Kurt Elling and Yellowjackets, Celebrate Weather Report (Roma Jazz Festival) at Auditorium Parco della Musica, Sala Petrassi, November 4, 2026

Kurt Elling and Yellowjackets bring «Celebrate Weather Report» to Sala Petrassi at Auditorium Parco della Musica Ennio Morricone, Viale Pietro de Coubertin 30, Rome, on Wednesday, November 4, 2026 at 20:00. The concert is part of the Roma Jazz Festival program and revisits the Weather Report repertoire with a singer and a jazz-fusion band. According to the venue, tickets start at €40 and are sold on the event page of the official Auditorium website (auditorium.com) or at the box office. For the route to Flaminio use the ATAC route planner: lines change, so check it the day before.

The concert: two worlds meet

The official program describes the evening as the meeting between «the world's number one jazz singer» and one of the most famous bands on the jazz-fusion scene, to celebrate the music of Weather Report together. The description is the venue's and should be read as promotion, but it's true that Kurt Elling has won two Grammys and that Yellowjackets have been active for more than 40 years.

A legacy to preserve and expand

The official text speaks of a collaboration between two heavyweights that «preserves and expands» the Weather Report legacy, reinterpreting famous pieces such as «Elegant People» and «Black Market» with new shades. The key word is reinterpret: the original band isn't something to imitate like a cover band, but a source to start from.

Who's on stage

The poster lists Kurt Elling (vocals), Russell Ferrante (keyboards), Bob Mintzer (sax), Dane Alderson (bass) and Marcus Finnie (drums).

Kurt Elling, the baritone of contemporary jazz

Kurt Elling was born in Chicago on November 2, 1967 and grew up in Rockford, Illinois. He graduated in 1989 from Gustavus Adolphus College in history, with a minor in religion, then attended the University of Chicago Divinity School for a master's in philosophy of religion, leaving in January 1992 one credit short of the degree.

From the first records to Blue Note

In 1995 he signed with Blue Note, for which he recorded «Close Your Eyes» (1995) and «The Messenger» (1997). From 2006 he recorded for Concord Jazz («Nightmoves» in 2007, «Dedicated to You» in 2009), then for Okeh («The Questions», 2018) and for Edition («Secrets Are the Best Stories», 2020).

Grammys and awards

He won the Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Album for «Dedicated to You» (2010 ceremony) and for «Secrets Are the Best Stories» (2021). In the Male Vocalist of the Year category he won the DownBeat critics poll 13 times between 2000 and 2012, the readers poll seven times and the JazzTimes readers poll eight times.

Collaborations

Among his partners are pianist Laurence Hobgood, Branford Marsalis («Upward Spiral», 2016), Brad Mehldau («Finding Gabriel», 2019) and Lee Ritenour («Rhythm Sessions», 2012). He had already worked with Yellowjackets in 1998, as a guest on the album «Club Nocturne»: the Rome concert picks up a relationship that is more than a quarter of a century old.

Yellowjackets, a band born in Los Angeles

Yellowjackets are a jazz-fusion band formed in Los Angeles in 1977. Guitarist Robben Ford put together the original core, recruiting Russell Ferrante, Jimmy Haslip and Ricky Lawson for his first solo record, and the group then went on by itself. Producer Tommy LiPuma signed them to Warner Bros. and picked the name «Yellowjackets» from a list the band had drawn up.

Today's lineup

Russell Ferrante (keyboards) has been there since 1977. Bob Mintzer has played saxophones since the early 1990s (sources give 1990 or 1991), replacing Marc Russo. William Kennedy is on drums, in the band from 1987 to 1999 and again since 2010, and Dane Alderson on bass since 2015. The Rome poster lists Marcus Finnie on drums: his name isn't among the band members usually listed, so the venue's information is what counts.

A long catalog

Since their 1981 debut the band has released more than 20 albums: «Mirage a Trois» (1983), «Samurai Samba» (1985), «Shades» (1986), «Four Corners» (1987), «Politics» (1988), «The Spin» (1989), «Greenhouse» (1991), «Like a River» (1993), «Dreamland» (1995), «Club Nocturne» (1998), «Mint Jam» (2001), «25» (2006), «Timeline» (2011), «Raising Our Voice» (2018), «Parallel Motion» (2022) and «Fasten Up» (2025).

Awards

They have won two Grammys: in 1987 for «And You Know That» (Best R&B Instrumental Performance) and for «Politics» as Best Jazz Fusion Performance. The album «Jackets XL», made with the WDR Big Band, earned a nomination in 2022.

