James Brandon News

NYC Winter Jazzfest will return for its 22nd edition with performances across Manhattan and Brooklyn, featuring the festival’s signature Marathon nights and additional shows and talks.

The 22nd edition of NYC Winter Jazzfest will take place January 8–13, 2026, reaffirming the festival’s role as a global gathering for creative expression and community.

This year's theme centers on the joy and beauty of gathering together while celebrating the tradition and future of Black American music—especially urgent during a time when external forces threaten to erase Black culture and history.

The paradigm-shifting Polish festival Jazztopad returns to New York City for its ninth edition from June 13–18, 2025, continuing its mission of building bridges between the most adventurous voices in contemporary improvised music.

From their forthcoming album, James Brandon Lewis Trio shares “Prince Eugene,” a hazy ballad that combines a dub-reggae bassline and drums with a Zimbabwean mbira as Lewis’ saxophone sings and guides us through the tune’s heavy yet minimal groove. Listen to it here.

David T. Little’s GRAMMY-nominated opera BLACK LODGE will launch a fall/winter tour with screenings in Sweden, a West Coast premiere in Los Angeles on October 19, and a live NYC premiere in January. Learn more!

 Harlem Stage has announced its 2024-2025 Season of new works, reimagined works, a new vision, and beloved festivals and series in the inaugural season for new CEO & Artistic Director, Dr. Indira Etwaroo.

This fall, Ribot will perform his album ‘Songs of Resistance’ in duo with multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily in select markets with radical rearrangements of the songs plus new material, improvisation and whatever else reaps urgency.

NYC Winter Jazzfest has announced the complete list of artists to be featured at the 20th annual NYC Winter Jazzfest! Please mark your calendars for January 10-18, 2024.

Latiné Musical Theatre Lab and Prospect Theater Company have partnered to present New Musicals Mixtape, a first look at new musicals written by members of the Latiné Musical Theatre Lab’s Julia de Burgos Cohort.

NYC Winter Jazzfest has announced the initial list of artists to be featured at the 20th annual NYC Winter Jazzfest! Please mark your calendars for January 10-18, 2024.

Arts for Art has announced a new partnership with the West Harlem Art Fund to present In Gardens at Governors Island. In Gardens at Governors Island will feature two afternoons of FreeJazz performances, Melanie Dyer's Siren Xypher on August 26th and Alexis Marcelo Trio on August 27th.

Get the scoop on Buddies in Bad Times Theatre's highly anticipated 45th anniversary season, featuring a vibrant lineup of LGBTQ+ theatre productions and events. From groundbreaking performances to thought-provoking stories, this season promises to captivate audiences. Book your tickets now and be part of the celebration!

Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog – the visionary post-fusion rock trio comprising guitarist/songwriter/activist Marc Ribot, bassist Shahzad Ismaily, and drummer/percussionist Ches Smith – have announced plans for a West Coast co-headline tour alongside groundbreaking jazz quartet The Bad Plus.

The song “Unified Dakotas” aligns High Pulp with the kind of adventurous music that defined the alternative ‘90s, a mix of post-rock guitars, head-nodding drums, bright horns, and electronics. It made perfect sense to reach out to Jeff Parker of Tortoise and have his guitar ring through the song as it transforms from shimmering jazz-funk.

Connection sees Ceramic Dog fully entrenched in their signature approach to improvised music, augmented by contributions by such special guests as singer-songwriter Syd Straw, keyboardist Anthony Coleman, saxophonist James Brandon Lewis, organist Greg Lewis, clarinetist Oscar Noriega, and cellist Peter Sachon.

The 2023 US edition of Jazztopad, from June 23-30, will feature a series of commissions from the acclaimed Lutosławski Quartet in collaboration with jazz piano luminaries Craig Taborn and Uri Caine, EMMY-winning composer Don Davis and sought-after bassist and composer Michael Bates. Iraqi-American trumpeter and composer Amir ElSaffar will also perform on opening night in a return Jazztopad engagement.

'My Childhood,' the first single from composer David T. Little's modern opera Black Lodge, is available now from Cantaloupe Music on all digital services.

The lineup also includes bounce legend Big Freedia, musical polyglots Thundercat, DJ Pee .Wee (aka Anderson .Paak), Big Gigantic and Alfa Mist, as well as songwriters Cautious Clay, Durand Jones and The War & Treaty. Special ensembles include Newport Jazz artistic director Christian McBride’s annual Jam Jawn, MoodSwing, Scary Goldings, and more.

This music swaps out the extra-musical research and cerebral high concepts of his critically acclaimed ‘Jesup Wagon’ and the aesthetic manifestos of ‘An Unruly Manifesto’ for a lean power trio of tenor sax, cello and drums that reaches for singable melodies and a simple punk-band-in-the-basement credo: Chasing energy.