José James opens the evening with a tribute to Bill Withers, who is best known for the songs “A Lovely Day,” “Lean on Me”  and “Ain’t No Sunshine.” James has an album celebrating Withers and his work coming out September 28th on Blue Note Records.

12-time Grammy nominee Ledisi follows. Her most recent album was Let Love Rule. She is also an acclaimed actress and has collaborated with such artists as John Legend and Kirk Franklin.

Closing out the evening is headliner George Benson. In 1976 he became the first jazz artist to reach Platinum status with a jazz album. He’s topped the pop charts and the jazz charts. But for my mind, he will forever have his version of the song “On Broadway” memorialized as part of the audition sequence in Bob Fosse’s amazing film All That Jazz.

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