For Immediate Release: March 18th, 2013
JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER’S
DUKE ELLINGTON FESTIVAL
April 18–27
Featuring the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis,
Michael Feinstein, Kurt Elling, and more
Tickets on Sale Now – Starting at $30
New York, NY Jazz at Lincoln Center salutes one of the 20th century’s musical giants with the Duke Ellington Festival featuring performances by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, Michael Feinstein, Kurt Elling, and more, in Rose Theater and The Allen Room at Frederick P. Rose Hall at Broadway at 60th Street, New York, NY, from April 18–27. The Duke Ellington Festival concerts and pre-concert discussions will spotlight the song and spirit of the inimitable Duke Ellington. Very few artists in any field can be said to have shifted the course of history as Ellington did.
- Duke Ellington Festival Listening Party
April 18 at 7pm
Irene Diamond Education Center
Free and open to the public.
This interview series invites audiences to listen to new jazz albums, while meeting and hearing from the artists who recorded them.
- Elegant Ellington featuring Michael Feinstein, Kurt Elling, Brianna Thomas, and special guests
April 24 at 7pm
April 25 at 7pm and 9pm
The Allen Room
Tickets Start at $55 – On Sale Now
Throughout his orchestra’s half century, Duke Ellington deployed the individuality of his players to infinitely creative ends, sustaining the operation on the proceeds of a series of hits that remain touchstones of the Great American Songbook. Singer-pianist-impresario Michael Feinstein, along with GRAMMY® Award-winning vocalist Kurt Elling, rising star vocalist Brianna Thomas , multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Jerron “Blind Boy” Paxton, and music director Tedd Firth will interpret these works on a show that explores both Ellington’s musical roots and the full flowering of his genius. Besides being a world-class pianist and vocalist, Michael Feinstein was once the personal curator of the Gershwin estate, making him one of world’s foremost scholars on America’s popular song. In his third season as curator of JALC’s Feinstein series, he will continue to delve into the common musical bonds between jazz and the Great American Songbook with a star-studded array of players and vocalists.
- Celebrating Duke Ellington featuring the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis
April 25, 26, 27 at 8pm
April 27 at 2pm
Rose Theater
Tickets Start at $30 – On Sale Now
Free pre-concert discussion nightly at 7pm.
Since 1988, when Wynton Marsalis coalesced his septet with Duke Ellington alumni Jimmy Hamilton, Willie Cook, Jimmy Woode, Norris Turney, Britt Woodman, and Joe Temperley (still an active member of the JLCO and performer at this event) to form the first edition of the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Ellington’s oeuvre has been fundamental to Marsalis’ mission and conception. Continuing in this vein, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis will draw from its deep well of Ellingtonia, rendering the maestro’s essence with a forceful, idiomatic clarity that reflects the JLCO’s abiding immersion in his language. Join us in the hall or tune in to our live webcast at jazz.org/live.
All concertgoers are invited to a free pre-concert festival in the Atrium on April 25 at 6:30pm featuring live music, album art displays courtesy of the Jazz Record Center, and tastings from Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, Channing Daughters Winery, and Heartland Brewery.
Ellington’s impact on the jazz landscape extends far and wide, but perhaps no institution is more deeply affected by his legacy than Jazz at Lincoln Center. The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra began in 1988 with personnel made up of some surviving members of the Duke Ellington Orchestra and members of the Wynton Marsalis Septet.
Jazz at Lincoln Center continues to honor and celebrate Ellington, whose contributions led to his induction into the inaugural class of JALC’s Nesuhi Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame in 2004, as well as JALC’s Essentially Ellington education program, which provides year-long musical scores, ongoing instruction and mentorship to high schools nationwide.
Tickets for Rose Theater and The Allen Room can be purchased online through jazz.org, by phone through CenterCharge at 212-721-6500 (open daily from 10:00am to 9:00pm), or in person at the Jazz at Lincoln Center Box Office, located on Broadway at 60th Street on the ground floor. The JALC box office is open Monday through Saturday from 10:00am to 6:00pm (or 30 minutes past curtain) and Sunday from noon to 6:00pm (or 30 minutes past curtain).
Note: Hot Seats, $10 seats for each Rose Theater performance (excluding Jazz for Young People® concerts and other performances as specified) and select 9:30pm performances in The Allen Room (excluding Jazz & Popular Song concerts), are available for purchase to the general public on the Wednesday prior to each performance. Subject to availability. Available only for select Allen Room shows; please call 212-258-9800 for available Hot Seats performance dates. Hot Seats are available only by walk up at the Box Office.
Jazz at Lincoln Center’s 25th Anniversary Season celebrates the organization’s range and depth of programming, as well as education initiatives that have reached millions of people around the world over the past 25 years. Jazz at Lincoln Center ‘s 2012-13 season continues with a Tribute to Bobby Short on May 15 and 16, Chick Corea on May 16, 17 and 18 and Friends of Chick Corea — a Corea-curated show featuring Israeli piano prodigy Gadi Lehavi, Georgian-born pianist Beka Gochiashvili, bassist John Patitucci, trumpeter Wallace Roney, and current Corea collaborator Marcus Gilmore — on May 17 and 18.
Bloomberg is the Lead Corporate Sponsor of Celebrating Duke Ellington.
Jazz at Lincoln Center proudly acknowledges its major corporate partners: Bloomberg, Brooks Brothers,
The Coca-Cola Company, Con Edison, Entergy, HSBC Bank, Qatar Airways, MasterCard,
The Shops at Columbus Circle at Time Warner Center, and SiriusXM.
The 2012-2013 Jazz at Lincoln Center Season is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts
with the Support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.
This program is supported, in part, by public funds from
the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
MasterCard® is the Preferred Card of Jazz at Lincoln Center.
HSBC is the Lead Corporate Partner of the Jazz & Popular Song Series.
Qatar Airways is a Premier Sponsor and Official Airline Partner of Jazz at Lincoln Center.