I had not heard about Jeff Goldblum’s involvement with the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra until recently, and the discovery came as a surprise. After all, I used to spend Monday nights at Michael’s Pub in Manhattan listening to Woody Allen play his clarinet, so I thought I had a handle on the unexpected musical passions of famous actors. Goldblum, it turns out, has been carrying on his own parallel career in jazz for decades. To me, actors who possess musical chops tread on rarified ground. That kind of double artistry feels like a heavenly gift.
So when I heard he was bringing his band to Austin’s Bass Concert Hall for the very first time on September 9, I was curious but unsure what to expect. Jazz? Comedy? A Hollywood star turning into a lounge act?
I arrived at 7:30 p.m., half an hour before the show was set to begin. Goldblum was already onstage. No fanfare, no curtain rise. Just Jeff, perched on a stool, chatting as if he were holding a living-room salon with more than 1,000 guests. Wearing a blue fringe suede cowboy jacket, a plaid green shirt, and a black hat that was almost a Stetson, he looked equal parts outlaw, professor, and dapper trickster. Ready for Texas.
His warm and personable approach immediately endeared him to the audience. He picked people out of the crowd, asked their names, and had genuine conversations. Each micro-interaction was infused with curious attention, as if the rest of the hall had momentarily disappeared. Then, with his trademark wit, Goldblum shifted gears into a trivia quiz on music, film, and acting.
Many in the audience didn’t know jazz well—understandably. Jazz has never quite been part of Austin’s zeitgeist. When I moved here in 2011, the genre mostly stayed in a single club, with small pockets supported by non-Texans or the devoted Austin Jazz Society. Yet Goldblum made it feel fresh, immediate, and welcoming. He didn’t preach, he wove the names of the tunes and composers and musicians into a seamless thread, like a professor who knows how to make a class laugh and not feel ignorant.
A representative from KMFA-FM, who had interviewed him earlier, sat in the front row. He teased her into the banter, and at one point segued into stories about Whoopi Goldberg and drinking Long Island iced teas at Wolfgang Puck’s Spago in Los Angeles.
The evening’s set list was a kaleidoscope of jazz spanning decades. Much of it was the soundtrack I grew up with, thanks to my father, a jazz aficionado. I found myself tapping and humming along to everything from “Grease Patrol” to Bobby Short’s Niagara to Errol Garner’s “Play Misty for Me.” The bittersweet ending came with Cole Porter’s “Goodbye,” which brought some in the audience to tears.
Broadway diva Kaleih Johnson brought the house down—her vocal range was stunning, powerful enough to rattle the rafters. The performance would have been even more impactful if they had miked every musician individually.
Two local musicians—one saxophonist and one trumpeter—were invited onstage. Both are talents to watch, and their presence underscored Goldblum’s openness to collaboration and local flair.
Goldblum launched the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra 30 years ago. Since then, he and his band have performed for delighted audiences throughout the United States and around the world, playing contemporary arrangements of classic jazz and American Songbook standards. The group has released three albums with Decca Records featuring guest artists such as Gregory Porter, Kelly Clarkson, Miley Cyrus, Fiona Apple, Freda Payne, Haley Reinhart, and Imelda May. Their fourth album, Still Blooming, will be released this spring and includes performances with Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Scarlett Johansson, and Maiya Sykes.
By the end of the night, what lingered most was not just the music but the authenticity. Goldblum showed that a famous person can retain their humanity, laughing, listening, and connecting deeply with the people in front of him. He was less a Hollywood star and more a joyful host, ushering Austin into a world where jazz, humor, and human warmth could coexist.
In a city that prides itself on keeping things weird, Jeff Goldblum found his people—and left us all a little lighter, a little more alive, and humming Cole Porter on the way out.
Texas Performing Arts at The University of Texas at Austin
Bass Concert Hall | 2350 Robert Dedman Drive, Austin, TX 78712
Tickets & Info: texasperformingarts.org
Box Office: (512) 471-1444