDow, Ali Pincus, Lisa S. Pritzker, Timothy Simon and Kimberly Brandon, Rick and Darian Swig, and Denise S. Young.
 
The Gala Luminary Committee—led by Co-Chairs Navid Armstrong and Rich Hanif—includes Katie Colendich, Susan Corlett, Matthew Denckla, Beth Feingold, Lindsey Humphrey, Jeannine Lewis, Mica Eades Mayo, and Heather Rangel.
 
The Gala After Party—led by Co-Chairs Camilla de Bragança and Jacqueline Mills—includes Theresa Brockett, Rob Canali, Erik Greenfrost, Louise Ireland, Ayden Johnson, David Miro Llopis, Cara Pardo, Anisa Qureshi, Jason Garcia Ragonton, Farah Shirzadi, Ambika Rustagi, and Bryce Wied.
 
Since 1991, SFJAZZ has awarded the annual Lifetime Achievement Award to artists and visionaries who have represented the highest level of creative endeavor and whose careers have had a broad impact on culture and society as a whole. This award acknowledges those who have not only demonstrated a career-long commitment to excellence, but those who have moved the music forward through their work, embodying our organization’s core value that jazz is a living and ever-evolving art form. Past honorees have included Wynton Marsalis, Mavis Staples, Chucho Valdés, Preservation Hall, Zakir Hussain, Joni Mitchell, Mary Stallings, Tony Bennett, and many more.