Jazz at Lincoln Center kicks off its milestone 30th anniversary celebration on September 14-17, 2017 with free concerts, tastings and an acclaimed roster of jazz artists on every stage of Frederick P. Rose Hall, the home of Jazz at Lincoln Center, on Broadway at 60th Street in New York, New York.
The celebratory weekend opens Jazz at Lincoln Center’s 2017-18 season, highlighting the artists and programs that are significant to the organization’s history, as well as the advocates and young talent –nurtured through Jazz at Lincoln Center’s education and outreach programs – that represent the future.
In Rose Theater, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis with celebrated pianist Aaron Diehl, rising star Sullivan Fortner, and Juilliard jazz students Micah Thomas and Joel Wenhardt will perform in The Fantastic Mr. Jelly Lord to honor New Orleans legend Jelly Roll Morton on September 14-16. ”Mr. Jelly Lord” was presented as one of Jazz at Lincoln Center’s first season concerts. Nearly 30 years later, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and guests will perform the music of Jelly Roll Morton in a rare big band setting.
In The Appel Room, on September 15-16, composer and pianist Fred Hersch will be joined by Kurt Elling and Kate McGarry to reprise their acclaimed roles from Leaves of Grass which originally premiered at Carnegie Hall in 2005. In addition to honoring the life and poetry of American poet Walt Whitman, this performance features three artists who represent Jazz at Lincoln Center’s diverse programming aesthetic. Fred Hersch has performed on Jazz at Lincoln Center’s stages since 1999; Kurt Elling has graced every stage at Frederick P. Rose Hall and represented the organization globally for more than 12 years; and Kate McGarry has advanced the organization’s education and advocacy initiatives around the world. This performance will be McGarry’s Appel Room debut.
In Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, Herlin Riley, master drummer and founding Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra member, will lead his quintet on September 15-17. Riley’s band, featuring rising stars Emmet Cohen on piano, Russell Hall on bass, Bruce Harris on trumpet, and Godwin Louis on alto saxophone, will perform six sets in the Club as part of the eighth annual Coca-Cola Generations in Jazz Festival. The month-long festival, featuring a roster of over 200 performers, honors the masters of jazz and spotlights the next generation of jazz musicians. The Coca-Cola Generations in Jazz Festival schedule can be found on jazz.org/dizzys.
In the Mica and Ahmet Ertegun Atrium, on September 14-16, Jazz at Lincoln Center invites audiences to free concerts led by saxophonist Alexa Tarantino, tastings from New York City’s finest restaurants including Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, and a celebratory champagne toast at intermission.
Audiences around the globe can access live streams of the opening weekend concerts via jazz.org/live.
JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER’S 2017-18 OPENING WEEKEND CONCERTS:
THE FANTASTIC MR. JELLY LORD
Sep 14-16, 2017 | 8:00pm | Rose Theater
The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis kicks off the 30th anniversary season with a celebration of New Orleans legend Jelly Roll Morton (1890–1941). Jazz’s first great composer, musical intellect, and piano virtuoso, Morton provided the musical blueprint of an eternal New Orleans and jazz as it is known today. Through both classic and never-before-heard arrangements of essential tunes like “King Porter Stomp,” “Jungle Blues,” “Black Bottom Stomp,” and “The Pearls,” the JLCO will showcase the contemporary power and depth of possibility in the earliest jazz. The concepts found in these pieces have been explored by master musicians for the past century and made truly modern through the lens of Jelly Roll. In addition to the JLCO’s own resident pianist Dan Nimmer, this performance will feature the celebrated pianist Aaron Diehl, rising star Sullivan Fortner, and two promising young Juilliard jazz students from the Midwest and the West: Micah Thomas and Joel Wenhardt.
