Since 1986, Sunshine Jazz Organization has worked to make sure jazz has a place to be heard, learned, shared and passed on. What started with a love for the music and a commitment to South Florida’s jazz community has grown into decades of concerts, workshops, educational programs and opportunities for both emerging and established artists. Along the way, SJO has helped preserve the stories and sounds of jazz while creating spaces for new generations to experience it for themselves.

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This 40th anniversary is more than a milestone. It’s a celebration of the musicians who have taken the stage, the audiences who have filled the room, the supporters who have kept the music going and the community that has been part of SJO’s story from the beginning.

Leesa Richards grew up in music-rich Detroit and started showing an inclination towards the arts at an early age. Ms. Richards began honing…