EVENTS
Aja Monet, Fay Victor's Herbie Nichols SUNG, Sophye Soliveau
Aja Monet,
Fay Victor's Herbie Nichols SUNG, Sophye Soliveau
Thursday, January 9, 2025
Le Poisson Rouge, 158 Bleecker Street
10:30 PM Doors | 11:00 PM Show
aja monet is a Grammy-nominated Surrealist Blues Poet. She follows in the long legacy of poets assembling in social movements. Her poems are a work of gravity. At any given time you’ll hear the revolutionary spirit of Audre Lorde and the Last Poets, the feel of June Jordan, Amiri Baraka, Jayne Cortez and even the expressive ephemerality of a passing blue note. Organizing and activism manifest as part of her process toward liberation, with the poems, the music, and the art serving as a scribe of the time. Her first full collection of poems entitled, my mother was a freedom fighter is a testament to all mothers, women, and girls who struggle to live, love, and move freely in the world. Her debut poetry album, when the poems do what they do was nominated for a Grammy for Best Spoken Word Poetry Album. She explores migration, spirituality, and femininity while centering Black resistance, love and the inexhaustible quest for joy. The songs throughout are insistent and unrelenting, with some reminiscent of jazz club virtuosity and melee while others act as a healing balm in gilead, moving like that of the call to intercessory prayer. Tonight aja monet performs with Mariah Davenport, Malcolm Javier Santiago, Justin Brown, Logan Richardson, and Benjamin Williams.
Singer-soundartist-lyricist-bandleader Fay Victor performs Herbie Nichols SUNG — a loving celebration of jazz composer Herbie Nichols' rich legacy & powerful work. Victor's innovative arrangements are brought to vibrant life by a gifted quintet of veteran jazz artists Michaël Attias, Anthony Coleman, Ratzo Harris, and Tom Rainey.
Sophye Soliveau is a singer, harpist, and choir conductor with a deep-rooted passion for African-American music, spanning R&B, soul, and gospel. Her classical training shapes a unique sound where creative improvisation meets a pursuit of healing and freedom.
Makaya McCraven
Makaya McCraven
Thursday, January 9, 2025
Nublu, 151 Avenue C, NYC
10:30 PM Doors | 11:00 PM Show
Our artist-in-residence this year, drummer, beatmaker and exploratory mixtape artist Makaya McCraven, will perform in at least four different configurations over the course of the festival. A prolific drummer, composer and producer, McCraven has been aptly called a “cultural synthesizer,” with a unique gift for collapsing space, destroying borders and blending past, present and future into poly-textural arrangements of post-genre, jazz-rooted 21st-century folk music. According to The New York Times, “McCraven has quietly become one of the best arguments for jazz’s vitality.”
Manhattan Marathon
Manhattan
Marathon
Friday, January 10, 2025
Various Venues
5:00 PM - 3:00 AM
The Winter Jazzfest signature two-night, multi venue experience allows you access to over 40 different groups playing from early evening through late at night. Whether you join for Friday at Manhattan venues, Saturday at Brooklyn venues, or both nights, we guarantee you will discover something new.
SCHEDULE
Le Poisson Rouge, 158 Bleecker St, NYC
4:30 PM Doors
5:00 PM Next Jazz Legacy
6:15 PM Sirintip
7:30 PM Endea Owens
8:45 PM Kiefer
10:00 PM Ganavya
11:15 PM Makaya McCraven
12:30 AM Roberto Fonseca & Joe Claussell
1:45 AM TBA
City Winery, 25 11th Avenue, NYC
5:00 PM Doors
5:15 PM Jenny Scheinman's All Species Parade
6:30 PM The Baylor Project
7:45 PM Amaro Freitas
9:00 PM Trio Imagination w/ Reggie Workman, Andrew Cyrille, David Virelles
10:15 PM Orrin Evans Big Band with Lisa Fischer
11:30 PM Roy Hargrove's Crisol
City Winery Loft, 25 11th Avenue, NYC
6:00 PM Doors
7:00 PM Stefon Harris & Blackout
8:15 PM Melissa Aldana
9:30 PM Matthew Whitaker
10:45 PM Nao Yoshioka
The Keith Haring Theater, Performance Space NY, 150 1st Ave. 4th floor, NYC
5:30 PM Doors
6:00 PM Kaoru Watanabe's Bloodlines
7:15 PM Brandee Younger Trio
8:30 PM Vijay Iyer & Wadada Leo Smith
9:45 PM Air Legacy Trio
11:00 PM Linda May Han Oh
12:15 AM Jakob Bro w/ Mark Turner, Craig Taborn, Marcus Gilmore
The Neilma Sidney Theatre, Performance Space NY, 150 1st Ave. 4th floor, NYC
5:30 PM Doors
6:15 PM Yilian Cañizares
7:30 PM Michael Mayo
8:45 PM Josh Johnson
10:00 PM Caroline Davis and Wendy Eisenberg
11:15 PM Janel & Anthony
Mercury Lounge, 217 E Houston St, NYC
9:00 PM Doors
9:30 PM Zohar & Adam
10:30 PM The Christian McBride Band:Celebrating 20 years of Live At Tonic
Zinc Bar, 82 W 3rd St, NYC
5:30 PM Doors
6:00 PM Adam Birnbaum
7:15 PM Lucía
8:30 PM Riley Mulherkar
9:45 PM Tyreek McDole
11:00 PM Sarah Hanahan
12:15 AM J.Hoard
1:30 AM Kojo Melché Roney
Nublu, 151 Avenue C, NYC
6:30 PM Doors
7:00 PM Pan Asian Chamber Jazz Ensemble
8:15 PM Nikara presents Black Wall Street
9:30 PM Mali Obomsawin
10:45 PM Emma-Jean Thackray
12:00 AM Ben Williams 'Between Church and State'
1:15 AM Tomoki Sanders
The Bitter End, 147 Bleecker St, NYC (Paris Jazz Stage)
6:00 PM Doors
6:30 PM Nout
7:30 PM Flash Pig
8:30 PM Amaury Faye ‘Arise’
9:30 PM Paul Morvan, Dmitry Baevsky, David Wong
10:30 PM Sophye Soliveau
11:30 PM Monsieur MÂLÂ
12:30 AM Photon
Brooklyn Marathon
Brooklyn Marathon
Saturday, January 11, 2025
Various Venues
5:00 PM - 3:00 AM
The Winter Jazzfest signature two-night, multi venue experience allows you access to over 40 different groups playing from early evening through late at night. Whether you join for Friday at Manhattan venues, Saturday at Brooklyn venues, or both nights, we guarantee you will discover something new.
