Today Jazz at Lincoln Center announces its 2014-15 Concert and Education season, which features a season-long journey "through the Americas." Through a diverse array of concerts and programs, Jazz at Lincoln Center's 27th season will explore how jazz has both integrated and influenced the rich musical traditions of the Caribbean and North, South, and Central America.
In January, Jazz at Lincoln Center announced the receipt of an unprecedented gift of $20 million from Robert J. Appel, Jazz at Lincoln Center's Chairman of the Board of Directors. In appreciation of Mr. Appel's enduring generosity and support, the organization announced that it will name The Appel Room, formerly The Allen Room, in Mr. Appel's honor. Jazz at Lincoln Center gratefully acknowledges the innovative philanthropic spirit of Allen & Company, who made this naming opportunity possible.
An impressive array of living masters, virtuosic musicians, and original voices will be featured in concerts and series in Rose Theater, The Appel Room, and Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Frederick P. Rose Hall, which celebrates 10 years as "The House of Swing" in October 2014. The 2014-15 season opens on
September 18-20 with the debut of a collaborative new work by Managing and Artistic Director
Wynton Marsalis, the influential pianist-composer-arranger Chucho Valdés, rising star percussionist Pedrito Martinez, and the internationally renowned Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.
Jazz at Lincoln Center also celebrates the life and music of living giant
Wayne Shorter with a
Wayne Shorter Festival, which finds the NEA Jazz Master and nine-time GRAMMY Award-winner joining the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with
Wynton Marsalis for three nights in Rose Theater. The Brazilian
Festival includes a debut concert by the innovative SpokFrevo Orquestra in The Appel Room, and renowned guitarist-composer-arranger Mario Adnet joins the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with
Wynton Marsalis to perform the music of Moacir Santos in Rose Theater. The Billie
Holiday Festival celebrates the centennial of the monumental jazz singer's birth with concerts , featuring GRAMMY Award-nominated vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant in Rose Theater, and the incomparable
Andy Bey, outstanding vocalist
Molly Johnson, and exciting newcomer Sarah
Elizabeth Charles in The Appel Room.
Bill Frisell returns as curator of the Roots of Americana series, joined by an array of guest musicians, to explore the intersections of rock, country, jazz, and blues. Jazz at Lincoln Center also inaugurates the Live in The Appel Room series, kicking off with a concert by piano master Marcus Roberts.
NEA Jazz Master and 11-time GRAMMY Award-winner Paquito D'Rivera delves into South American music styles and their influence on contemporary jazz, for two nights in Rose Theater. A host of artists pay homage to the groundbreaking work of musicians
Count Basie,
Betty Carter,
Max Roach,
Tito Puente, and Machito. Among these tributes, guitarist
John Scofield and vocalist and multi-instrumentalist
Taj Mahal collaborate for the first time in a centennial celebration of blues giant Muddy Waters. Several artists and ensembles also make their Jazz at Lincoln Center debut, including Panamanian giant Rubén Blades and Mexican chanteuse Lila Downs.
The A Side/B Side series spotlights extraordinary contemporary artists over the course of three weekends in The Appel Room, this year featuring ensembles led by
Anat Cohen, Victor Goines,
Sherman Irby, and Elio Villafranca. The series will also feature first-time collaborations by outstanding instrumentalists-composers, including "New Jazz Standards" with
Anthony Wilson, Jonathan Ragonese,
Amina Figarova, Ben Wolfe, and Clarence Penn; and "New Jazz Frontiers" with Orlando "Maraca" Valle, Edmar Castaneda,
Edward Simon, Luques Curtis, and Daniel Freedman.
The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with
Wynton Marsalis announces new tours throughout North and South
America as well as Europe, beginning with a first-time appearance in Reykjavík, Iceland on July 4, 2014. United States tour dates include stops in the Midwest and South in
September and October 2014, and the Big Band Holidays U.S. Tour with special guest Cécile McLorin Salvant in December 2014. For a four-day residency in Chicago,
Illinois in February 2015, the orchestra performs in concerts and education programs. The Spring 2015 Jazz in the Americas Tour includes dates in Brazil, Venezuela, and Mexico.
Jazz at Lincoln Center's
Education initiatives continue to expand in 2014-15. Jazz Academy, the organization's recently launched online education portal, will expand its media library, which by June 2014 will house nearly 500 freely available instructional videos covering a wide range of musical and historical topics. The popular early childhood education program WeBop, which celebrates its 10th anniversary, launches its first series of summer classes. The public education program Swing University will expand its course offerings and feature nightly classes taught by Evan Christopher,
Vincent Gardner, Phil Schaap, and many more.
Jazz at Lincoln Center Youth Orchestra enters its second year and Jazz for Young People on Tour extends to public and charter schools throughout all five boroughs of New York City. The Essentially Ellington program will mark its 20th anniversary in 2014-15 and will reach band directors and schools worldwide by distributing free downloads of authentic repertoire and educational resources.
Additionally, the program will expand its educational reach through a series of regional festivals that enhance students' understanding and appreciation of the music. The companion Band Director Academy program will continue its annual offerings, both in Frederick P. Rose Hall and in partnership with the Mesa Arts Center.
"This season, in celebration of the deep-rooted connections we share with our neighbors in the Americas, we are bringing artists from Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Cuba, Panama, Canada, and, of course, the United States, to our stage," said
Wynton Marsalis, Managing and Artistic Director. "Our Brazilian
Festival will mark the Jazz at Lincoln Center debut of the adventurous SpokFrevo Orquestra and renowned composer-arranger Mario Adnet, who joins the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra to perform the music of Moacir Santos, the 'Brazilian
Duke Ellington'. You will have the opportunity to hear legends, including Wayne Shorter, Bobby Hutcherson, Rubén Blades and Chucho Valdés. In continuing to shine a light on the breadth, diversity, and quality of Jazz artists around the world, we shall explore the musical legacies of
Betty Carter, Muddy Waters,
Count Basie,
Billie Holiday,
Max Roach,
Tito Puente, and others, with concerts throughout the hall.
"As always, our centerpiece is the phenomenal musicians in the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. With our ten arrangers, we are inventing fresh conceptions on the fundamentals of Jazz, playing as much of the history of our music as we can by delving into works by
Duke Ellington,
Dizzy Gillespie, John Coltrane, and Charles Mingus, and presenting premieres by Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra members
Carlos Henriquez and
Sherman Irby. Jazz at Lincoln Center continues its fruitful collaborations with Bill Frisell's Roots of Americana series and with
Michael Feinstein's Jazz and Popular Song series while also featuring some of the greatest vocalists of our time, welcoming
Dianne Reeves and
Taj Mahal back into The House of Swing, and presenting the Jazz at Lincoln Center debut of the exuberant Pan-American singer Lila Downs. For Jazz at Lincoln Center's board, staff, artists, and partners, it will once again be a pleasure to serve you throughout our 27th season."
Jazz at Lincoln Center continues to offer jazz fans worldwide free, easy access - on any computer or mobile device - to live, HD-quality webcasts from every stage in Frederick P. Rose Hall in New York and Jazz at Lincoln Center Doha in Doha, Qatar. The organization also continues its collaborative model with artists, in which Jazz at Lincoln Center gives the audio and video rights of these webcasts to the artists who perform them. In the 2014-15 season, Jazz at Lincoln Center will further deepen its commitment to this important program by increasing the production value of all webcasts and continuing to innovate and expand distribution, marketing, and community partnerships to the benefit of jazz, the artists who play the music, and the advocates who support it.
Single tickets go on sale August 11. Visit
jalc.org for more information.
