NYC Winter Jazzfest to Open 23rd Edition With William Parker and Coltrane Tributes

On January 10, 2027, bassist, composer and poet William Parker turns 75. Two days later, NYC Winter Jazzfest opens its 23rd edition on stages across Manhattan and Brooklyn, and the festival will mark Parker's birthday with a series of performances through January 19. Ravi Coltrane and Michelle Coltrane will host Expressions, a Coltrane 100 celebration that ends with a two-part concert. Jazz communities from Portland, Chicago, New Orleans, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. will send artists who carry their home scenes with them, in a first wave that also spans experimental music, soul and global traditions.

Collective Radiance

This year's theme, Collective Radiance, starts from a simple idea: what an individual community of musicians and listeners generate together is larger than any single one and nurtures a strong combined ecosystem. Winter Jazzfest has always reflected New York. In 2027 it opens its stages to the jazz communities that sustain the music in cities across the country, and invites artists who bring their home scenes with our audiences.

Portland's Cosmic Tones Research Trio arrives through a new partnership with KMHD Jazz Radio. Chicago is represented by the Damon Locks Black Monument Ensemble in their NYC debut and by Kahil El'Zabar, who appears with David Murray. From New Orleans come Davell Crawford and Victor Campbell; from Los Angeles, Jimetta Rose, Dave Harrington, and Miguel Atwood-Ferguson; from Philadelphia, the Sun Ra Arkestra; and from Washington, D.C., The Messthetics.

Each scene has its own elders, its hallowed halls, and its own way of marking the music in the community. Representing these separate communities together in New York in January, when presenters from around the world are in town for APAP, is how we assemble and celebrate together. In the coldest season, during these uncomfortable times, we create a warm and welcoming place for collective communal joy.

William Parker at 75

Winter Jazzfest will celebrate the 75th birthday of William Parker with performances across the festival. Born in the Bronx and shaped by the Lower East Side loft scene of the early 1970s, Parker has spent five decades building communal infrastructure in New York. He played in bands led by Cecil Taylor and David S. Ware, and in 1996 he co-founded the Vision Festival with Patricia Nicholson Parker. The Village Voice once called him “the most consistently brilliant free-jazz bassist of all time,” and his recorded output as a leader now runs past 50 albums for AUM Fidelity and his own Centering Records.

The birthday series includes Parker in trio with Hamid Drake and SHABAKA; Black Cherry, his percussion and African-instruments duo with Drake; and Mayan Space Station, his electric trio with guitarist Ava Mendoza and drummer Kevin Murray. He will perform additional sets throughout the festival. On January 18, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Parker will present a special night of commissions and collaborations in the spirit of the civil rights movement.

“This year at the Winter Jazzfest, I'm looking forward to celebrating my 75th year by bringing six different aspects of sound, movement, text, historical recollection, and future exploration with old and new creative friends,” Parker said.

Expressions: A Celebration of the Coltrane Legacy

Ravi Coltrane and Michelle Coltrane will host a series of immersive listening events around the works of Alice Coltrane. The programming also includes a first look at the future and vision for the Coltrane Home in Dix Hills and the restoration of the John Coltrane House in Philadelphia, and a book signing for a new photographic retrospective of John Coltrane's life and music.

Expressions will culminate with Spirit of Coltrane, a two-part concert for Coltrane 100. Miguel Atwood-Ferguson will perform music from his new album, and Ravi Coltrane will lead improvisations featuring Gary Bartz, Brandee Younger and guests to be announced

The First Wave of 2027 Artists

The initial 2027 Winter Jazzfest lineup includes:

