Valerie Troutt

Please note: Dance floor is General Admission standing room only. If you would prefer seats, please select a different level for this show. Patrons with seats, please enter the auditorium through the 2nd floor entrances.

With wide-ranging influences such as Bjork, Dianne Reeves, Carmen McRae, Joni Mitchell, and Cassandra Wilson, jazz and gospel vocalist Valerie Troutt is a tremendously creative artist for whom art and activism are intertwined. She returns to SFJAZZ to honor the legacy of Oakland-born gospel legend Walter Hawkins and the Hawkins Family.

Bay Area born and bred, her spiritual and social justice driven performances mirror her lifelong hunger for social connection and cultural narratives. Since returning to the Bay Area after her studies at New York’s New School and subsequent touring, Troutt has partnered with East Bay Performance Art Center, the Museum of African Diaspora, San Francisco Queer Cultural Center, the Embodiment Project, Zoolabs, Yerba Buena SF, and Oakland School for the Arts, where Troutt is currently a teaching artist in residence.