SCHEDULE
Music Hall of Williamsburg, 66 N 6th St, Brooklyn
6:00 PM Doors
6:15 PM Moses Yoofee Trio
7:30 PM Vijay Iyer Trio
8:45 PM Arooj Aftab
10:00 PM Keyon Harrold
11:15 PM SML
12:30 AM Makaya McCraven
Brooklyn Bowl, 61 Wythe Ave, Brooklyn
5:30 PM Doors
6:00 PM TBA
7:15 PM Kneebody
8:30 PM Isaiah Collier
9:45 PM Adi Oasis
11:00 PM Sun Ra Arkestra
12:15 AM Pedro Martins
Loove Labs Annex, 238 North 12th Street, Brooklyn
6:00 PM Doors
6:30 PM Alan Braufman
7:45 PM Sarah Elizabeth Charles 'Dawn'
9:00 PM Rudresh Mahanthappa Hero Trio
10:15 PM JD Allen
11:30 PM Peter Apfelbaum's New York Heiroglyphics
Loove Labs, 58 N 6th St, Brooklyn
6:00 PM Doors
6:45 PM John Chin Trio
8:00 PM Paul Cornish Trio
9:15 PM Darius Jones
10:30 PM Matthew Shipp Trio
11:45 PM Zoh Amba Sun Ensemble
Baby's All Right, 146 Broadway, Brooklyn
5:30 PM Doors
6:00 PM TBA
7:15 PM Dominique Fils-Aimé
8:30 PM Salin
9:45 PM Josefine Opsahl
11:00 PM Smag På Dig Selv (SPDS)
12:15 AM Lion Babe
Jolene Sound Room, 353 Bedford Ave, Brooklyn
Schedule TBA Soon
Union Pool, 484 Union Ave, Brooklyn (Dada Strain Stage)
6:00 PM Doors
6:15 PM Kalia Vandever & Mike Haldeman
7:30 PM HxH
8:45 PM Salami Rose Joe Louis
10:00 PM Mike Reed's Separatist Party
11:15 PM TBA
Hybrid Visions, 427 Manhattan Ave, Brooklyn
7:00 PM Doors
7:30 PM Ken Butler's Curious Cave of Anxious Objects
10:00 PM Ken Butler's Curious Cave of Anxious Objects
Joel Harrison & Alternative Guitar Summit
Joel Harrison & Alternative Guitar Summit
with
Anthony Pirog, Dida Pelled, Emmanuel Michael, Gilad Hekselman, and Pedro Martins
Sunday, January 12, 2025
Nublu, 151 Avenue C, NYC
6:00 PM Doors | 7:00 PM Show
The Cutting Edge of Guitar: Collaboration, Creation and Exploration
The Alternative Guitar Summit is the world’s leading platform advocating for new music on guitar. In this showcase, we present some of the most important present and future voices on the instrument: established figures Joel Harrison (producer/founder), Gilad Hekselman and Anthony Pirog as well as new emerging greats Emmanuel Michael, Dida Pelled and Pedro Martins. Joining them are Rudy Royston (drums) and Jerome Harris (bass). There will be individual as well as collaborative performances
IMPRESSIONS: Improvisatory interpretations on “A Love Supreme”
IMPRESSIONS: Improvisatory interpretations on
“A Love Supreme”
with
& Guests TBA
Sunday, January 12, 2025
Roulette, 509 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn
7:00 PM Doors | 8:00 PM Show
Recorded in December of 1964 at Rudy Van Gelder’s New Jersey studio with pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Jimmy Garrison and drummer Elvin Jones, John Coltrane’s seminal album A Love Supreme was released in February 1965 on Impulse! From blues-toned meditations to powerful musical intensity, Coltrane’s devotional four-part masterpiece commands transcendental spiritual awakening. Marking the album’s 60th anniversary and its continued impact will be acclaimed tenor saxophonist Ravi Coltrane and his group, followed by a round-robin set of guest improvisers to be announced.
Presented with support from Impulse!
STRATA-EAST RISING
STRATA-EAST RISING
A Landmark concert w/ Charles Tolliver, Cecil McBee, Billy Hart, Billy Harper, Christian McBride, aja monet, Endea Owens, Steve Jordan, Keyon Harrold, Camille Thurman +more TBA
Monday, January 13, 2025
The Town Hall, 123 West 43rd St, NYC
7:00 PM Doors | 8:00 PM Show
We celebrate Strata-East Records with a special one-off tribute show dedicated to the landmark jazz label co-founded by Charles Tolliver and Stanley Cowell. Launched in 1971, Strata-East Records is one of the most influential jazz labels in the world, known for producing albums by legends Max Roach, Gil-Scott Heron and Pharoah Sanders, among many others. The music of Strata-East encouraged listeners to strive higher, to push toward the unforeseen, to believe that things will improve, to lean into life when it all seems so dire. Planned in collaboration with Tolliver, two bands will reimagine some of the label’s biggest songs. Gathering at The Town Hall will be an all-star lineup including original Strata-East artists Tolliver, Cecil McBee, Billy Hart and Billy Harper, alongside Steve Jordan, Christian McBride, aja monet, Endea Owens, Keyon Harrold, Camille Thurman and more. Curated By Marcus J. Moore, Brice Rosenbloom and Ched Tolliver.
