Hi friends,

I’d like to invite you to a new show run at The Second City, Chicago’s legendary home for comedy and music, where I’m proud to serve as musical director. Every Monday from 8:00–10:30 pm we put on a high-energy evening of sharp improv, original sketches, and live music that keeps the whole room locked in. This particular run is especially tight and unpredictable—one of those nights that has you on the edge of your seat the entire time… and yes, you might actually pee your pants from laughing. For those brave souls, you are welcomed to join the improv jam after the show.

If you’re a friend and would like complimentary tickets, just shoot me a message and I’ll do my best to score some in for you. If you’re a stranger… tough luck! (jk—come anyway, you’ll still have a blast.)

Hope to see you there. More details are in the Dates section.

Hello friends,

I hope life is treating you well!

I’m writing to invite you to a special concert on Thursday, August 27th in the Highland Park area of Chicago. Bandleader Donovan Mixon is an incredible guitarist and composer—his music is fresh, daring, and full of fire. If you enjoy hearing cats improvise on burning tunes, this is a show you won’t want to miss.I’m really looking forward to it. As I dig into the music—with its hard grooves, bouncing odd meters and angular harmonies—I’ll be doing my best to sound good up there.Hope to see you there!

More on the man and the music:

Finding Center: A Sonic Memoir, an immersive concert experience created by Chicago‑based guitarist, composer, and educator Donovan Mixon. This multi‑sectional performance weaves together contemporary jazz, improvisation, chamber textures, and global influences to form a deeply personal musical journey of resilience and renewal.

This is an AACM-supported presentation, bringing a Chicago creative music ensemble into a Highland Park gallery setting. The Art Center is an especially fitting space for the project because the music is rooted in memory, improvisation, composition, and dialogue — qualities that can resonate differently when presented in conversation with visual art.

Inspired by a life lived across Turkey, Europe, and the United States, Mixon’s latest project transforms trauma into beauty and connection. Finding Center is a meditation on chaos and calm, loss and love, despair and hope — a search for balance that feels both intimate and universal. “Music has been my anchor and my refuge,” Mixon shares. “It has helped me navigate the storm, find fleeting moments of peace, and hold onto the light even as darkness loomed.”

Hey friends! I hope life finds you well, doing amazing and interesting things. I am thrilled to share I’ve been invited as a lecturer to the renown Samba Meets Jazz Workshop in Bar Harbor Maine this August 1 - 7th, 2026! The happens at the Atlantic College, and it is a 1 week immersion in Latin, Jazz and Brazilian music with world class instructors. Registration is available both on my Instagram and here. If you are interested in joining us, signing up! See you there!

Hi friends,

I’d like to hip you to a brand-new album I had the pleasure of recording with Bobby Sanabria’s Multiverse Big Band. Released in April 2026, it’s a vibrant live recording captured at the Bronx Music Hall—full of fire, precision, and that unmistakable New York energy.What makes this project especially compelling is its deep dive into the music and legacy of Arsenio Rodríguez. The arrangements were created specifically for this ensemble, reimagining Arsenio’s groundbreaking son montuno innovations, rhythmic complexity, and melodic richness through a modern big-band lens. The result is neither a strict recreation nor a radical departure, but a thoughtful, swinging conversation between Cuban roots and contemporary Latin jazz—one that honors the tradition while letting the Multiverse Big Band’s unique voice shine.I’m extremely honored to have been the pianist on this recording. Check it out on all major listening platforms!

Hello friends, I’d like to share a not so new update you but that I’m excited about. As many of you know, I have been a core member of Bobby Sanabria’s Multiverse Bigband, having recorded 3 albums to date and received a Grammy Award nomination in 2024 for “Vox Humana” which was recorded live at Dizzy’s Jazz Club at Lincoln Center in New York City. I am incredibly humbled and honored to have been on this record, and look forward to the future with this band, with Bobby at the helm. I’m trying to get better about chronicles on here, so bear with me! Thank you for those who have supported my career.