Jazz St. Louis to premiere Victor Goines’ expanded ‘MLK Suite’ with guest trombonist Wycliffe Gordon
An expanded big-band work arrives during Jazz St. Louis’ 30th anniversary season
Jazz St. Louis is set to debut a new, expanded version of “The MLK Suite,” an original composition by the organization’s president and CEO, Victor Goines. The performances are scheduled for Feb. 20–21, 2026, at the Ferring Jazz Bistro inside the Harold & Dorothy Steward Center for Jazz in St. Louis’ Grand Center district.
The work revisits a suite Goines first premiered in 2015 at Northwestern University, where he previously led jazz studies. The 2026 St. Louis debut is framed as both a Black History Month program and part of Jazz St. Louis’ 30th anniversary season, with Goines writing for the Jazz St. Louis Big Band rather than the smaller ensemble used in the original premiere.
From a 2015 suite to a larger, reimagined 2026 premiere
Goines’ earlier version was written as a multi-movement suite inspired by the life and legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. For the St. Louis performances, the suite has been expanded and re-orchestrated for big band, shifting the musical palette toward richer ensemble textures and larger-scale writing.
Program descriptions indicate that the music draws on both jazz and gospel techniques. The planned approach reflects King’s background as a Baptist minister and the call-and-response traditions shared between church services and jazz performance practices.
What the suite depicts
The suite’s movements are organized around episodes and themes associated with King’s life, including early years, public leadership, struggle, and aftermath. One added segment in the expanded version focuses on events in Selma, Alabama, in March 1965, referencing the days after violence against voting-rights marchers at the Edmund Pettus Bridge and the subsequent march led by King on March 9, 1965, during which demonstrators prayed and turned back.
- Composer and bandleader: Victor Goines
- Ensemble: Jazz St. Louis Big Band
- Special guest: trombonist Wycliffe Gordon
- Dates: Feb. 20–21, 2026
- Venue: Ferring Jazz Bistro, 3536 Washington Avenue, St. Louis
Featured guest and local setting
The performances will feature Wycliffe Gordon as a special guest. Goines, a saxophonist and clarinetist, is also slated to perform while directing the ensemble. Jazz St. Louis, which evolved from the earlier “Jazz at the Bistro” series and adopted its current name in 2006, operates year-round programming and education initiatives from its Grand Center home.
The upcoming premiere marks both a new musical statement and a continuation of an earlier composition, reshaped for a larger ensemble and a St. Louis audience during the organization’s anniversary season.