Oscar Rivers Jr., widely considered Charleston’s jazz patriarch, will perform during the 2026 MOJA Arts Festival.
“An Evening with Oscar Rivers Jr.” will be held at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 30, at the Cannon Street Arts Center, 134 Cannon St., home of the City’s Office of Cultural Affairs.
Rivers, 86, has commanded stages for more than half a century. Born in 1940 and raised in downtown Charleston, he graduated from Burke High School in 1957 and South Carolina State University in 1961 before building a legacy as an educator and virtuoso saxophonist and pianist. Over his career, he has performed with some of music’s greatest talents, including Charlie Parker, Sonny Stitt and Stevie Wonder. Rivers also spent years in Chicago, playing venues across the city with well-known artists.
Rivers said he is excited to keep playing in the city that raised him and takes pride in his longevity.
“I’m the same age as Smokey Robinson and Herbie Hancock, and Herbie is still playing,” he said. “And if I never play another weekend gig, I have a permanent job every Sunday at my church.”
Rivers plays each Sunday at Morris Brown AME Church on Morris Street.
Rivers is dedicating the concert to Joy Shannon Pryor, who sang with The Rivers & Company Band for almost 25 years and died unexpectedly two years ago.
Tickets for “An Evening with Oscar Rivers Jr.” are available at https://www.citypapertickets.
The festival continues at 7 p.m. tonight at the Dock Street Theatre with a tribute to Stevie Wonder’s “Songs in the Key of Life,” which was released 50 years ago today. Tickets also remain available for Jazmin Ghent in concert at the Dock Street Theatre on Wednesday night.
The festival closes Thursday, Oct. 1, with its finale in Hampton Park featuring Ray Chew, music director for “Dancing with the Stars,” celebrating albums that turn 50 in 2026. The Artisan Village and Wellness Village open at 4 p.m., and the music begins at 7:30 p.m.
Guests are encouraged to buy tickets in advance for each show.