Jon Regen plays The Side Door Jazz Club in Old Lyme on December 4

The pianist and singer-songwriter brings an evening of songs to an 80-seat room on Friday, December 4, 2026.

Eighty seats, one piano, and a musician who has spent three decades moving between jazz trios and pop songwriting. That's the setup for the first Friday in December in Old Lyme.

Jon Regen plays The Side Door Jazz Club in Old Lyme on Friday, December 4, 2026, with the show starting at 8 p.m. The date was announced October 26. Tickets run $25 to $50 through Eventbrite. The Side Door holds about 80, so this is about as intimate as a club date gets — and with a month to go, it's worth deciding soon.

Regen's career has a long arc. His debut, the instrumental album From Left to Right, came out in 1996 with Earl May and Sunny Jain, and he reissued it this year on April 24 via JRM/Symphonic, as KMUW and Paris-Move reported. From that jazz-trio start, he turned toward singing and songwriting — a shift JazzTimes charted in a column titled "From Piano to the Voice."

His most recent studio album, Satisfied Mind, was released July 11, 2023, and featured a remarkable guest list including Ron Carter, Rob Thomas, Pino Palladino and Dave McMurray, according to BroadwayWorld. Before that, Glide Magazine praised the all-star lineup on his album Higher Ground. He's also a Steinway Artist, and he played the EFG London Jazz Festival, per the festival's own listing.

There's more on the way. KMUW reported that Regen is readying a live album drawn from that London Jazz Festival appearance and has a new studio record in the works. Southeastern Connecticut readers may also remember The Day writing about his turn toward brighter, pop-infused material — a reminder that this is a songwriter, not just a player, and the set will likely move between both.

The Side Door suits that kind of evening. In a room of 80, every lyric lands and every voicing on the piano is audible from the back row. For a musician whose records lean on the space between notes as much as the notes themselves, a small listening room is where the music makes the most sense.

Early December is also a good moment for it. The holiday rush hasn't fully taken over, and a Friday night at the club is an easy way to start a weekend on the shoreline.

Friday, December 4, 8 p.m. Eighty seats. Don't wait for the week of.

Sources: Jon Regen re-releases debut album From Left to Right — KMUW (kmuw.org); Jon Regen with Earl May & Sunny Jain – From Left to Right — Paris-Move (paris-move.com); Jon Regen: From Piano to the Voice — JazzTimes (jazztimes.com); Jon Regen releases new album Satisfied Mind — BroadwayWorld (sf.broadwayworld.com); Jon Regen boasts all-star lineup on versatile Higher Ground — Glide Magazine (glidemagazine.com); Jon Regen — Steinway Artists (steinway.com); Jon Regen — EFG London Jazz Festival (efglondonjazzfestival.org.uk); Pianist/songwriter Jon Regen turns to bright new, pop-infused output — The Day (theday.com); JamBase: Jon Regen at The Side Door Jazz Club (jambase.com)