The 2026 Between the Stacks Lineup is Here!
Join us for a season of wonderful music and support the library.
All concerts begin at 7:30 p.m., with doors opening at 6:30 p.m. Beer, wine, coffee, tea, soda, and water are available for a suggested donation. Artists will bring merchandise for sale; all merchandise sales go directly to the artist. Ticket prices for the 2026 season are: $35 advance admission (bought online or at the library prior to the concert)
$40/door
Season Pass: $120 ($5/ticket discount on advance price, $10/discount on door price!)
$40/door
Season Pass: $120 ($5/ticket discount on advance price, $10/discount on door price!)
January 24, 2026: The Yoko Miwa Trio
Internationally acclaimed pianist/composer Yoko Miwa is one of the most powerful and compelling performers on the scene today. Her trio, with its remarkable telepathy and infectious energy, has brought audiences to their feet worldwide. Yoko was named a Rising Star Pianist in the 2022, 2023, and 2024 DownBeat Critics Poll. The Yoko Miwa Trio’s 2021 release Songs of Joy received wide acclaim and reached #1 on national jazz radio charts and was voted a best jazz album of 2021 in the DownBeat 86th Annual Readers Poll.
For more than a decade, Miwa’s trio has played regularly at major jazz clubs in their home city of Boston, as well as venues around the world. A favorite of Jazz at Lincoln Center, Miwa was chosen to play on “Marian McPartland & Friends,” part of the Coca-Cola Generations in Jazz Festival. She was also chosen to perform at Lincoln Center’s annual Jazz and Leadership Workshop for The National Urban League’s Youth Summit. Miwa also appears regularly at New York’s famed Blue Note Jazz Club as well as Birdland and has performed and/or recorded with a wide range of jazz greats including Sheila Jordan, Slide Hampton, Arturo Sandoval, George Garzone, Jazzmeia Horn, Jon Faddis, Jerry Bergonzi, Esperanza Spalding, Terri Lyne Carrington, Peter Washington, Kevin Mahogany, John Lockwood, Dominique Eade, Calvin Keys, and Johnathan Blake among others. In 2018 she performed on the main stage at the Atlanta Jazz Festival and the Litchfield Jazz Festival, where her trio drew the largest audience of any act. She is a Yamaha Pianos Artist, JVC Victor Entertainment and Ubuntu Music recording artist, 10X nominated and 2019 Winner in the Boston Music Awards as Jazz Artist of the Year, and Boston Phoenix Best Music Poll winner.
Miwa’s story of becoming a jazz musician is full of serendipity and happy twists of fate. In the late 1990s the classically-trained artist auditioned for Berklee College of Music on a lark and ended up winning a full scholarship. She arrived at the school from her homeland of Japan in 1997, intending to stay for a year. In 2022, she’s still in Boston, enriching the city’s musical life and serving as one of the most popular professors in the Berklee piano department.
Act Naturally, the Yoko Miwa Trio’s major label debut in Japan, came out in 2012 on the JVC Victor Entertainment label and the band toured Japan that same year. “She is one of the best jazz pianists in Japan,” said Yozo Iwanami, Jazz Hihyo Magazine.
A native of Kobe, Japan, Miwa didn’t pursue an interest in jazz until she met and studied with Minoru Ozone, a popular television organist and nightclub owner who is the father of pianist Makoto Ozone. Miwa worked at Ozone’s club and as an accompanist and piano instructor at his music school until the great Kobe earthquake of 1995 destroyed both facilities. Then, while continuing to take private lessons from Minoru Ozone, she also pursued musical studies at the Koyo Conservatory in Kobe. From there she won first prize in a scholarship competition to attend Berklee. Miwa quickly began playing with a host of talented students and teachers, and she formed a strong bond with vocal great Kevin Mahogany, who chose the pianist to serve as accompanist in his classes and on his gigs.
Miwa has released nine highly acclaimed CDs: In the Mist of Time (Tokuma, 2000); Fadeless Flower (Polystar, 2002); Canopy of Stars (Polystar, 2004); The Day We Said Goodbye, recorded live at the studios of WGBH-FM (Sunshine Digital, 2006); Live at Scullers (Jazz Cat Amnesty, 2011); Act Naturally (JVC Victor Entertainment, 2012), Pathways (2017), Keep Talkin’ (2019), and Songs of Joy (Ubuntu Music, 2021).
