The program setting a new jazz standard returns next week with a fresh schedule of shows about the most dynamic people and events in jazz today. Jazz Night in America Season Two premieres on September 24 with new radio and video episodes availableThursdays at npr.org/jazznight and from public radio stations around the country.
In Season Two, Jazz Night in America will take audiences on a tour of the country to join the artists defining and redefining the genre as they find new expressions of the music, build the next anthology of jazz standards and experience watershed moments in the genre’s history. The Season opens with special coverage of Wayne Shorter’s career-spanning performance as the featured soloist with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. In this episode of the weekly radio show and a companion video documentary, Jazz Night in America visits the home of the renowned jazz composer and saxophonist to capture his trailblazing career and his musical (and extra-musical) ideas.
The multi-platform program – produced by an ensemble of the country’s leading jazz programmers, NPR Music, WBGO and Jazz at Lincoln Center – introduces two new video elements this fall. Bi-weekly, half-hour concert documentaries take viewers behind the scenes of the performances featured on the radio show that week. Throughout the season, special video shorts will capture important moments in jazz, including the 90th birthday of George Wein, creator of the Newport Jazz Festival. In addition, Christian McBride, the multiple Grammy Award-winning musician and host of Jazz Night in America, will continue his monthly jazz segments on All Things Considered, NPR’s flagship program airing on more than 700 stations in the U.S. Jazz Night in America Season Two Schedule September 24, 2015: Wayne Shorter’s career-spanning performance at Jazz at Lincoln Center October 1, 2015: George Wein 90th birthday interview special with recordings from his Newport Jazz Festival October 8, 2015: Jason Moran and The Big Bandwagon tribute to Thelonius Monk at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
October 15, 2015: TBA
October 22, 2015: Arturo O’Farrill brings together American and Cuban musicians in a tribute to Afro-Cuban music during a performance from The Conversation Continued at Symphony Space in New York
October 29, 2015: TBA
November 5, 2015: Thelonious Monk Competition-winning Trumpeter Marquis Hill performs with his band the Blacktet at the Jazz Showcase in Chicago
November 12, 2015: TBA
November 19, 2015: Pat Mallinger, Cameron Pfiffner and the Sabertooth Organ Quartet at Chicago’s Green Mill club, where they perform every Saturday from Midnight to 5 a.m.
November 26, 2015: TBA
December 3, 2015: Keyboardist and composer Wayne Horvitz at the Earshot Jazz Festival in Seattle
December 10, 2015: TBA
December 17, 2015: The young, driven artists of Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola at Jazz at Lincoln Center
* Detailed descriptions of each episode are available now in the NPR Press Room at NPR.org [LINK].
In this new season, Jazz Night in America Season Two will bring audiences music and behind-the-scenes stories from DC Jazz Fest and the Panama Jazz Festival, visit renowned funk band Snarky Puppy in the group’s hometown of Dallas, and join McBride in his hometown of Philadelphia. The full 2016 programming schedule – including visits to Boston, New Orleans, Panama City, Washington, D.C. and other U.S. cities – will be released later this fall.
Jazz Night in America Season One brought listeners the best jazz happening around the U.S. – the Blue Note Records 75th anniversary concert at the Kennedy Center; a world premiere of new music composed by Wynton Marsalis, music from Kamasi Washington’s release party for his new album The Epic; broadcasts from jazz festivals in cities around the country; and a live jazz performance event at the Woodlawn Cemetery, the resting place for many of the genre’s greats, as part of the citywide Make Music New York festival. The Season included performances by 240 musicians from 20 venues around the country and 130 original artist interviews. Many of these videos captured in Season One are available now at the new Jazz Night in America YouTube channel.
NPR Music, Jazz at Lincoln Center and WBGO launched Jazz Night in America in October 2014 to connect audiences with the most inspiring performances, artists and stories in jazz. The multi-platform initiative showcases today’s thriving jazz scene across all public radio platforms – a national radio program and video webcasts from venues around the country, features in NPR’s national news programming, and coverage at NPR Music’s award-winning A Blog Supreme all available at npr.org/jazznight. The Jazz Night in America radio show is produced at WBGO studios in Newark, NJ, and is heard on more than 140 NPR stations nationwide.
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NPR Media Relations Contact: Caitlin Sanders csanders@npr.org / (404) 375-9458