One of the festival highlights is the performance by the North Carolina Coltrane All-Star Band. The band is made up of the area’s top musicians who come together  to play in celebration of some of John Coltrane’s most notable compositions, as well as music by other great composers and performers of the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Turner Battle – Keyboards

A composer, arranger, keyboardist and an award winning producer.

Neil Clegg – Saxophone/Flute

An All Star Band alum, associate professor of music and director of Instrumental Studies at Greensboro College.

Robert Faub – Saxophone

A classical soloist, chamber musician and jazz artist, Faub is currently the director of the Jazz Ensemble and saxophone instructor at High Point University. He is also the director of Instrumental Music at Caldwell Academy in Greensboro, NC.

Paul Foster – Bass

Has performed at major colleges and universities, country clubs, hotels and nightclubs from San Juan to San Francisco, Montreal, Canada to Cologne, Germany.

Greg Hyslop – Guitar

A guitar instructor and a long standing member of the local/regional  jazz community who  plays a hollow-bodied electric guitar and performs straight ahead jazz with a bebop flavor.

Abdulla Rahman – Drums

An alumnus of the 2012 All Star Band whose abilities make him an in-demand player for a myriad of classical and jazz ensembles, orchestras and big bands.

Diana Tuffin – Vocals

A multilingual song stylist, Tuffin’s  love for  music is rooted in her family’s foundation.  Her diverse influences include singers Carmen McRae, Sarah Vaughan, Judy Garland, and Ella Fitzgerald along with instrumental musicians such as Cannonball Adderley, Art Tatum and John Coltrane.