You can listen to the band and find out more information at yokomiwa.com.
For more than a decade, Miwa’s trio has played regularly at major jazz clubs in their home city of Boston, as well as venues around the world. A favorite of Jazz at Lincoln Center, Miwa was chosen to play on “Marian McPartland & Friends,” part of the Coca-Cola Generations in Jazz Festival. She was also chosen to perform at Lincoln Center’s annual Jazz and Leadership Workshop for The National Urban League’s Youth Summit. Miwa also appears regularly at New York’s famed Blue Note Jazz Club as well as Birdland and has performed and/or recorded with a wide range of jazz greats including Sheila Jordan, Slide Hampton, Arturo Sandoval, George Garzone, Jazzmeia Horn, Jon Faddis, Jerry Bergonzi, Esperanza Spalding, Terri Lyne Carrington, Peter Washington, Kevin Mahogany, John Lockwood, Dominique Eade, Calvin Keys, and Johnathan Blake among others. In 2018 she performed on the main stage at the Atlanta Jazz Festival and the Litchfield Jazz Festival, where her trio drew the largest audience of any act. She is a Yamaha Pianos Artist, JVC Victor Entertainment and Ubuntu Music recording artist, 10X nominated and 2019 Winner in the Boston Music Awards as Jazz Artist of the Year, and Boston Phoenix Best Music Poll winner.
Miwa’s story of becoming a jazz musician is full of serendipity and happy twists of fate. In the late 1990s the classically-trained artist auditioned for Berklee College of Music on a lark and ended up winning a full scholarship. She arrived at the school from her homeland of Japan in 1997, intending to stay for a year. In 2022, she’s still in Boston, enriching the city’s musical life and serving as one of the most popular professors in the Berklee piano department.
Act Naturally, the Yoko Miwa Trio’s major label debut in Japan, came out in 2012 on the JVC Victor Entertainment label and the band toured Japan that same year. “She is one of the best jazz pianists in Japan,” said Yozo Iwanami, Jazz Hihyo Magazine.
A native of Kobe, Japan, Miwa didn’t pursue an interest in jazz until she met and studied with Minoru Ozone, a popular television organist and nightclub owner who is the father of pianist Makoto Ozone. Miwa worked at Ozone’s club and as an accompanist and piano instructor at his music school until the great Kobe earthquake of 1995 destroyed both facilities. Then, while continuing to take private lessons from Minoru Ozone, she also pursued musical studies at the Koyo Conservatory in Kobe. From there she won first prize in a scholarship competition to attend Berklee. Miwa quickly began playing with a host of talented students and teachers, and she formed a strong bond with vocal great Kevin Mahogany, who chose the pianist to serve as accompanist in his classes and on his gigs.
Miwa has released nine highly acclaimed CDs: In the Mist of Time (Tokuma, 2000); Fadeless Flower (Polystar, 2002); Canopy of Stars (Polystar, 2004); The Day We Said Goodbye, recorded live at the studios of WGBH-FM (Sunshine Digital, 2006); Live at Scullers (Jazz Cat Amnesty, 2011); Act Naturally (JVC Victor Entertainment, 2012), Pathways (2017), Keep Talkin’ (2019), and Songs of Joy (Ubuntu Music, 2021).
You can listen to the band and find out more information at yokomiwa.com.
February 28, 2026: Charlie Roman
Charlie Roman is a dynamic guitarist, smooth-voiced crooner, and accomplished bandleader, renowned for his distinctive approach to jazz guitar and velvet-like vocals. A familiar name in New York City’s jazz scene—and increasingly recognized on the international stage—Charlie began his journey at local jam sessions, where his talent and lightning-fast technique quickly set him apart.
With over 15 years of experience performing at venues including 54 Below, The Rainbow Room, and Lincoln Center, Charlie has become a sought-after performer for weddings, private events, and jazz festivals. His deep roots in the NYC music community and his passion for performance and vintage style have made him one of the go-to names in New York gypsy jazz.
You can see videos of Charlie Roman and listen to his lively jazz music at https://charlieromanjazzband.com/.
With over 15 years of experience performing at venues including 54 Below, The Rainbow Room, and Lincoln Center, Charlie has become a sought-after performer for weddings, private events, and jazz festivals. His deep roots in the NYC music community and his passion for performance and vintage style have made him one of the go-to names in New York gypsy jazz.
