An iconic figure in the jazz fusion movement of the 1970s to the present, pianist, composer, and arranger Bob James brings his signature sound back to the Miner stage with a wide ranging selection of best-loved music from his five-decade career, joined by his working quartet. The Missouri native was discovered by Quincy Jones at a college jazz festival in 1962 and released his exploratory Jones-produced debut Bold Conceptions the following year before coming to worldwide attention as an early architect of the CTI Records sound that blended classical strings and funk with the jazz tradition. He recorded a series of numbered albums (One, Two, Three, Four) in the early 70s that have been sampled incessantly by hip-hop artists and producers, and he scored his biggest hit with “Angela” from his 1978 Warner Bros. session Touchdown, memorably used as the theme to the comedy series Taxi. Since then, James has gone from strength to strength, issuing over 30 albums including the GRAMMY-winning One on One in 1979 with guitarist Earl Klugh and the landmark 1986 collaboration Double Vision with the late David Sanborn. Beyond his solo releases, he’s recorded a dozen dates with the all-star contemporary jazz quartet Fourplay. James’s latest, 2023’s Jazz Hands, is an eclectic collection of styles and approaches that reflects James’s omnivorous tastes and features a guest appearance by superstar rapper and vocalist CeeLo Green. All About Jazz calls Jazz Hands “an adventurous and engaging album that stands tall with his best.”

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