• Adam Schatz Civil Engineering
• Alan Braufman
• Andrew Cyrille Quartet with Bill Frisell, David Virelles, Ben Street
• Antoine Boyer & Yeore Kim
• Ashley Henry
• Black Cherry
• Blacks' Myths
• Brandee Younger Trio
• Candice Hoyes
• Caroline Davis
• Chad Taylor Ensemble
• Cheryl Durongpisitkul
• Dafnis Prieto Sí o Sí Quartet
• Damon Locks Black Monument Ensemble
• Dave Harrington's Pranster's East
• Davell Crawford
• Dezron Douglas
• DJ Tara
• Dolphin Hyperspace
• Donny McCaslin
• Elijah Fox
• Elsa Nilsson Band Of Pulses
• Emilio Modeste Super Friends 4Tet
• Gary Bartz NTU Troop
• George Burton
• Georgia Heers
• Gildaa
• Gretchen Parlato
• Hamid Drake
• Hannah Marks Quartet
• Harold Lopez Nussa
• Irreversible Entanglements
• Janel Leppin Ensemble Volcanic Ash
• Jeremy Cunningham
• Jimetta Rose presents METTASUN
• Julius Rodriguez - From the Bench to the Throne
• Kahil El Zabar & David Murray
• Kalia Vandever & Dave Harrington
• KatzPascale
• Knats
• Kweku Sumbry w/ Immanuel Wilkins, Henry Fraser
• Lakecia Benjamin
• Lau Noah & Adam Neely
• Lea Maria Fries
• Linda Sikhakhane
• Lux Quartet
• Marc Ribot
• Marta Sanchez Quintet
• Mayan Space Station
• Melanie Charles & The Jazz Baddies
• Melissa Aldana
• Melissa Almaguer Trio
• Michelle Coltrane
• Miguel Atwood-Ferguson
• Nate Mercereau's Fantastic Thoughts w/ Carlos Niño & Austin WIlliamson
• No(w) Beauty
• Pan Amsterdam
• Patricia Brennan & Sylvie Courvoisier
• Ravi Coltrane
• Roni Kaspi
• Sam Fribush Organ Trio
• Samir LanGus Quartet
• Sarah Lancman
• Sassofono Notturno
• Shabaka
• Shamanic Principle
• Simon Moullier Quartet
• Skylar Tang
• Sparklmami
• Stetson, Fox, and Dunn
• Steven Bernstein ResoNation Trio
• Sounds of April & Randall
• Sullivan Fortner
• Sun Ra Arkestra
• Sylvie Courvoisier
• Telemakus
• The Cosmic Tones Research Trio
• The Greyboy Allstars
• The Messthetics & James Brandon Lewis
• The Williamsburg Allstars featuring Gerry Eastman
• The Nth Power
• Toribio
• Tyreek McDole
• Val Jeanty + Cassie Watson Francillon present KaFou
• Victor Campbell
• Virginia MacDonald
• William Parker, Hamid Drake, Shabaka
• Wadada Leo Smith & Sylvie Courvoisier
• Zohar & Adam

Additional artists, individual shows, keynote speakers, and panel programming will be announced in the coming weeks.

From Then Until Now

NYC Winter Jazzfest began in 2005 at the Knitting Factory on Leonard St., with the inaugural mission of highlighting music that deserved wider attention while the APAP conference was in town. To a large degree, that mission remains. But over the years it has grown to focus on artists with meaningful messages—serving as a beacon for racial and gender justice, climate action, immigration, mass incarceration, and other urgent issues that affect so many of us.

The overarching goal is clear: to grow the audience for jazz through a broad programming vision that reflects the diversity of New York's scene, presenting the widest spectrum of what jazz can be. That mission continues in January 2026, as Winter Jazzfest once again supports a host of fearless and creative musicians while pushing boundaries and imagining new possibilities for our music scene and our world.

About NYC Winter Jazzfest

NYC Winter Jazzfest has become a creative home for pathbreaking artists from New York and around the world, and a pivotal destination for arts leaders, hardcore fans, and new listeners alike. The festival has grown from its humble beginnings into a citywide event featuring as many as 150 groups and 600+ artists across 20 stages in Manhattan and Brooklyn.