Weather Report: the band where it all starts

The band was founded in 1970 by Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter with Miroslav Vitouš, and released its self-titled first record in 1971. Accounts differ on who had the idea first: Zawinul says he recruited Vitouš together with Shorter, while Vitouš says he founded it with Shorter.

Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter

Zawinul was born in Vienna on July 7, 1932 and had been Cannonball Adderley's keyboardist («Mercy, Mercy, Mercy» is his) and a collaborator of Miles Davis on «In a Silent Way» and «Bitches Brew». Shorter, born in Newark on August 25, 1933, had played with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers from 1959, and in 1964 had joined Davis's second great quintet. They co-founded the group and led it until it broke up.

The end

Shorter left in February 1986. Zawinul ended the band, and the last album, «This Is This!», came out in June 1986. Zawinul died in Vienna on September 11, 2007, and Shorter in Los Angeles on March 2, 2023.

A single Grammy

The group won one Grammy out of six nominations: in 1979 for «8:30», as Best Jazz Fusion Performance.

Black Market and Elegant People

The two compositions named in the official program appear on the same album: «Black Market», released on March 11, 1976 by Columbia and recorded between December 1975 and January 1976 at Devonshire Sound Studios in Los Angeles. It was produced by Zawinul and Shorter, with Ron Malo as sound engineer.

The record in seven tracks

The titles are «Black Market» (Zawinul), «Cannon Ball» (a tribute to Julian «Cannonball» Adderley), «Gibraltar», «Elegant People» (by Shorter), «Three Clowns» (Shorter), «Barbary Coast» (Jaco Pastorius) and «Herandnu» (Alphonso Johnson). Among the musicians: Zawinul on keyboards, Shorter on saxophones and Lyricon, Alphonso Johnson and Jaco Pastorius on bass, and Chester Thompson, Narada Michael Walden, Alex Acuña and Don Alias on drums and percussion.

A music of the world

The style is often described as «world fusion». To understand what to expect from the Rome program, it's worth remembering that fusion here isn't just a blend of jazz and rock, but a music with geographical references in the titles themselves, such as Gibraltar and the Barbary Coast.

What is jazz-fusion?

Jazz-fusion, also called jazz rock, developed in the United States in the late 1960s and combines jazz harmony and improvisation with rock, funk and rhythm and blues. Typical instruments are electric guitars, electric bass, electric pianos, organs and synthesizers.

Miles Davis as a turning point

«In a Silent Way» (1969) is considered his first fusion record. «Bitches Brew», also from 1969, moves away from swing toward a rock backbeat and bass riffs, and sold 400,000 copies in its first year. Some critics accused him of betraying the essence of jazz.

The other bands of those years

Among the groups usually cited: John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra, which released «The Inner Mounting Flame» in 1971, Chick Corea's Return to Forever, Weather Report, founded by Zawinul and Shorter in December 1970, Herbie Hancock's «Head Hunters» (1973) and Tony Williams' Lifetime, whose «Emergency!» was recorded three months before «Bitches Brew». In the early 1980s part of fusion was absorbed by smooth jazz, a variant designed for radio.

Mysterious Traveller, the record of the rhythmic shift

To understand where Weather Report stood before «Black Market», it's worth looking at «Mysterious Traveller», released in June 1974 by Columbia and recorded between November 1973 and March 1974 in Los Angeles. It's the last record with founding bassist Miroslav Vitouš, who left over creative differences and was replaced by Alphonso Johnson.

A more structured sound

It was the group's first album to rely mainly on electric bass. It brings funk and R&B grooves into the sound and partly leaves behind the open improvisation of the first three records. The tracks are «Nubian Sundance», «American Tango», «Cucumber Slumber», «Mysterious Traveller», «Blackthorn Rose», «Scarlet Woman» and «Jungle Book».

Recognition

DownBeat gave the record five stars and its readers voted it album of the year for 1974. On the American charts it reached number two on the jazz chart and number 46 on the Billboard 200.

Elling and vocalese

In the history of jazz singing, Kurt Elling is named among the leading figures of vocalese, the style that adds recognizable words to existing instrumental solos. Scat, by contrast, uses syllables without meaning.

Where it comes from

The term plays on «vocalise» and, according to critic Leonard Feather, was coined for Jon Hendricks in connection with the first album by Lambert, Hendricks and Ross, «Sing a Song of Basie». The earliest examples date to 1949, when King Pleasure began recording pieces of this kind.

An idea for the concert

Vocalese makes the meeting with a repertoire like Weather Report's feel natural: instrumental music, with very recognizable melodies, on which a singer can build words and phrasing. The official program doesn't say if Elling will sing lyrics or wordless vocals: that information isn't published.

