Jazz Thursdays | The Colin Leonard Quartet
On a Thursday evening, Sarasota’s galleries take on a different rhythm.
By Edit Sarasota Staff
On a Thursday evening, Sarasota’s galleries take on a different rhythm. The white walls of Sarasota Art Museum become a backdrop for improvisation, conversation and the kind of attentive listening that has long made jazz feel at home in this city. For one night in September, the museum’s galleries, Bistro and SHOP will remain open late as the Colin Leonard Quartet brings live jazz to the heart of the city’s cultural district.
Presented by the Jazz Club of Sarasota, “Jazz Thursdays” joins two of Sarasota’s most enduring artistic traditions: the visual arts and a local music scene that has welcomed generations of performers and audiences. The result is less a conventional concert than an evening designed for lingering. Visitors can move through the museum, pause with a work of art, settle in for a set, or meet friends over food and conversation as the quartet’s music fills the building.
That setting matters. Sarasota Art Museum, housed in the former Sarasota High School, has become a lively center for contemporary art and public programming, bringing new energy to a landmark building while keeping its doors open to broad civic life. The Jazz Club of Sarasota, meanwhile, has spent decades nurturing the region’s appreciation for the music through performances, education and community partnerships. Together, the organizations offer a distinctly Sarasota experience: thoughtful, welcoming and receptive to both tradition and experimentation.
The Colin Leonard Quartet provides an apt soundtrack for that exchange. In a quartet, the spaces between players matter as much as the notes themselves—conversation, response, surprise. Heard alongside exhibitions and the architectural character of the old school, the music invites listeners to experience the museum not simply as a place to view art but as a room with its own pulse.
“Jazz Thursdays | The Colin Leonard Quartet” takes place Thursday, September 10, 2026, at Sarasota Art Museum. Doors open to an evening of live jazz, extended gallery hours, Bistro service and shopping at SHOP, making it easy to shape the night according to your own tempo.