Makaya McCraven Hosted by Gilles Peterson
Makaya McCraven
Hosted by Gilles Peterson
(DJ Set to follow)
Tuesday, January 14, 2025
Public Records, 233 Butler St. Brooklyn
7:00 PM Doors | 8:00 PM Show
Our artist-in-residence this year, drummer, beatmaker and exploratory mixtape artist Makaya McCraven, will perform in at least four different configurations over the course of the festival. A prolific drummer, composer and producer, McCraven has been aptly called a “cultural synthesizer,” with a unique gift for collapsing space, destroying borders and blending past, present and future into poly-textural arrangements of post-genre, jazz-rooted 21st-century folk music. According to The New York Times, “McCraven has quietly become one of the best arguments for jazz’s vitality.”
Take Two: ganavya reimagines
Take Two:
ganavya reimagines
‘Les Filles de Illighadad’,
by Les Filles de Illighadad
Wednesday, January 15, 2025
Roulette, 509 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn
7:00PM Doors | 8:00PM Show
For this Take Two, ganavya chose the album ‘Les Filles de Illighadad’, by Les Filles de Illighadad, released on Sahel Sounds in 2016. The album was recorded informally, including village songs but with a guitar and calabash: Fatou Seidi Ghali is the first woman to play Tuareg-style guitar, and there’s a meditative nature to the album without losing the playfulness that the sense of village has. In ganavya’s performance inspired by the album, she takes traditional pilgrimage songs— songs from her desert lands— and performs it alongside guitar and simple percussion, the same way that Ghali does. How is this jazz? you might ask: if jazz is the sound of freedom, of creating new forms to match the new worlds, the sound of innovation, these two fit the bill.
Presented with Pique-nique
Outernational with Special Guest Chad Smith
Outernational with Special Guest Chad Smith
"Welcome To The Revolution" Album Release Show”
Thursday, September 19
Le Poisson Rouge - NYC
Doors 7:30PM | Show 8:30PM
Welcome to The Revolution is a message for the people of the world — a scream and song for all with heart for the future of humanity and the earth. Welcome pulses with fire and fury and total impatience with the way the world is today. A manifesto of a person of conviction calling his people to see with clear eyes the whirlwinds that rise. His voice thunders and soars against the soul-crushing way people are forced to live. A crescendo of the sound of defiance against the soul crushing way people are forced to live, he sings with passion and beauty to all those with humanity in their hearts. This the formal invitation to Welcome to the Revolution.
The time has come. The singular message and artistic mission of Outernational is coming to NYC on September 19th, and Los Angeles on September 28th joined by Chad Smith on drums for this very special release of Welcome To The Revolution.
Written and recorded 13 years ago, the saga of this album is the story of a forceful album meeting this moment of suffering, war, self-obsessed individualism and ecological destruction with future-facing rock music. This is music to challenge and inspire, music to dance and sing and dream and fight… for the cause of emancipating all of humanity and saving planet earth.
“Seeing is believing. They are down for the cause. They live it; it is no bullshit. Its awesome and humbling and inspiring all at the same time. I’ve never worked with more focused individuals who really want change to happen through their music.”
– Chad Smith
Juice & DJ Tigrr
Juice & DJ Tigrr
FREE
Thursday, August 29th, 2024
Industry City Bandshell
Combo Chimbita, Madame Vacile
Backyard Jam Combo Chimbita, Madame Vacile, Mickey Perez, Stefa*
Industry City - Brooklyn
Show 6 PM
FREE EVENT
Os Mutantes Masters of Brazilian Music
Photo by Adriana Moraes
Os Mutantes
Presented by World Music Institute & in cooperation with Brooklyn Bowl
Brooklyn Bowl – 61 Wythe Avenue, Brooklyn
Doors 7pm | Doors 8pm
Os Mutantes (“The Mutants”) is an influential Brazilian psychedelic rock band linked with the tropicália movement of the late 1960s. When the group was formed, it combined influences from the Anglo-American music world including The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, and Sly & the Family Stone with bossa nova, tropicália, samba, and the cultural legacy of the Brazilian art vanguards from the modernist movement. They released their first album in 1968 which was later included in Rolling Stone Magazine’s Greatest Latin Rock Bands of All Time and went on to record with fellow tropicália greats including Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso. After a hiatus from the 1970s to the early 2000s, the band reunited (with band member changes) to tour and record new material.
One of the most well-known and influential rock bands in Brazil, Os Mutantes have been a major influence on many contemporary underground and independent bands in the US and Europe, including Beck, who paid tribute to the group with his single “Tropicália” from the album Mutations, as well as Red Hot Chili Peppers bass player Flea, and Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain. Talking Heads front man David Byrne has worked to publish and promote the group’s music through his Luaka Bop label.
Billboard Magazine describes their sound as “kaleidoscopic, politically charged rock” and The Guardian says, “There was nothing quite like Os Mutantes, and there still isn’t.”
The MASTERS series bring legendary artists from across the globe, presenting the most acclaimed artists from their respective countries and continents.
CORTEX
Cortex Perform 'Troupeau Bleu'
Presented by Jazz Is Dead, ArtDontSleep, NYC Winter Jazzfest
Damrosch Park - New York, NY (map)
Doors 7pm | Show 9pm
FREE EVENT!