Dedicated to You, the Grammy record

The album that won Elling the Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Album in 2010 is «Dedicated to You», released on June 23, 2009 by Concord. It was recorded on January 21, 2009 in the Allen Room at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York, in the American Songbook series.

Coltrane and Hartman

It's a tribute to the record John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman made in 1963, with music also from Coltrane's «Ballads» (1962). The tracks include «All or Nothing at All», «Lush Life», «They Say It's Wonderful» and «You Are Too Beautiful».

Who played

Pianist Laurence Hobgood wrote the arrangements and co-produced the record. Ernie Watts played tenor sax, Clark Sommers double bass, Ulysses Owens drums and ETHEL the strings. Elling won at the 52nd Grammy Awards, on January 31, 2010, after seven earlier nominations.

Jaco Pastorius, Felix Pastorius and a coincidence

Jaco Pastorius's fretless bass joined Weather Report in 1976, with «Black Market» itself: he plays on two tracks, «Cannon Ball» and «Barbary Coast». With «Heavy Weather» (1977) he became the group's only bassist. Pastorius was born in Norristown, Pennsylvania, on December 1, 1951 and died in Fort Lauderdale on September 21, 1987, at 35.

A line that leads to Yellowjackets

His son Felix Pastorius, born in 1982, was Yellowjackets' bassist from 2012 to 2015, replacing Jimmy Haslip during a long break. It's a documented link: a musician descended from Weather Report's history played in the band that now celebrates it.

Birdland

Weather Report's best-known piece, «Birdland», came out on «Heavy Weather» (1977) and is considered a jazz standard. The official program doesn't mention it, so we don't know if it will be played.

Roma Jazz Festival, 50 years of history

The festival began in 1976. It's organized by the International Music Festival Foundation, set up in 2006 as the heir of the Cooperativa Festival Jazz International founded in 1975. Since 1996 it has been held in the fall, in halls suited to listening, including Auditorium Parco della Musica.

Weather Report at a Rome festival

Past guests include Wayne Shorter, Michael Brecker, Chick Corea, Pat Metheny and Yellowjackets themselves. The page on the 2026 program is here.

The week of November 4

The official program puts Steve Coleman in the same Sala Petrassi on November 5 and Hamilton de Holanda with Gonzalo Rubalcaba on the 6th, after Paolo Fresu's Sunday in Sala Sinopoli. If you want to attend more than one evening, the common thread is the range of jazz traditions: fusion, the African American avant-garde and Latin jazz.

A curious fact about Sala Petrassi

Before taking the name of composer Goffredo Petrassi, the hall was called Sala Settecento, after its number of seats. Today it has 673 seats.

A hall for many languages

Sala Petrassi mainly hosts opera, jazz, theater, dance and film screenings. It has an orchestra pit and movable side walls on stage: a technical choice that lets the shape of the stage change from show to show.

For an amplified band

For a concert with keyboards, electric bass, drums and voice, the medium size is a practical advantage: the audience is closer to the stage than in Sala Santa Cecilia, which has 2,756 seats.

Something nobody tells you about Sala Petrassi

Getting into an Auditorium hall isn't what you'd expect from a traditional theater: the lead-clad volumes are arranged in a fan around the cavea and the audience goes through the shared foyer. On a first visit it's easy to mix up the spaces.

The shared foyer

The shared foyer has a bar, a café, a restaurant and a bookstore. Before the concert you can use it to relax: the start is at 20:00.

How to recognize the hall

Check the hall name and section on your ticket. The current name honors a composer. The old name, Sala Settecento, still turns up in older sources, so if you see two different names for the same hall, don't assume they're two separate spaces.

My tip for visiting Sala Petrassi

Choose your seat based on what you want to watch: with a five-piece band it's worth seeing Ferrante's and Alderson's hands, as well as Elling singing. A good view of the keyboard and bass makes the structure of the Weather Report pieces clearer.

Arriving and leaving

Arrive 30 minutes early. The Auditorium's on-site parking is considered expensive, and on concert nights cars spill into the Villaggio Olimpico: if you can, leave the car at home.

Before the concert

If you want to come prepared, listen to «Black Market» from 1976 and at least one Yellowjackets record, such as «Greenhouse» or «Like a River». Then don't look for comparisons: it'll be a concert, not a replay of a record.

Another well-known fact that rarely gets mentioned

Everyone knows «Birdland», but few remember that the piece earned Zawinul three Grammys, and that the only Grammy the band won as a group, in 1979, went to «8:30».

