Pianist Sullivan Fortner brings swinging style to the Pacific Jazz Café at the Monterey Jazz Festival.

New Orleans-born wunderkind and two-time Grammy award winner Sullivan Fortner has been making his mark since childhood, when he started playing piano at the age of 7 and was discovered by Ellis Marsalis, the father of jazz greats Wynton and Branford. 

Finding a place as someone who could bridge generations, covering tunes by everyone from Mr. Rogers to Stevie Wonder, Thelonious Monk and famed trumpeter Clifford Brown, his subtle, but forceful approach has commanded attention from the release of his first album, “Aria,” in 2015, to his most recent album, “Southern Nights,” taking its eponymous title from the classic tune by fellow Louisianan Allen Toussaint.

The youthful musician, a Monterey Jazz Festival Artist-In-Residence, is no stranger to the festival. He previously played the Garden Stage in 2023, and accompanied songstress Samara Joy the same year in an inspired set at the Jimmy Lyons Stage.

In his relatively short, but accomplished career, Fortner’s side hustle has been accompanying Joy, Cécile McLorin Salvant and Latin jazz vocalist Lauren Henderson on albums and live performances. It’s an ideal match, since they share the goal of bringing new blood to audiences who may not be familiar with Ella Fitzgerald or Sarah Vaughan but who drink in the work of their contemporary interpreters with rapt enthusiasm. In 2024, Fortner shared a Grammy with Joy for his work on the Stevie Wonder tune, “Twinkle Twinkle Little Me’’ on her album, “A Joyful Holiday.’’ (He previously covered “Don’t You Worry About A Thing,” on Solo Game in 2024, which featured the pianist working unaccompanied in the tradition of predecessors such as Bill Evans and Keith Jarrett.) 

He won his first Grammy in 2019 for his collaboration with Cécile McLorin Salvant on her Jazz Best Vocal-winning album, The Window, and has collaborated with everyone from Paul Simon, on “In The Blue Light,’’ his 2018 re-recording of favorite, if lesser-known songs, to DeeDee Bridgewater, Wynton Marsalis, John Scofield, Diane Reeves and the late trumpeter Roy Hargrove.

The Saturday night gig at the Café should be an ideal setting—it’s long been a favorite spot for fans who enjoy a place that feels more like a club than a stadium. As longtime emcee Michael Jacobi puts it, “It’s an intimate space that seats up to 300 people—you’re not looking at a Jumbo Screen, you’re looking at the performer.”

Sullivan Fortner plays at the Pacific Jazz Café 8:30pm Saturday, Sept. 27. montereyjazz.org.