Celebrating the 49th anniversary of the 1975 debut album of Cortex’s Troupeau Bleu, the band will perform the iconic album in its entirety for their second EVER performance in NYC. Over the years, Cortex’s music has made its way to global audiences through Hip-Hop. As it stands, Cortex is one of the most sampled artists from France, appearing in tracks from Tyler The Creator, Flying Lotus, Conway The Machine, and most notably MF DOOM & Madlib. There is hardly any comparison for the first time one hears the legendary French Jazz-Funk band, Cortex. Like tearing a sports car down the Côte d'Azur, their crisp bass lines and seductive piano stabs conjure fantasies of playful hedonism, sun-drenched luxury, and escape. Among the numerous European groups that absorbed American Funk and Jazz influences during the 1970s, few are as celebrated, or as mysterious. The current lineup of Cortex — led by founder Alain Mion and featuring Mohamed Ouaraz (bass), Loïc Soulat (a sax, keys), Victor Dubois (drums), and Claire Nouet (vocal, percussions, keys), with an opening DJ set by Adrian Younge.
Mulatu Astatke Night 1
Mulatu Astatke
Presented by Blue Note Jazz Festival & World Music Institute
Sony Hall - 235 West 46th Street, New York, NY
Doors 7pm | Show 8pm
Mulatu Astatke (born 1943) is an Ethiopian musician and arranger best known as the father of Ethio-jazz. Born in the western Ethiopian city of Jimma, Mulatu trained in London, New York City, and Boston where he combined his jazz and Latin music interests with traditional Ethiopian music and became the first African student to enroll at Boston’s prestigious Berklee College of Music from where he received an honourary degree in 2012. Astatke led his band while playing vibraphone and conga drums—instruments that he introduced into Ethiopian popular music— other percussion instruments, keyboards and organ. His albums focus primarily on instrumental music, and Astatke appears on all three known albums of instrumentals that were released during Ethiopia’s Golden ’70s. He collaborated with many notable artists in both countries, arranging and playing on recordings by Mahmoud Ahmed, and appearing as a special guest with Duke Ellington during a tour of Ethiopia in 1973. His Western audience expanded even further when the 2005 Jim Jarmusch film Broken Flowers featured seven of Astatke’s songs. Hip hop artists have also sampled Astatke’s songs extensively, for example in the works of Nas, Damian Marley, Kanye West, Cut Chemist, and Knaan. He toured with US band Either/Orchestra in 2006 and in 2008 recorded an album with the Heliocentrics and completed a Radcliffe Institute Fellowship at Harvard University, where he worked on modernizations of traditional Ethiopian instruments and premiered a portion of a new opera, The Yared Opera.
Mulatu Astatke Night 2
Mulatu Astatke
Presented by Blue Note Jazz Festival & World Music Institute
Sony Hall - 235 West 46th Street, New York, NY
Doors 7pm | Show 8pm
Mulatu Astatke (born 1943) is an Ethiopian musician and arranger best known as the father of Ethio-jazz. Born in the western Ethiopian city of Jimma, Mulatu trained in London, New York City, and Boston where he combined his jazz and Latin music interests with traditional Ethiopian music and became the first African student to enroll at Boston’s prestigious Berklee College of Music from where he received an honourary degree in 2012. Astatke led his band while playing vibraphone and conga drums—instruments that he introduced into Ethiopian popular music— other percussion instruments, keyboards and organ. His albums focus primarily on instrumental music, and Astatke appears on all three known albums of instrumentals that were released during Ethiopia’s Golden ’70s. He collaborated with many notable artists in both countries, arranging and playing on recordings by Mahmoud Ahmed, and appearing as a special guest with Duke Ellington during a tour of Ethiopia in 1973. His Western audience expanded even further when the 2005 Jim Jarmusch film Broken Flowers featured seven of Astatke’s songs. Hip hop artists have also sampled Astatke’s songs extensively, for example in the works of Nas, Damian Marley, Kanye West, Cut Chemist, and Knaan. He toured with US band Either/Orchestra in 2006 and in 2008 recorded an album with the Heliocentrics and completed a Radcliffe Institute Fellowship at Harvard University, where he worked on modernizations of traditional Ethiopian instruments and premiered a portion of a new opera, The Yared Opera.
New York Guitar Festival: Night Two
New York Guitar Festival – 25th Anniversary: Medicine Singers ft. Lee Ranaldo & Yonatan Gat
Laraaji & Mamady Kouyaté (Bembeya Jazz)
Maalem Hassan BenJafaar (Innov Gnawa)
Co-presented with New York Guitar Festival and Kaufman Music Center
Hosted by WNYC’s John Schaefer
Kaufman Music Center – 129 W 67th Street, NYC
Doors 7pm | Show 8pm
Medicine Singers is the name of an ongoing collaboration between Yonatan Gat, the wildly virtuosic Israeli-born, New York-based guitarist, and the Eastern Medicine Singers, an Eastern Algonquin powwow group from Rhode Island. Now joined by the legendary Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth, Medicine Singers combine ancient trance and spirituality with modern psychedelia, and make inventive use of the similarities – and differences – between the steady pulse of Indigenous American drumming and the rhythms of rock.
WMI is pleased to co-present the 25th anniversary New York Guitar Festival, and spotlight the wealth of international talent and diverse guitar styles that the festival has brought to NYC for over two decades.
