There isn't a more dynamic jazz organization in the world than SFJAZZ, a nonprofit founded some 35 years ago by Randall Kline.

Ben Ratliff at an SFJAZZ Listening Party, 2017. © Scott Chernis Photography

In addition to the San Francisco Jazz Festival, SFJAZZ runs fantastic year-round programming at a purpose-built facility in the Hayes Valley neighborhood. I covered the opening of the building in 2013, and have been eagerly plotting my return. 

I'm excited to be a part of the 2018-9 SFJAZZ season with a Listening Party — an onstage conversation with Kline and members of the audience, around various themes and touchstones in Playing Changes. I'll be thinking about my playlist for the event, which will surely dovetail with the 129 Essential Albums list at the end of the book.