[langston Hughes II Quartet] at Five Spot Jazz

Langston Hughes II - Saxophone
Langston Hughes II is an accomplished saxophonist, woodwind doubler, composer, and educator, rapidly emerging as one of the most promising young voices in jazz and beyond. A native of the Washington, D.C. area, Langston began playing saxophone in the Prince George’s County public school system and later refined his craft at Howard University under the mentorship of saxophonist Charlie Young III and pianist Cyrus Chestnut. He recently earned his master’s degree in Jazz Studies from The Juilliard School—one of the world’s premier arts conservatories—where his artistry and professionalism quickly drew the attention of leading figures in the field....

read more

Langston Hughes II - Saxophone
Langston Hughes II is an accomplished saxophonist, woodwind doubler, composer, and educator, rapidly emerging as one of the most promising young voices in jazz and beyond. A native of the Washington, D.C. area, Langston began playing saxophone in the Prince George’s County public school system and later refined his craft at Howard University under the mentorship of saxophonist Charlie Young III and pianist Cyrus Chestnut. He recently earned his master’s degree in Jazz Studies from The Juilliard School—one of the world’s premier arts conservatories—where his artistry and professionalism quickly drew the attention of leading figures in the field.
Langston has toured with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, performed with Rufus Reid, Jazzmeia Horn, and Orrin Evans, and joined Ulysses Owens Jr.’s Generation Y band for a residency in Tokyo, Japan. As a bandleader, he has headlined major venues and festivals including Blues Alley, Keystone Korner, The Kennedy Center, the Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival, and the DC Jazz Festival.
In addition to his work on the bandstand, Langston is quickly becoming an in-demand woodwind chair on and off Broadway, recognized for his versatility, sight-reading skills, and multi-instrumental fluency. His recent credits include A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical, Just in Time: The Bobby Darin Story, and other Off-Broadway productions.
A former Strathmore Artist in Residence, Langston was also selected for the Kennedy Center’s prestigious Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead residency, where he studied with Jason Moran, Marcus Printup, Peter Martin, Clarence Penn, Chris Thomas, and Camille Thurman.
As an educator, Langston has taught more than 50 students through FAME (Foundation for the Advancement of Music and Education) and led clinics and masterclasses at the Levine School of Music, Strathmore, and public schools across Prince George’s County. He also maintains a private lesson studio, where he works one-on-one with a select group of dedicated young musicians. Drawing from the wisdom of his mentors, Langston is committed to passing on the values, traditions, and stories that keep this music alive and evolving for future generations.

William Hill III
William Hill III is a pianist, arranger, composer, and bandleader from Detroit, Michigan. Hill is a graduate of the Detroit School of Arts, and is currently studying at the prestigious Manhattan School of Music undergoing his baccalaureate education.
Hill has had the opportunity to participate in many summer extensive jazz camps such as Jazz House Kids, Jr. Jazz Academy at Lincoln Center, Berklee Summer Programs, Interlochen Center for the Arts, Motown Lyric Project, Keeping an Eye Summer Jazz Workshop located at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead, and many others. Hill is honored to receive awards from programs such as the National YoungArts Foundation, a multi-year winner in the instrumental contemporary category for the NAACP ACT-SO National Competition, and the West Virginia University International Jazz Piano Competition. Musicians that Hill has worked alongside and have been mentored by include Marc Cary, Aaron Parks, Buster Williams, Christian McBride, Curtis Lundy, Jaleel Shaw, Jazzmeia Horn, Joe Farnsworth, Ari Hoenig, Jason Moran, Rodney Whitaker, Wynton Marsalis, and many more.
Hill has had the opportunity to perform at the Detroit Jazz Festival, Dizzy’s Club, Smalls Jazz Club, Mezzrow, Minton’s Playhouse, The Django, The Kennedy Center, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Esplanade-Theaters on the Bay (Singapore), Blue Note Tokyo, and many others to name a few. Hill has recently released his sophomore album, “Keep it Movin’” summer of 2025. Hill’s passion in life as a musician is to spread joy to everyone around the world with the music that he produces.

Eytan Schillinger-Hyman
Eytan Schillinger-Hyman is an upright and electric bassist born and raised in a musical household in San Francisco. He is currently studying at Juilliard for his masters in Bass performance, and he graduated from Oberlin College and Conservatory where he received double degrees in Jazz Bass Performance and Sociology. At Juilliard he studies privately with Ben Wolfe and Gerald Cannon and has worked closely with jazz greats such as Billy Hart, Gary Bartz and Eddie Henderson. Outside of his studies, you can find him performing as a frontman and sideman at household jazz venues in New York and San Francisco circuits.

Tyson Jackson – Drums
Born in March 97, Tyson speaks of his early influences with a mental presence which defies his years.
"I grew up with a huge gospel influence - I started in the church which was down the street from the house that I grew up in. I played with the men's chorus as my first entry level gig - I was about ten/twelve or so. I started the drums as a young child so I had already been playing for years. I would put the manilla envelopes on the floor as my bass pedal to practice. It matriculated on to me going to Bak Middle School of performing arts - I was in the jazz band there. In elementary I was also following the arts path the whole way through. At the Dreyfus school of the arts I was playing jazz, learning the history and the lineage, fully immersing myself and bringing that gospel influence to jazz.

show less