About New York Guitar Festival
Exploring virtually every aspect of the guitar’s personality, the New York Guitar Festival, since 1999, has presented many of the world’s most influential guitarists at Carnegie Hall, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Sawdust, (Le) Poisson Rouge, 92nd Street Y, Brookfield Place Winter Garden and other iconic venues, large and small. From multi Grammy-winners to emerging artists, NYGF performers have included masters of the classical repertoire (Pepe Romero, Christopher Parkening, Ana Vidović, Nigel North) as well as blues & jazz (Taj Mahal, Bucky Pizzarelli, Bill Frisell, Sonny Landreth), pop & indie rock (Vernon Reid, Bruce Springsteen, Bon Iver, Andy Summers, Thurston Moore), and folk & Americana (Levon Helm, Emmylou Harris, Cindy Cashdollar, Leo Kottke) as well as sounds of Central & South America (Badi Assad, Yamandu Costa, Vinicius Cantuária) and genre-defying innovators (Kaki King, David Torn, Daniel Lanois, Bryce Dessner). The New York Guitar Festival: music from across the centuries. . . and music yet to be.
New York Guitar Festival: Night One
New York Guitar Festival – 25th Anniversary: Marc Ribot & Leyla McCalla, Yasmin Williams, Neel Murgai & Kunal Prakash
Co-presented with New York Guitar Festival and Kaufman Music Center
Hosted by WNYC’s John Schaefer
Kaufman Music Center – 129 W 67th Street, NYC
Doors 7pm | Show 8pm
The New York Guitar Festival’s 25th Anniversary begins with a typically eclectic event. The duo of Marc Ribot, the New York guitarist, and Leyla McCalla, the New Orleans cellist and banjo player, may seem unlikely at first. Ribot is known for his work with Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, his own avant-noise trio Ceramic Dog, and much more; McCalla writes songs that draw on the African-American string band tradition, Cajun music, and her own Haitian heritage. But Ribot was also a student of the Haitian classical guitarist/composer Frantz Casseus, and the two musicians share a strong genre-agnostic streak. Joining them on this first of two nights celebrating a quarter century of the NYGF is Yasmin Williams. She has extended the “tapping” technique into a whole new way of approaching the guitar, and occasionally adds tap shoes and kalimba to the sound, becoming a literal one-woman band. And the NYGF has long presented related instruments from around the world; for this event, it’s sitarist Neel Murgai, co-director of the globally-inspired Brooklyn Raga Massive, accompanied by Jeff The Brotherhood guitarist Kunal Prakash.
Nduduzo Makhathini
Nduduzo Makhathini
Blue Note Records Album Release Show
Le Poisson Rouge - 158 Bleecker St, New York, NY
Doors 7:30pm | Show 8:30pm
Nduduzo Makhathini has earned widespread acclaim for the genuinely spiritual transcendence of his music. For Makhathini, a Zulu healer and educator who has delved deeply into the histories and traditions of his ancestors, improvised music has never been merely about aesthetics or idioms. As the New York Times put it when naming Modes of Communication one of the Best Jazz Albums of 2020: “In a moment when spiritual jazz has become a dangerously buzzy concept, trust a musician who has truly devoted his life to divination practices.” Celebrating his third Blue Note album uNomkhubulwane, a transcendent three-movement suite—which pays homage to the Zulu Goddess uNomkhubulwane and explores Africa’s tragic history of oppression— Makhathini performs at LPR with his trio featuring bassist Zwelakhe-Duma Bell le Pere on bass and drummer Francisco Mela.
Béla Fleck: Rhythm, Raga & Rhapsody
Béla Fleck: Rhythm, Raga & Rhapsody
Carnegie Hall – 881 7th Ave. Manhattan
Doors: 7 PM | Show: 8 PM
Béla Fleck has virtually reinvented the image and sound of the banjo through a remarkable legacy that has taken him all over the musical map. Rhythm, Raga & Rhapsody will celebrate the music of Fleck’s career, including his New York premiere of “Rhapsody in Blue” performed with an orchestra, conducted by Eric Jacobsen. The multi-artist night features My Bluegrass Heart, tabla master Zakir Hussain, pianist Bruce Hornsby, and woodwind player Anat Cohen.
The COLLABORATIONS series presents cross-cultural musical explorations and collaborations. This series often explores ways in which the music of artists from one culture have influenced the music of another culture, or the music of seemingly widely varying cultures can be strikingly similar or complementary.
Shabaka
Shabaka
National Sawdust - 80 N 6th St, Brooklyn, NY 11249
7 PM Doors | 8 PM Show
Shabaka’s work transcends conventional notions of genre and draws from a vast pallet of cultural influences. Whilst he’s undeniably a pioneering voice in the renaissance of British Jazz, his remit is much broader: he has also performed classical concertos with world-leading orchestras; led several hugely influential bands (Sons of Kemet, The Comet is Coming, Shabaka and The Ancestors) and has recently released a critically lauded solo album; Afrikan Culture, a work of exceptional beauty and urgency, focussed around the eastern Asian instrument, the Shakuhachi, of which Shabaka is a major exponent.
Snarky Puppy & Friends ft. Susana Baca, Silvana Estrada & Silvia Pérez-Cruz
Snarky Puppy & Friends ft. Susana Baca, Silvana Estrada & Silvia Pérez-Cruz
Collaborations Series
Kings Theatre – 1027 Flatbush Ave, Brooklyn
Doors: 7 PM | Show: 8 PM
In a very special show mirroring their “Family Dinner” series, 5-time Grammy winners Snarky Puppy will play host to three of the most important singers in the Spanish-speaking world. Silvana Estrada (Mexico), Silvia Pérez-Cruz (Spain), and Susana Baca (Perú) represent three different generations, continents, and musical traditions, but are bound together by their ability to communicate the deepest of emotions through song. This very special performance will feature music by all three women arranged by and performed with Snarky Puppy.
Snarky Puppy is a collective of sorts with as many as 20 members in regular rotation. At its core, the band represents the convergence of both black and white American music culture with various accents from around the world. The defining characteristic of Snarky Puppy’s music is the joy of performing together in the perpetual push to grow creatively.