A dispute over the origins

Accounts differ on who put the group together: Zawinul says he recruited Vitouš together with Shorter, and Vitouš says he founded the band with Shorter. Neither version is contradicted by the sources consulted.

Rome and electric jazz

In 1991 Miles Davis's last concert in Italy took place in Rome, at the Stadio Olimpico, on July 23. Davis is among the historic guests of the Roma Jazz Festival, together with Wayne Shorter, the quintet partner who would found Weather Report with Zawinul: Rome therefore has a place in the history of that music.

The singer who almost became a theologian

A fact about the star of the concert: Elling left the University of Chicago Divinity School in January 1992, one credit short of a master's in philosophy of religion.

The right photo to take at Sala Petrassi

Inside the hall the venue's rules apply: if you're not sure, ask the staff before taking pictures. Outside, the lead-covered volumes around the cavea are the memory to take home.

The cavea at sunset

The open-air cavea, with about 3,000 seats and named after Luciano Berio, can be seen from the forecourt. From there you can appreciate the fan-shaped layout of the three volumes.

The finds under the cavea

The remains of the Roman villa can be seen between Sala Santa Cecilia and Sala Sinopoli, and the finds are displayed in a small museum under the cavea.

Some important events that happened here

The Auditorium has a recent but rich history.

From 2002 to today

The complex opened on April 21, 2002 with Sala Sinopoli, and on December 21, 2002 the other halls opened, including Santa Cecilia. In 2003 it became the permanent home of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia's season, and in 2006 it hosted the Rome Film Fest.

Jazz musicians in Rome

The Roma Jazz Festival, which brought Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie and Sarah Vaughan to the city, arrived at the Auditorium for its 33rd edition, «Jazz Labels», from November 8 to 30, 2009. That edition also celebrated 50 years of «Kind of Blue» and 70 years of Blue Note.

2020

In 2020 the city council approved naming the complex after Ennio Morricone.

Who has passed through Sala Petrassi

There's no public list of concerts hall by hall. For the Auditorium as a whole, though, we can say which musicians have been recorded there: Keith Jarrett, Mark Knopfler, Vinicio Capossela, Tuxedomoon, William Parker.

Live albums

Among the live albums recorded there: those by Fennesz and Sakamoto (2005), Enrico Rava and Joe Lovano (2014) and The National (2024).

Other concerts here

On ER you'll find the page on Auditorium Parco della Musica and the one on Casa del Jazz, for more jazz in the city.

Goffredo Petrassi, the composer the hall is named after

Goffredo Petrassi was born in Zagarolo on July 16, 1904 and died in Rome on March 3, 2003, aged 98. At Santa Cecilia he earned diplomas in organ and composition in the early 1930s. In 1939 he became professor of composition, and from 1960 to 1978 he taught the advanced courses. He chose Franco Donatoni as his successor.

Works

His compositions include the «Partita» for orchestra (1932), the «Ouverture da concerto» (1931), «Salmo IX» for chorus and orchestra (1934) and «Coro di morti» (1941) on a text by Giacomo Leopardi, presented at Teatro La Fenice in Venice. In 1937 he was appointed superintendent of La Fenice, a post he left after three years.

Students

His students include Ennio Morricone, Aldo Clementi, Franco Oppo, Cornelius Cardew and Peter Maxwell Davies.

Nearby: Stadio Flaminio

In the same Flaminio area as the Auditorium stands Stadio Flaminio. It was designed by Antonio Nervi with structural work by his father Pier Luigi Nervi, built between 1957 and 1958 on the site of the Stadio Nazionale and opened on March 19, 1959 with a friendly between the amateur national teams of Italy and the Netherlands.

From the Olympics to concerts

It hosted part of the 1960 Olympic soccer tournament and, from 1975 to 2011, Italy's home rugby matches. Between the late 1980s and the early 1990s U2, Prince, David Bowie, Michael Jackson and the Rolling Stones played there.

The present

Since 2011 it hasn't hosted regular events, and since 2008 it has been listed as a site of artistic and historic interest. Renovation plans have not been carried out.

The Auditorium in numbers

The Auditorium's halls are among the busiest in Europe. In 2014 the venue passed 2 million visitors and presented itself as the first cultural venue in Europe by attendance and second in the world after Lincoln Center in New York.

A year of programming

In 2016 Fondazione Musica per Roma alone organized 608 events, not counting conferences, with box office takings of €9,702,260 (up 3% on 2015) and 287,109 tickets sold. The numbers help explain why on the same evening several halls can be busy with different concerts.

Radio and video

On March 16, 2010 Radio Parco della Musica, the official web radio, went live, and on October 4, 2011 Auditorium TV, the official YouTube channel. You can look there for material on the artists before an evening, if the programming includes it.