Free pre-concert discussion, 7pm
FRED HERSCH, KURT ELLING & KATE MCGARRY: LEAVES OF GRASS
Sep 15-16, 2017 | 7:00pm & 9:30pm | The Appel Room
Over the course of composer and pianist Fred Hersch’s inspiring career, Leaves of Grass stands out as one of his most ambitious and deeply personal projects. Originally premiered at Carnegie Hall in 2005, Leaves of Grass celebrates the life and poetry of the American bard Walt Whitman, whose work redefined American poetry and had a significant, life-affirming impact on Hersch. In this Appel Room performance, vocalists Kurt Elling and Kate McGarry will reprise their acclaimed roles from the original project, presenting Whitman’s words with grace, emotion, and a lyrical sweetness that would have made Whitman proud. An eight-piece ensemble will assist them in evoking the sweeping melodicism for which Hersch is renowned. It has been over 160 years since Whitman wrote his epic masterwork, “Song of Myself,” which forms the centerpiece of Hersch’s Leaves of Grass, with a message of unapologetic love for one’s true self, appreciation of the present, wonder at the miracle of nature, and the openhearted love of all beings that is especially timely and important.
Free pre-concert discussion, 6pm & 8:30pm
HERLIN RILEY QUINTET
September 15-17, 2017 | 7:30pm & 9:30pm | Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola
Veteran drummer and founding Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra member Herlin Riley has been the drummer of choice for bandleaders such as Ahmad Jamal and Wynton Marsalis. Riley’s sound is rooted in his home of New Orleans, but his rhythmic vocabulary expands miles beyond any one style or location. At Dizzy’s, he will demonstrate his skills as bandleader, with a quintet featuring some of the best young talent in New York, including trumpeter Bruce Harris, pianist Emmet Cohen, bassist Russell Hall, and saxophonist Godwin Louis.
In addition to concerts, Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Blue Engine Records will continue to release tracks from All Jazz is Modern, a series of 30 iconic singles representative of the organization’s three-decade history. Blue Engine Records and Jazz at Lincoln Center’s free webcasts are a few of the initiatives that advance Jazz at Lincoln Center’s mission to cultivate existing jazz fans worldwide and turn new audiences onto jazz.
Jazz at Lincoln Center’s 2017-18 season celebrates the organization’s 30th anniversary. Since the first downbeat of its summer concert series in 1987, Jazz at Lincoln Center has been a vital part of the global cultural landscape. Jazz at Lincoln Center was established as an independent non-profit organization in 1996; opened Frederick P. Rose Hall, the “House of Swing”, in 2004, making it the world’s first venue designed specifically for jazz; and launched Blue Engine Records to share its vast archive of recordings in 2014. Over the past three decades, Jazz at Lincoln Center has become an important advocate for jazz, culture, and arts education globally, with a global audience of nearly 2 million people of all ages and experiences through concerts, webcasting, musical instruction, and distribution of music scores, the vast majority of which is free of charge. To date, Jazz at Lincoln Center has produced more than 1,200 original concerts in the New York City area, with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra having performed in over 446 cities in 41 countries on five continents. This milestone season reflects on 30 years of celebrating the universal language of music and the influence of jazz in present day. Throughout the 2017-18 season, Jazz at Lincoln Center will bring together a wide array of events, projects and virtuoso musicians, composers and educators illustrating the collaborative nature of the art form. Jazz at Lincoln Center’s 2017-18 season includes performances by renowned artists including Joey Alexander, Chick Corea, Paquito D’Rivera, Eliane Elias, Dick Hyman, Marilyn Maye, Steve Miller, Dianne Reeves, and Henry Threadgill; as well as Jazz at Lincoln Center debuts by Harlem Quartet and vocalist and songwriter Somi. The milestone season will conclude with a grand finale world premiere by Wynton Marsalis, Jazz at Lincoln Center Managing and Artistic Director.
All single tickets for The Appel Room and Rose Theater can be purchased at jazz.org 24 hours a day or CenterCharge at 212-721-6500, open daily from 10am to 9pm. Tickets can also be purchased at the Jazz at Lincoln Center Box Office, located on Broadway at 60th Street, ground floor.
For more information about Jazz at Lincoln Center’s 30th anniversary season, go to jazz.org.
Additional information may be found at jazz.org |
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Twitter: @jazzdotorg | Instagram: @jazzdotorg |
YouTube: youtube.com/jalc | Livestream: jazz.org/live
Jazz at Lincoln Center proudly acknowledges its major corporate partners:
Bloomberg, Brooks Brothers, Centene Charitable Foundation,The Coca-Cola Company, Con Edison, Entergy, SiriusXM, Steinway & Sons,The Shops at Columbus Circle at Time Warner Center, and United Airlines.