The COLLABORATIONS series presents cross-cultural musical explorations and collaborations. This series often explores ways in which the music of artists from one culture have influenced the music of another culture, or the music of seemingly widely varying cultures can be strikingly similar or complementary.
BOOGARINS
BOOGARINS
Presented By World Music Institute
Brooklyn Bowl - 61 WYTHE AVENUE, BROOKLYN
Doors: 6:00 PM | Show: 8:00 PM
Initially a lo-fi project from Goiânia, land of the Sertanejo (Brazil’s country music), Boogarins have become one of the most celebrated Brazilian rock acts internationally: charming audiences around the world with intense performances, immersed in textures and guided by improvisations that transcend the language barrier.
The group began its journey in 2013 on the underground stages of their hometown Goiânia, when they released their first EP As Plantas Que Curam. It caught the ear of US label Fat Possum/Other Music who re-released the group’s home-recorded debut later that year, earning positive reviews in the New York Times, Pitchfork, Chicago Tribune and paving the way for greater recognition of the band in Brazil. The following year the band toured through Europe and the United States supporting acts like The Clean, Of Montreal, Guided By Voices and Neutral Milk Hotel. During those tours, Boogarins produced their second album, Latin Grammy nominee Manual (2015).
Between 2016 and 2018, the band was based in Austin, Texas, and recorded extensively between tours, ultimately resulting in their next two albums, the conceptual Lá Vem a Morte (2017) and Sombrou Dúvida (2019), which took them to major festivals around the world such as Coachella, Desert Daze Rock In Rio, Paredes de Coura and their first performance in South Africa.
In recent years, Boogarins have remained active with digital releases and music production workshops, releasing a two volume b-side compilation (Manchaca) and also presenting a six episode visual experience of their Sessões De Cura e Libertação (Healing and Liberation Sessions) – what the band call their free improvisation sets, sometimes presented as a compliment to their actual sets.
Takuya Kuroda
Takuya Kuroda
Nublu - 151 Avenue C, NYC
Thursday, February 1
Doors 9pm | Show 10pm
Friday, February 2
Doors 6pm | Show 7pm
$25 | $30
A highly-respected trumpeter born in Kobe, Japan, Takuya is a forward-thinking musician that has developed a unique hybrid sound, blending soulful jazz, funk, post-bop, fusion and hip hop music.
After following the footsteps of his trombonist brother playing in big bands, he relocated to New York to study jazz & contemporary music at The New School in Union Square; a course he graduated from in the mid- noughties. It was here that Takuya met vocalist José James, with whom he worked on the ‘Blackmagic’ and ‘No Beginning No End’ projects.
Following graduation, Takuya established himself further in the NYC jazz scene, performing with the likes of Akoya Afrobeat and in recent years with DJ Premier’s BADDER band (also including acclaimed bass player, Brady Watt). Premier said “The BADDER Band project was put together by my manager, and an agent I’ve known since the beginning of my Gang Starr career.
He said, ‘What if you put a band together that revolved around a trumpet player from Japan named Takuya Kuroda? He’s got a hip-hop perspective and respect in the jazz field…”
Takuya Kuroda is already incredibly prolific, releasing five albums in the past decade and fortifying a solid reputation in the global jazz scene. 2011 saw the release of Takuya’s independently-produced debut album, ‘Edge’, followed by ‘Bitter and High’ the following year and ‘Six Aces’ on P-Vine in 2013. Takuya was signed to the legendary Blue Note Records in 2014 for his album ‘Rising Son’, as well as appearing on their 2019 cover versions project, ‘Blue Note Voyage’. He released his 5th album ‘Zigzagger’ on Concord in 2016, which also featured Antibalas on a reimagining of the Donald Byrd classic ‘Think Twice’.
Late Summer 2020, Takuya Kuroda returns with his sixth album ‘Fly Moon Die Soon’.
In his words, “this album is about the irony between the greatness of nature and the beautiful obsceneness of humanity. Melodies and grooves fly back and forth from being spiritual to being vulgar.”
MonoNeon and Friends
MonoNeon and Friends:
Knower, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Hannibal Buress, Tivon Pennicott, David Fiuczynski plus Guests TBA
Thursday, January 18, 2024
Brooklyn Steel
319 Frost Street, Brooklyn, NY 11222
6 PM Doors | 7 PM Show
$49.50 GA Advance | $60 GA Day of Show
MonoNeon is an American bassist and experimental musician from Memphis, Tennessee. He is known for his presence on YouTube playing bass guitar and being one of the last people to work with Prince. Thomas is a Grammy Award-winning artist, for his participation on the 2020 Nas album King's Disease. Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers has referred to Mono as “the greatest fucking electric bass player”. Fender released the MonoNeon Collection, which includes the MonoNeon Jazz Bass V Signature. MonoNeon has collaborated with artists such as Mavis Staples, George Clinton, Pete Rock, Ne-Yo, Mac Miller, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Ghost-Note, and more. Known for his otherworldly live show, MonoNeon has played Newport Jazz Festival, Montreal Jazz Festival, Summer Camp Music Festival, Melbourne International Jazz Festival, and more.
