2019 NYC Winter Jazzfest Night-By-Night Concert Schedule + New Marathon Artists
Announcing the
2019 NYC WINTER JAZZFEST,
Celebrating The 15th Annual Season,
January 4-12, 2019,
Presenting The Full Spectrum of Jazz
Continuing Themes of Social Justice,
With Marathon Artists & WE RESIST! Concert Sunday Jan. 6
NYCWJF is Signed on to
Keychange Gender Equity Pledge
Focus on ECM Records:
Listening Session with Founder Manfred Eicher
Jan. 10 at The Sheen Center,
Followed By Two Nights of ECM Artists
During Marathon Jan. 11-12 at Le Poisson Rouge
CHICAGO OVERGROUND:
A Showcase of Creative New Music from the Windy City, featuring The JuJu Exchange (led by Nico Segal, a.k.a. Donnie Trumpet), Joshua Abrams Natural Information Society, Akenya, Ben LaMar Gay + More To Be Announced
Jan 11-12 at NUBLU 151
NEW MARATHON ARTISTS ANNOUNCED:
Alphonso Horne’s Gotham Kings*
Ashley Henry
Big Yuki
Blaque Dynamite & The Murder Angels^
Cynthia Sayer’s Joyride Band*
DJ Stutz McGee aka Casey Benjamin^
Donna Grantis
Fay Victor’s Mutations for Justice
Guy Mintus Trio + Roopa Mahadevan
Hailey Tuck*
Howard Fishman*
James Francies’ KINETIC^
Jazze Belle^
Julien Labro & Olli Soikeli Quartet*
Marcus Strickland’s Twi-Life^
Mathis Picard – The Ancestral Stride*
Melanie Charles and Make Jazz Trill Again
Nellie McKay*
Roy Hargrove Quintet^
Sasha Masakowski*
Tatiana Eva-Marie & The Avalon Jazz Band
+ MANY MORE TO BE ANNOUNCED
* = NYC Hot Jazz Fest Stage
^ = Revive Music Stage
SCHEDULE:
Opening Night
Friday January 4th 2019
Meshell Ndegeocello performs the Music of Prince
with Special Guest Bilal
at Le Poisson Rouge
Saturday January 5th 2019
Winter Jazzfest Half Marathon (APAP Weekend)
Multiple Venues
Sunday January 6th 2019
We Resist! Featuring
“Fandango at the Wall” by Arturo O’Farrill & The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra + Special Guests,
Samora Pinderhughes Transformations Suite,
Plus Artists TBA
at Le Poisson Rouge
Monday January 7th 2019
Terence Blanchard featuring The E-Collective,
Terri Lyne Carrington & Social Science
Plus Artists TBA
at Le Poisson Rouge
Monday January 7th 2019
Unfold Ordinary Mind with Ben Goldberg, Nels Cline, John Ellis, Ches Smith, with Opener Spencer Zahn
at Nublu 151
Tuesday January 8th 2019
Gary Bartz’s 50-Year Anniversary of Another Earth featuring Pharoah Sanders and Other Guests TBA
Presented by Winter Jazzfest and Revive Music
at Le Poisson Rouge
Wednesday January 9th 2019
PRS Foundation & BBC Music Introducing Present a UK Jazz Showcase Hosted by Gilles Peterson,
Featuring Ezra Collective, Yussef Dayes, Yazmin Lacey,
And Emma-Jean Thackray’s Walrus
at Le Poisson Rouge
Thursday January 10th 2019
A Listening Session with ECM Records Founder Manfred Eicher
at The Sheen Center
Friday January 11th–Saturday January 12th, 2019
Winter Jazzfest Marathon
Multiple Venues
Winter Jazz Fest Talks to Be Coordinated by Noted Critic & Author Nate Chinen of WBGO-FM
Now in its 15th annual season, New York City Winter Jazz Fest will span January 04-12, 2019, its longest continuous presenting season with cutting-edge programming across a spectrum of jazz. NYCWJF continues presenting concerts and panels on impactful issues regarding gender parity in jazz, immigration, the current state of racial justice, the environment and more.
