Following up on his 2016 KC Jazz Club debut, fast-rising, teen jazz and blues organist and pianist Matthew Whitaker has performed with the likes of Roy Ayers, Jon Batiste, the New York Pops Orchestra, and Christian McBride. He comes to the Millennium Stage as part of the 2017 NEA Jazz Masters celebration, at which Whitaker’s mentor, Dr. Lonnie Smith, will receive a 2017 NEA Jazz Master designation.