Shorter and Zawinul after Weather Report

The repertoire the concert revisits is the best-known part of two very different careers.

Wayne Shorter

He recorded 11 albums for Blue Note between 1964 and 1970, almost all of his own compositions. «Speak No Evil» was recorded in 1964 and released in 1966. In the 2000s he formed a steady acoustic quartet with Danilo Pérez, John Patitucci and Brian Blade, which revisited his old pieces in new versions. He won 12 Grammys, a Lifetime Achievement Grammy (2014), the Polar Music Prize (shared, 2017) and the Kennedy Center Honors (2018).

Joe Zawinul

In 1988 he founded the Zawinul Syndicate, a jazz-fusion band that grew out of the Weather Report experience. «Birdland», written for the 1977 album «Heavy Weather», was the group's biggest commercial hit and earned him three Grammys. In a vocal version it was also a hit for the Manhattan Transfer, with lyrics by Jon Hendricks.

Before Weather Report

Shorter joined Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers in 1959 and stayed about four years, becoming music director and main composer. In 1964 he moved to Miles Davis's second great quintet, for which he wrote much of the material. Zawinul, for his part, had written «Mercy, Mercy, Mercy» during his years with Cannonball Adderley and had recorded «In a Silent Way» and «Bitches Brew» with Davis.

Why it's useful to know

Knowing that the two founders came from Davis makes the line the concert follows easy to read: on one side the singer who paid tribute to Coltrane, on the other a band that grew up in the fusion era. The thread connecting them is the jazz of the 1960s.

The Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Petrassi's school

Petrassi studied and taught at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, which has had its artistic, administrative and museum headquarters at the Auditorium since 2003. It's one of the oldest music institutions: it was founded in 1585 with the bull «Ratione congruit» of Pope Sixtus V, and Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina was a member and its president.

From congregation to foundation

In 1838 the congregation became a papal academy, with members including Rossini, Donizetti, Liszt and Berlioz. Since 1998 it has been a foundation, and its academic body has 70 full members and 30 honorary ones. Leonard Bernstein was its honorary president from 1983 to 1990.

Orchestra and conductors

Its orchestra was the first in Italy devoted only to the symphonic repertoire and since 1908 has worked with conductors such as Mahler, Strauss, Toscanini and Karajan. Antonio Pappano was its music director from 2005 to 2023.

Practical information

• Date and time: Wednesday, November 4, 2026, 20:00.
• Venue: Sala Petrassi, Auditorium Parco della Musica Ennio Morricone, Viale Pietro de Coubertin 30, 00196 Rome (Flaminio).
• Price: from €40, according to the venue.
• Tickets: event page on the official Auditorium website.
• Length and intermission: not published.

How to get there

Buses 910, 982, 168 (weekdays only) and 53 stop in front of the entrance. For exact times use the ATAC route planner. Ponte della Musica links the Foro Italico to the Auditorium area.

Nearby

In the same area are MAXXI and the Villa Glori park.

Frequently asked questions about Kurt Elling and Yellowjackets

When and where is the concert?

On Wednesday, November 4, 2026 at 20:00 in Sala Petrassi at Auditorium Parco della Musica Ennio Morricone, Viale Pietro de Coubertin 30, Rome.

How much does it cost?

Tickets start at €40 according to the venue. The final price depends on the section and any fees.

Who's playing?

Kurt Elling (vocals), Russell Ferrante (keyboards), Bob Mintzer (sax), Dane Alderson (bass) and Marcus Finnie (drums), according to the official poster.

Will they play only Weather Report music?

The concert title says «Celebrate Weather Report» and the venue mentions «Elegant People» and «Black Market». The full set list isn't published.

Is it part of a festival?

Yes, the Roma Jazz Festival, founded in 1976 and held in the fall since 1996.

Is the concert suitable if you don't know jazz-fusion?

The venue presents the concert as a meeting between a singer and a jazz-fusion band and mentions two pieces from the Weather Report repertoire. To prepare, listen to «Black Market» from 1976. Beyond that, the set list isn't published.

How do you get there?

It's in Flaminio, reachable by public transport or on foot across Ponte della Musica. Use the ATAC route planner for up-to-date times.

Final advice on Kurt Elling and Yellowjackets

Listen to «Black Market» once before the concert and then forget the record. The official program uses the word «reinterpreting», and it's the right word: you're there to hear new choices in arrangement and voice.

Article written by the editorial team of Tour Leader Pro, contact them for Private/Corporate/V.I.P. Tours and Experiences.

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