By Coral Gables Gazette staff
Traditional jazz takes center stage Thursday, June 25, when saxophonist Langston Hughes II brings his quartet to Coral Gables Congregational United Church of Christ for the second concert in the Community Arts Program’s 2026 Summer Concert Series.
Hughes will perform with William Hill III on piano, Eytan Schillinger-Hyman on bass and Beckett Miles on drums. The concert begins at 7:30 p.m. and continues a summer series that has brought classical and jazz artists to Coral Gables for more than four decades.
CAP describes the evening as “pure, traditional jazz joy.” The phrase may be promotional, but the personnel give it weight: four young musicians working within a tradition built on tone, swing, melody and conversation among players.
A saxophone voice rooted in tradition
Hughes is originally from Prince George’s County, Maryland, and is now based in New York City. He is an alumnus of Howard University and the Juilliard School, where he earned a master’s degree in Jazz Studies.
His musical background joins several streams: the blues, Black gospel influence, the Washington, D.C., jazz lineage and the discipline of New York’s contemporary jazz scene. Those roots matter because Hughes does not present himself as a player trying to escape the tradition. He appears to be building from inside it.
He began playing saxophone as a child and later studied at Howard, where his mentors included saxophonist Charlie Young III and pianist Cyrus Chestnut. Hughes has described the church as an early source of musical revelation, a place where sound could change the atmosphere of a room and where musicians seemed to possess a power larger than technique alone.
That foundation carried him to Juilliard and into the New York jazz world. His professional credits include work with Ulysses Owens Jr.’s Generation Y band, appearances with artists including Rufus Reid, Jazzmeia Horn and Orrin Evans, and selection for the Betty Carter Jazz Ahead Residency at the Kennedy Center.
His stated influences from earlier generations include Cannonball Adderley and Johnny Hodges, along with Ben Webster and Coleman Hawkins. That lineage says something about the aesthetic center of the evening: a saxophone tradition rooted in warmth, vocal expression and direct emotional address.
The quartet around him
The musicians joining Hughes are part of the same rising jazz generation.
William Hill III, a pianist, arranger, composer and bandleader from Detroit, is currently studying at the Manhattan School of Music. He has performed at venues including Dizzy’s Club, the Kennedy Center, Smalls Jazz Club and Blue Note Tokyo, and has worked alongside or been mentored by artists including Christian McBride, Wynton Marsalis, Buster Williams and Jazzmeia Horn. His second album, “Keep it Movin’,” was released in 2025.
Bassist Eytan Schillinger-Hyman has appeared regularly alongside Hughes, including at Hughes’ annual holiday concerts at Blues Alley in Washington, D.C. Drummer Beckett Miles completes the quartet.
Together, the group represents a young New York-centered jazz circle at an early but serious stage. The promise of the concert is not reinvention for its own sake, but close attention to a language these musicians have clearly chosen to study, inhabit and extend.
A long-running summer tradition
The Community Arts Program Summer Concert Series is now in its 41st consecutive year. Since 1985, the series has drawn more than 70,000 concertgoers to Coral Gables Congregational United Church of Christ, according to CAP materials.
The series continued virtually during the pandemic summers of 2020 and 2021, drawing online audiences before returning to its in-person format. This year’s lineup runs every other Thursday from June 11 through Aug. 20, with all concerts beginning at 7:30 p.m.
Part of the series’ appeal is its scale. These are not arena concerts or festival sets. They are evenings built around proximity: musicians close enough for listeners to hear the shape of a phrase, the movement of a rhythm section and the decisions that make live performance different from a recording.
For jazz, that setting matters.
A church with civic memory
The venue adds another Coral Gables layer to the evening.
Coral Gables Congregational United Church of Christ was founded in 1923 and remains one of the city’s foundational civic and religious landmarks. George Merrick built the church to honor his father, Solomon Merrick, a Congregational minister. The church sits at 3010 De Soto Boulevard, across from the Biltmore Hotel, and its Mediterranean Revival architecture reflects the larger civic design language of early Coral Gables.
For a concert centered on tradition, memory and musical roots, the setting is part of the evening’s character: an intimate room in a historic building, carrying a summer concert tradition of its own.
A free master class follows
The concert also comes with a second opportunity to engage the music.
CAP Summer Master Classes and Jam Sessions are held on the Friday morning following select summer concerts, from 10 a.m. to noon, in the church sanctuary. Hughes is among the artists scheduled to lead one of those sessions, and the June 26 master class is open to all.
For listeners who want more than a single evening of performance, the session offers a chance to hear a working musician discuss the craft behind the sound — how a player thinks about tone, time, influence and improvisation.
If you go
CAP Summer Concert Series: Langston Hughes II Quartet
Thursday, June 25, 2026
7:30 p.m.
Coral Gables Congregational United Church of Christ, 3010 De Soto Blvd., Coral Gables
Performers: Langston Hughes II, saxophone; William Hill III, piano; Eytan Schillinger-Hyman, bass; Beckett Miles, drums
Tickets: General admission, $35 advance; patron admission, $50 advance, including reserved general seating in rows 1 through 9; tickets are $5 more at the door
Parking: Free parking included
Information: CommunityArtsProgram.org or 305-448-7421, ext. 120
Free master class: Friday, June 26, 10 a.m. to noon, church sanctuary; open to all
