[Cover photo credit to Aaron Rice]
Saxophonist and composer Steve Cole has announced his new album, Sleight of Hand, which will be released June 5, 2026, via Mack Avenue Music Group / Artistry Music. Partnering with his longtime producer and co-writer David Mann for a collection of 10 new original songs, Cole “combines the sounds of two cities, Chicago and Minneapolis, that have come to define his musical identity.”
The first single, “Knock Out“, will be released this Friday, but a preview is out now.
Steve Cole’s Jazz sound was forged in two cities: his native Chicago and his longtime home of Minneapolis.
Cole says:
My whole musical foundation was built in Chicago. It’s where I cut my teeth and it will always be my home. But I feel like I’ve come into my own in Minneapolis, and I’ve done my best work over the 17 years that I’ve lived here. I’ve been so inspired by the artistic community here and by the relationships I’ve formed with the brilliant musicians in the city. I don’t think I would be where I am today if I lived anywhere else.
For the new album, Cole includes layered production, which is “a tricky proposition that suggests the illusory misdirection of the title.”
The musicians who contributed to Sleight of Hand represent Cole’s local community as well as the extended network of collaborators that he has met through his travels. They include guitarist Bernd Schoenhart (Cher, Marc Anthony), trumpeter Trevor Neumann (The Eagles, Jeff Lorber), bassists Mel Brown (Stevie Wonder, The Temptations) and Will Lee (Paul Shaffer, The Brecker Brothers), and drummers Brian Dunne (Hall and Oates, Ariana Grande) and Eric Valentine (Joe Satriani, Erykah Badu).
Cole’s first call upon relocating to Minneapolis was organist Ricky Peterson, who enjoyed a two-decade collaboration with David Sanborn and worked with Prince as both a Producer and a keyboardist at various times.
For the album’s second single out May 22nd, “Maceology,” which a tribute to the great James Brown/P-Funk saxophonist Maceo Parker, Cole called on guitarist Cory Wong (Vulfpeck, Fearless Flyers), a longtime acquaintance who had joined Cole’s band for one night at Dakota Jazz Club early in Wong’s career.
Tour Dates
May 2: Milford, CT – Smooth Jazz for Scholars at Parsons Complex
May 12: Albufeira, Portugal – Algarve Smooth Jazz Festival 2026 at Pine Cliffs Resort
May 23: Minneapolis, MN – Dakota (Record Release Show)
Aug 13: Oakland, CA – Yoshi’s
Aug 14: Seal Beach, CA – Spaghettini
Aug 15: Phoenix, AZ – Musical Instrument Museum
Oct 16: London, UK – Indigo at The O₂ (with Dave Koz, Marc Antoine & Rebecca Jade)
Nov 22: Chicago, IL – Smooth Jazz Chicago at Loews Hotel Chicago O’Hare
