Howard Wiley returns to the Festival with his soul-charged quartet, a potent combo that blends soul, jazz, gospel, and funk with state-of-the-art grooves. A Berklee School of Music honors graduate, Howard has become an in-demand fixture in the Bay Area and the Southern California music scenes. His love of jazz and arranging has led him to fuse his jazz sounds with funk and gospel. A soulful live musician, he has built a strong reputation for presenting jazz shows ‘that you can dance to’.

Howard was a featured artist performing his original music for the official new APPLE iPhone commercial and was also awarded a commission to create and perform his new works for the San Jose Jazz New Works Fest. He has toured internationally, recorded, and performed with artists including Miss Lauryn Hill, Sheila E, Cory Henry, Christian McBride, Chester Thompson and many more. As a solo artist, Wiley has performed at festivals and venues globally including the San Francisco Jazz Festival, Playboy Jazz Festival, Monterey Jazz, North Sea Jazz, Cape Town Jazz, the Grammy Museum, Yoshi’s Oakland and SXSW, to name a few.

His quartet features organist LJ Holoman, a sought-after studio player with recording credits that include Mary J. Blige, 50 Cent, Busta Rhymes, Nas, and The Game, and Fantastic Negrito; bassist/producer and multi- instrumentalist Clark Sims, also known as ‘The Funk Father’; and drummer Dante “Taz” Roberson.