Cleveland-born jazz vocalist Vanessa Rubin will headline a benefit concert for Karamu House on Saturday, Aug. 29, bringing her decades of touring experience back to the Fairfax neighborhood stage where the nation's oldest producing Black theater has staged work for more than a century. The performance takes place in the Jelliffe Theatre on Karamu's campus at 2355 E. 89th St., just weeks before the theater kicks off its 2026-27 mainstage season.
As reported by Cleveland.com, Rubin has performed regularly in Northeast Ohio for years, including past appearances at the Tri-C Jazz Festival and at the former Nighttown, and has been a nationally touring artist for four decades. She is a product of Betty Carter's Jazz Ahead program at the Kennedy Center and received the 2015 Cleveland Jazz Legends Award, according to the same report.
Rubin will be backed by a quartet featuring Brandon McCune on piano, Kenny Davis on bass and Jerome Jennings on drums, per Cleveland.com's account of the lineup. Davis previously recorded with Rubin as part of her core rhythm section on her acclaimed 2019 project, DownBeat notes, an all-vocal tribute to fellow Cleveland-born bebop composer Tadd Dameron that was the first record of its kind dedicated entirely to Dameron's compositions. Jennings, meanwhile, has worked as an orchestra musician for Broadway productions including “The Color Purple” and “Ain't Misbehavin'” and has backed jazz figures such as Louis Hayes and Lester Bowie's Brass Fantasy, according to doNYC.
A Career Rooted in a Standing Ovation
Rubin's path to jazz began unexpectedly while she was studying journalism at Ohio State University. Per a biographical account shared on Facebook, she decided to pursue jazz singing professionally after receiving a standing ovation for her performance of “God Bless the Child” at the Miss Black Central Ohio Contest, later returning to Cleveland to build her reputation in local venues before touring internationally.
Tickets for the benefit run from $100 to $125 and include a pre-concert reception with hors d'oeuvres and drinks as well as a post-concert dessert reception, the outlet's coverage indicates. Tickets are available at karamuhouse.org. Proceeds will support Karamu House's theatrical productions, education programs, workforce development and community outreach efforts, per the same report.
A Season Launch and a Leadership Transition
The concert arrives just ahead of Karamu House's 2026-27 theater season, which kicks off Sept. 24 with “Mr. Rickey Calls a Meeting.” The season also features “A Motown Christmas,” which returns to Playhouse Square on Nov. 28 and runs through Dec. 13, followed by “Paul Robeson,” running Feb. 11 through March 7, 2027. The season is set to conclude with a fourth musical that has not yet been announced, according to Cleveland.com.
The fundraiser comes amid a significant leadership transition at Karamu House. In May, Hoodline reported that the theater launched a national search for a new president and CEO after longtime leader Tony F. Sias, who has led the institution since 2015, shifted into the role of artistic director. Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Aseelah Shareef has stepped in as interim president and CEO during the search. That same report detailed Karamu's recent $5.2 million campus renovation completed in 2024 and its designation, established in January 2024 by Playhouse Square, as that organization's first official affiliate company — a partnership that broadens Karamu's regional audience while keeping its main stage productions rooted in Fairfax.
A Legacy Stretching Back More Than a Century
Karamu House was founded in 1915 by Oberlin College graduates Russell and Rowena Jelliffe as a settlement house known as the Neighborhood Association in Cleveland's “Roaring Third” district, according to the Case Western Reserve University Encyclopedia of Cleveland History. The institution adopted its current name in 1941, derived from a Swahili phrase meaning “joyful gathering place.” The theater was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on December 17, 1982, recognizing its status as the oldest continuously operating Black theater in the country, per Wikipedia.
That legacy includes a deep connection to Harlem Renaissance poet and playwright Langston Hughes, who grew up in Cleveland and debuted several of his plays at Karamu through its resident acting company, the Gilpin Players, including the 1936 world premieres of “When the Jack Hollars” and “Troubled Island.” The Jelliffe Theatre itself, where Rubin's benefit concert will be held, was modernized in a renovation led by Robert P. Madison International, Ohio's first African American-owned architecture firm, improving seating, lighting, backstage areas and ADA compliance.