NYCWJF joins festivals across the globe in striving for gender parity on our festival stages. We are proud to be part of UK-based PRS Foundation‘s international
Meshell Ndegeocello
Additionally this year, NYCWJF is pleased to announce that our Artist-in-Residence is bassist, composer, bandleader and poet Meshell Ndegeocello. One of Ms. Ndegeocello’s projects will open the festival at (le) poisson rouge entited “Meshell Ndegeocello Plays The Music of Prince” with special guest Bilal. Other projects to be announced soon.
Focus on ECM Records at Winter Jazzfest 2019
Manfred Eicher
November 2019 marks 50 years since musician/producer Manfred Eicherfounded ECM Records – “one of the defining sound-worlds of the past half-century of recorded music” (The New Yorker). To inaugurate this anniversary year, on January 10 at The Sheen Center, Eicher will give a listening session, followed by solo performances from bassist Larry Grenadier and pianist David Virelles.
The ECM stage then moves to Le Poisson Rouge for both NYCWJF marathon nights with, on January 11, the Shai Maestro Trio, Ralph Alessi’s Quintet with Ravi Coltrane, Andy Milne, Drew Gress, andMark Ferber, and finally Michael Formanek’s new trio with Mary Halvorson and Tim Berne.
Vijay Iyer
On January 12, the two-piano duo of Vijay Iyer and Craig Taborn opens
night three of ECM at WJF, followed by Norwegian trumpeter Mathias Eick and his “Ravensburg” project with Håkon Aase, Andreas Ulvo,Audun Erlien, and Torstein Lofthus. The second marathon evening will close with drummer Billy Hart’s Quartet with Ethan Iverson,Dayna Stephens and Ben Street.
Night two on January 5, features a one night staging of our signature marathon in seven venues. Timed to coincide with the 2019 Association of Performing Arts Presenters Conference, our “Half Marathon” will feature artists showcasing in only seven venues and provide industry presenters and the public with a more focused experience in only seven of the normal 10-12 venues: Le Poisson Rouge, SOBs, Subculture, The Sheen Center, Nublu, Zinc Bar, The Bitter End.
Arturo O’Farrill
We continue our tradition of recognizing the quest for social justice in the music by welcoming Arturo O’Farrill & The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra to present “Fandango At The Wall,” the latest stunningly ambitious work in O’Farrill’s celebrated recording catalogue. Inspired by the Fandango Fronterizo Festival on the U.S.-Mexico border, O’Farrill brought together his orchestra with more than 60 musicians including Antonio Sanchez, Regina Carter and Akua Dixon. Fandango at the Wall, brings together brilliant voices from a variety of cultural and musical traditions to tear down a variety of walls that isolate us — physical, musical, or cultural.
Samorah Pinderhughes
We welcome back pianist/composer/vocalist and conceptualist Samora Pinderhughes to present an updated version of his Transformations Suite, a cinematic anthem to Black Lives Matter and a scathing commentary on racial inequality, police brutality and racism towards people of color. Using a nine-piece band with four vocalists, Pinderhughes gets at the heart of the struggles Black Americans and other people of color face on a daily basis.
Terence Blanchard
January 7, we are pleased to present another night of social justice commentary through music and words with trumpeter Terence Blanchard featuring The E-Collective, Terri Lyne Carrington & Social Science plus more artists to be announced.
Blanchard founded the E-Collective in 2015 to address the staggering cyclical epidemic of gun violence in this country. His songs with this ensemble reflect the bitter frustration of the conscious masses while also providing a balm of emotional healing. The band played this music in three communities that have experienced escalating conflicts between law enforcement and African American citizens:
Minneapolis (where Philando Castile was shot by a police officer on July 6, 2016); Cleveland (where 12-year-old Tamir Rice was shot by police on November 22, 2014); and Dallas (where police officers Lorne Ahrens, Michael Krol, Michael Smith, Brent Thompson and Patricio Zamarripa were assassinated while on duty covering a peaceful Black Lives Matter protest on July 7-8, 2016). The E-Collective condemns gun violence of all manner whether against profiled citizens of color or targeted members of law enforcement. Discussing the origins of the band, Blanchard states, “I didn’t put this group together to be a protest band. However, while we were on tour in Europe, Mike Brown got shot. Trayvon Martin had already been murdered. And back then it seemed like these shootings were happening every month. That’s when I felt we had to stand up and make a statement.”
