For those who missed our announcement earlier this week, the legendary Houston Person will be sailing on The Jazz Cruise ’25. Sidelined by exhaustion, Houston was not able to sail on The Jazz Cruise ’24, marking the first time in the history of the cruise that we sailed without him. So, the upcoming 25th Anniversary sailing of The Jazz Cruise will be a celebration of the program as well as a homecoming for him.

The old joke was “I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out.” The new joke is “I went to a casino and a professional sporting event broke out.” In the blink of an eye, not only is betting on professional sports being freely advertised, but past stars, even superstars, are the ones doing the promos. Betting and gambling are long-standing vices. To pretend they are not part of sports is foolish, but do we have to have that activity be presented as part of the sport? At times, it seems like betting is the sport and the game is no more than opening an envelope to reveal the winner.

Our preoccupation with the McDonald – LaBelle Cruise postponed our annual discussion about April being Jazz Appreciation Month. I will forego that customary “we appreciate jazz every month” bromide and go straight ahead (get it!) to the heart of the matter. That being an honest discussion about our love of jazz and what that means […]

Jazz Cruises is the GOLD STANDARD for Jazz at Sea. Apparently, we have a very cool side hustle going. We just completed a wonderful 4-day, 3-night cruise that featured the very soulful Michael McDonald and Patti LaBelle, the Godmother of Soul. Between those shows, hanging with Marcus Miller, enjoying the comedy of George Wallace and Alonzo Bodden, the songs of Lisa Fischer and a wonderful crowd of fans, this cruise was amazing! Not our regular gig, but a lot of fun!