Genevieve Artadi ft. Louis Cole, Chiquita Magic
Genevieve Artadi
ft. Louis Cole, Chiquita Magic
Wednesday January 17th, 2024
Nublu 151 Avenue C, New York, NY, 10009
8:30 PM Doors | 9 PM Show
$25 GA Advance | $30 GA Day of Show
Celebrating Ryuichi Sakamoto
Celebrating Ryuichi Sakamoto
w/ Sakamoto Tribute Ensemble and DJ Spooky, plus Guests TBA
(A Fundraiser for Trees For Sakamoto)
Wednesday, January 17th, 2024
Roulette 50 Atlantic Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11217
7 PM Doors | 8 PM Show
$55 GA Advance | $65 GA Day of Show
Join us in celebration of Ryuichi Sakamoto’s musical legacy as New York’s finest musicians come together for a tribute concert on January 17, marking what would have been his 72nd birthday. From the revolutionary Thousand Knives to the iconic sounds of the Yellow Magic Orchestra and the Oscar-winning film scores, the Sakamoto Tribute Ensemble will interpret his enduring compositions with the utmost reverence. The special guests, Sakamoto’s closest friends and collaborators will share their words and music in a heartfelt tribute. This concert will be a fundraiser for the family’s foundation in his honor, Trees For Sakamoto.
Curator: Rubin Kodheli
Musical Director: Meg Okura
Producer: Brice Rosenbloom
Anne Drummond (flutes)
Sam Sadigursky (winds)
Meg Okura (violin)
Rubin Kodheli (cello/cello-bass)
Dan Mintsaris (keyboard/electronics)
Rogerio Bocatto (percussion)
My Words Are Music: A Celebration of Sun Ra’s Poetry, Hosted by Mahogany L. Browne & Jive Poetic
My Words Are Music: A Celebration of Sun Ra’s Poetry, Hosted by Mahogany L. Browne & Jive Poetic
Featuring Carl Hancock Rux, Abiodun Oyewole & Guests TBA
Tuesday January 16th, 2024
Nublu 151 Avenue C, New York, NY, 10009
7 PM Doors | 8 PM Show
$30 GA Advance | $35 GA Day of Show
Sun Ra is better known to most as a musician than a poet, but he identified equally as both. This evening provides direct access to the sentiments of a poet who never called Earth home. Featuring recitations of Sun Ra's poems and original works by the participating artists, this spoken word event will immerse the listener in the rhythms of celestial verses, hosted by poet, activist, and educator Mahogany L. Browne with music by poet and educator DJ Jive Poetic.
Apollonian Circles A Unique Concert Series
Apollonian Circles A Unique Concert Series
Developed by Hess Is More
Tuesday, January 16, 2024 - Wednesday, January 17, 2024
National Sawdust 80 N 6th St, Brooklyn, NY, 11249
7 PM Doors | 8 PM Show
‘Apollonian Circles’ is a multi-disciplinary musical concert and art installation experience that combines elements of electronic music, jazz, theater, and performance art. Each performance hinges on audience participation and improvisation guiding an ever-changing narrative of artistic expression – we are all participants reflecting one another’s experience as if in a hall of mirrors.
This project explores the very definition of what audiences have come to expect from a traditional concert. From the moment they arrive, attendees are transported to a mysterious dream-like space where the unexpected can happen. In the literal center of the room is a large table (decorated with other-worldly artifacts and ornaments) that is both stage and set piece for the performers and audience to gather.
Apollonian Circles is a constantly evolving musical live work, where concert formats and the relationship between music, musicians and audiences are explored and challenged. Apollonian Circles grow out of a constant longing for integration. We bring together artists, performers and ultimately audiences in a space that feels wide open – yet artistically distinct and defined.
The music is composed and arranged by the Danish multi-instrumentalist Mikkel Hess and performed by his band (“Hess Is More”) comprised of musicians from Copenhagen and New York and featuring notable guests such as acclaimed singer Nomi Ruiz. The scenography is developed by Danish theater luminaries Christian Friedländer and Dicki Lakha in collaboration with award winning director Tue Beiring and costumes by fashion design superstar Henrik Vibskov.
Impulse! at NYC Winter Jazzfest
Impulse! at NYC Winter Jazzfest
Shabaka w/ esperanza spalding, Brandee Younger, Charles Overton / Irreversible Entanglements / Brandee Younger performs Alice Coltrane / The Messthetics & James Brandon Lewis
Monday, January 15, 2024
(le) poisson rouge
158 Bleecker St, New York, NY, 10012
6 PM Doors | 7 PM Show
$45 GA Advance | $55 GA Day of Show
Impulse! Records is proud to present today’s most ground-breaking jazz stars with an evening headlined by Shabaka Hutchings, debuting material from his upcoming solo album with guests esperanza spalding and more. Trailblazing jazz harpist Brandee Younger will honor the music of Alice Coltrane. Liberation-oriented free jazz collective Irreversible Entanglements will perform; plus instrumental power-trio The Messthetics with keeper of the avant flame James Brandon Lewis.
A Night at the East
A Night at the East
With Gary Bartz, Billy Hart, Shabaka, Moor Mother, Julius Rodriguez, Luke Stewart, Nicole Mitchell, Elucid, Kweku Sumbry, and Charles Burnham.
Plus Melanie Charles, Endea Owens and Savannah Harris perform the music of Sarah Vaughan
AND DJ SPINNA (UNTIL LATE LATE)
Sunday, January 14, 2024
Crown Hill Theatre
750 Nostrand Ave, Brooklyn
7 PM Doors | 7:30 PM Pre-Show Panel | 8:30 PM Show
$55 GA Advance | $65 GA Day of Show
We celebrate the East with a special one-off tribute show dedicated to the landmark Black cultural arts center. A one-of-a-kind venue and meeting place for Black people along Claver Place in Bed-Stuy from 1969 through the 1980s, it was the site of many landmark performances from Max Roach, Sun Ra, Betty Carter, Pharoah Sanders and other jazz legends. Gathering tonight will be an all-star lineup including direct East participants Billy Hart and Gary Bartz alongside Shabaka , Moor Mother, Julius Rodriguez, Luke Stewart, Nicole Mitchell, Elucid, Kweku Sumbry and Charles Burnham. They will reimagine a night at the East, using the center's rich history as a springboard to something new. Curated By Marcus J. Moore and Brice Rosenbloom.