Terri Lyne Carrington
Terri Lyne Carrington and Social Science was born from a need to express the emotions and thoughts about where we are socially, historically, politically, and spiritually. This “alternative jazz” band reflects a contemporary/post-modern view on music – an eclectic stylistic blend, borrowing from jazz, indie rock, contemporary classical, R&B, and free improvisation. It’s jazz for the here and now, reflecting the musical and social atmosphere of today. The artists create and interpret music based on relative truths, addressing issues of freedom, racism, fluidity, and multiculturalism, with the understanding that “Creativity Saves Lives.” Carrington says, “I feel it is our job as artists, to carry out the responsibility of reporting, commenting and even educating, about what is going on in the societies we are a part of – regarding humanity, politics and anything else that effects our freedom or life condition. When we choose to be passive, we’re choosing an easier route, but complacency has its consequences.”
Gary Bartz
In 1968, a 28-year-old Gary Bartz recorded his second album for the Milestone label, Another Earth featuring himself on alto saxophone, Charles Tolliver on trumpet, Pharoah Sanders on tenor saxophone, Stanley Cowell on piano, Reggie Workman on bass and Freddie Waits, drums (Waits is the late father of frequent NYC Winter Jazzfest bandleader and sideman, drummer Nasheet Waits).
Another Earth was recorded prior to Bartz famously joining Miles Davis in 1970 at the Isle of Wight. He had previously performed with Eric Dolphy,McCoy Tyner, Charles Mingus‘ Jazz Workshop, Max Roach, Abbey Lincoln and Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. Following his appearance on Davis’ “Live-Evil,” he went on to form Ntu Troop, which combined jazz, funk and soul and played with countless giants of the music, in the process becoming one himself. Winter Jazzfest collaborates with Revive Music to realize this 50th anniversary show with full lineup to be determined.
Gilles Peterson
For the second year in a row, Winter Jazzfest will feature a UK jazz showcase presented by PRS Foundation and BBC Music Introducing. Since 2015, these two organizations have worked together to support and create a platform for the UK’s most talented artists to showcase at overseas music industry events.
Ezra Collective
Once again our British partners have assembled a stellar lineup featuring emerging artists Ezra Collective, Yussef Dayes, Emma-Jean Thackray and Yazmin Lacey. Boilerroom writes that Ezra Collective are “pioneering the new-wave of UK jazz music.” This London 5-piece are proving themselves a tour-de-force marrying the jazz with Afrobeat & hip-hop.
Yussef Dayes
One half of the celebrated jazz-funk outfit Yussef Kamaal, Yussef Dayes, is a jazz drummer and percussionist who made his solo debut in 2018 with producer Alfa Mist, guitarist Mansur Brown and Rocco Palladino on bass.
Emma-Jean Thackray
Red Bull Music Academy called Emma-Jean Thackray “one of the UK’s most exciting new jazz artists.” As a composer, producer, multi-instrumentalist, singer, bandleader and DJ, she is just as much at home working with the London Symphony Orchestra as she is hosting her show on Worldwide FM or tearing it up on trumpet with her quartet.
Yazmin Lacey
Vocalist Yazmin Lacey brings a glorious fusion of neo-soul and jazz all in her uniquely laidback style. Yazmin has made live appearances or received widespread airplay on Jazz FM, BBC Radio 4, NTS, BBC Radio 2, BBC 6 Music, and Worldwide FM, plus Spotify love from The Independent and heavy support from DJs such as Gilles Peterson, Jamz Supernova, Tom Ravenscroft, Huey Morgan and Jamie Cullum.
Ben LaMar Gay
The signature Winter Jazzfest Marathon is scheduled for Friday January 12th – Saturday January 13th. This two-night event straddles venues on the North and South ends of Greenwich Village, taking over numerous stages South, East and West of Washington Square Park. Full lineup to be announced shortly. As in past years, stages curated by New York concert impresarios Meghan Stabile of Revive Music Group, and Michael Katsobashvili of the New York Hot Jazz Festival.