You can see videos of Charlie Roman and listen to his lively jazz music at https://charlieromanjazzband.com/.
March 28, 2026: Pamela Means
Back at the Beekley! A favorite of Nights at the Beekley, Pamela Means is coming back to join our Between the Stacks lineup for 2026.
Pamela Means, singer-songwriter with a penchant for protest songs, guitarist, vocalist, educator and social activist, is an Out and proud queer artist that cannot be musically contained. A conservatory-trained musician, Means also fronts her own jazz quartet, breathing life into classics once sung by Billie Holiday, Chet Baker and the like; performs the entirety of the album, The Beatles Abbey Road, solo acoustic, in celebration of its 50th anniversary, and now releases her tenth album, “Live at Northfire,” the first with new empowered trio, Pamela Means and The Reparations.
You can find out more information about Pamela Means, her band, and listen to her music at pamelameans..com.
Pamela Means, singer-songwriter with a penchant for protest songs, guitarist, vocalist, educator and social activist, is an Out and proud queer artist that cannot be musically contained. A conservatory-trained musician, Means also fronts her own jazz quartet, breathing life into classics once sung by Billie Holiday, Chet Baker and the like; performs the entirety of the album, The Beatles Abbey Road, solo acoustic, in celebration of its 50th anniversary, and now releases her tenth album, “Live at Northfire,” the first with new empowered trio, Pamela Means and The Reparations.
You can find out more information about Pamela Means, her band, and listen to her music at pamelameans..com.
April 25, 2026: Leslie Mendelson
With her enchanted voice and evocative songwriting, Leslie Mendelson has won the hearts and minds of both an adoring fanbase and fellow artists alike. No less than Jackson Browne has declared, “Leslie’s melodies are timeless. They reach me way back in my youth somewhere. I hear traces of Burt Bacharach and Carole King, and hooks and passages that remind me of the pop songs I grew up hearing on the radio,”
A Grammy Award-nominated artist, Mendelson returns this summer with her fourth studio album, After The Party. For this latest effort, she collaborates with not one, but three producers: the legendary Peter Asher (James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt), the young, in-demand Tyler Chester (Madison Cunningham, Sara Bareilles, Sara Watkins) and her longtime songwriting partner, three-time Grammy Award-winner, Steve McEwan. Recorded at Jackson Browne’s studio Grove Masters in Santa Monica, CA, she was joined by an ace band featuring guitarists Waddy Wachtel and John Jorgenson, bassists Leland Sklar and Derrick Anderson, and drummers Jim Keltner and Abe Rounds.
Throughout After The Party’s ten tracks, Mendelson crafts a distinctive folk-rock, pop-Americana flavor, evoking the sounds of Laurel Canyon, but with the downtown grit and sharp wit of Brooklyn, the city she has called home for over two decades now. There’s a refreshing realness and effortless musicality that feels both nostalgic and new on songs like “Rock And Roll On The Radio,” “Signs Of Life,” and “I Know A Lot Of People.”
You can listen and find out more at lesliemendelson.com!
A Grammy Award-nominated artist, Mendelson returns this summer with her fourth studio album, After The Party. For this latest effort, she collaborates with not one, but three producers: the legendary Peter Asher (James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt), the young, in-demand Tyler Chester (Madison Cunningham, Sara Bareilles, Sara Watkins) and her longtime songwriting partner, three-time Grammy Award-winner, Steve McEwan. Recorded at Jackson Browne’s studio Grove Masters in Santa Monica, CA, she was joined by an ace band featuring guitarists Waddy Wachtel and John Jorgenson, bassists Leland Sklar and Derrick Anderson, and drummers Jim Keltner and Abe Rounds.
Throughout After The Party’s ten tracks, Mendelson crafts a distinctive folk-rock, pop-Americana flavor, evoking the sounds of Laurel Canyon, but with the downtown grit and sharp wit of Brooklyn, the city she has called home for over two decades now. There’s a refreshing realness and effortless musicality that feels both nostalgic and new on songs like “Rock And Roll On The Radio,” “Signs Of Life,” and “I Know A Lot Of People.”
You can listen and find out more at lesliemendelson.com!
Does Your Business Want To Support Between the Stacks? Become a Sponsor!
Sponsorship is a great way to get word out about your local business and support the arts at our thriving community library. We are looking for sponsors for our 2026 season; please fill out the form below, or email [email protected] with any questions about sponsorship.