NYC WINTER JAZZFEST BROOKLYN MARATHON
NYC WINTER JAZZFEST BROOKLYN MARATHON
Venues
Brooklyn Bowl
Music Hall of Williamsburg
Baby's All Right
Superior Ingredients
Jolene
Loove Labs Studio
Club Curious
NYC WINTER JAZZFEST MANHATTAN MARATHON
NYC WINTER JAZZFEST MANHATTAN MARATHON
Venues
LPR
City Winery
Racket
Bowery Ballroom
Nublu
Zinc
Bitter End
Zurcher Gallery
NYC Winter Jazzfest 2024 Celebrating 20 years
Thursday, January 11, 2024 - Thursday, January 18, 2024
Save the dates for the 20th Season of NYC Winter Jazzfest from January 11-18, 2024.
Visit winterjazzfest.com for updates.
Gilles Peterson (DJ)
Gilles Peterson (DJ)
Thursday January 11th, 2024
151 Avenue C, New York, NY, 10009
11 PM Doors | 11 PM Show
$30 GA Advance | $35 GA Day of Show
Take Two: Tyshawn Sorey Reimagines Max Roach's 'Members, Don’t Git Weary' Double
Take Two: Tyshawn Sorey Reimagines Max Roach's 'Members, Don’t Git Weary' Double
Hosted by Gilles Peterson
Wednesday January 10th, 2024
233 Butler St, Brooklyn, NY 11217
7 PM Doors | 8 PM Show
$35 GA Advance | $45 GA Day of Show
Pique-nique and Winter Jazzfest present the musical shapeshifter and renowned drummer Tyshawn Sorey, performing Max Roach’s classic album 'Members, Don’t Git Weary'. Part of the "Take Two" deep-listening series, the evening will consist of an uninterrupted playback of the 1968 album followed by a live reinterpretation by Sorey and his sextet, connecting the dots between record culture and live music culture. Tyshawn’s ensemble includes highly acclaimed young musicians including trumpeter Adam O’Farrill, saxophonist Mark Shim, pianist Sullivan Fortner, and bassist Matt Brewer, plus guest vocalist Fay Victor. Tyshawn Sorey is a 2017 MacArthur Fellow known for his precision and inventiveness on the drum kit and an extraordinary ability to blend composition and improvisation. He has performed internationally with his own ensembles, as well as artists such as John Zorn, Vijay Iyer, and Roscoe Mitchell. We will pay homage to one of the all-time masters, Max Roach in his centennial year, and his 1968 album 'Members, Don’t Git Weary', which featured a new generation of future heavyweights; Gary Bartz, Charles Tolliver, Stanley Cowell, Jymie Merritt, and Andy Bey. Tolliver and Cowell would go on to form the seminal Strata-East label and in many ways this record embodies the template of that sound. Recently reissued on Gilles Peterson’s Arc Records, the DJ and broadcaster will present live liner notes at the top of the show and will DJ into the night to close it out
BRIC Jazzfest 2023
Thursday, October 19 - Saturday, October 21
BRIC House - 647 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, NY 11217
6:45pm Doors | 7pm Show
Join BRIC on October 19, 20, and 21 for our ninth annual BRIC JazzFest! This acclaimed marathon Jazz festival, which is one of BRIC's premiere performing arts programs, will take place across three days and two stages.
The 2023 BRIC JazzFest lineup brings together legends and rising stars from both inside and outside the jazz genre. This year, we're blending the worlds of jazz and Hip-Hop and celebrating some of our favorite genre-crossing artists. Plus, we’re bringing you an extra special panel discussion and film series.
This year’s carefully crafted lineup is curated by artist Melanie Charles along with Brice Rosenbloom and BRIC Producer Viviana Benitez.
Anoushka Shankar
Saturday, October 7, 2023
Pioneer Works - 159 Pioneer Street Brooklyn, NY 11231
7pm Doors | 8pm Show
To read a list of Anoushka Shankar’s accomplishments is to read many life stories in one: masterful sitarist; film composer; impassioned activist; the youngest and first female recipient of a British House of Commons Shield; the first Indian musician to perform live or to serve as presenter at the Grammy Awards with nine nominations under her belt, and the first Indian woman to be nominated; one of the first five female composers to have been added onto the UK A-level music syllabus. Immersed from a young age on the world stage, with over a quarter-century’s performing behind her, she is a singular, genre-defying artist across realms - classical and contemporary, acoustic and electronic.
Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, Shahzad Ismaily 'LOVE IN EXILE'
Thursday, September 14, 2023
The Town Hall - 123 W 43rd St, New York, NY 10036
7pm Doors | 8pm Show
Love In Exile, the latest album from Arooj Aftab, is a collaborative effort put forth with fellow world-class musicians Vijay Iyer, and Shahzad Ismaily. The album, released on Verve Records, was named “Best New Music” by Pitchfork and given a glowing review from NPR, who described the project as a “manifestation of musical telepathy.” Arooj Aftab is a Grammy award-winning singer, composer, and producer working in various musical styles and idioms, including jazz, minimalism and Urdu poetry. She is a 2023 United States Artists Fellow and a recipient of the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Music. Vijay Iyer is one of the leading music-makers of his generation. His honors include a MacArthur Fellowship, a Doris Duke Performing Arts Award, a United States Artist Fellowship, a Grammy nomination, and Alpert Award in the Arts. Shahzad Ismaily‘s sensitivity and technical acumen has made him a legend, recording and touring with musicians like Beth Orton, Yoko Ono, Feist, and many others.
The significance of the name “Love in Exile” points towards the similarities between the feelings of longing and diaspora and the mysterious way in which a group can improvise songs that are free of traditional structure, tempo, or genre.
