In 1994, Wynton Marsalis premiered his first big band composition commissioned by Jazz at Lincoln Center, Blood on the Fields, about a couple’s journey from slavery to freedom. Nearly 25 years after the premiere of this powerful work which earned him a Pulitzer Prize in Music in 1997, Marsalis will premiere The Ever Fonky Lowdown, the latest entry in his renowned canon of music exploring America’s relationship to racial matters. The Ever Fonky Lowdown will premiere on June 7─9 at 8pm in Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater at Frederick P. Rose Hall, located on Broadway at 60th Street, New York, New York.
The world premiere of The Ever Fonky Lowdown, commissioned by Jazz at Lincoln Center, is part of the special concert event entitled Wynton Marsalis, an evening devoted to original compositions by Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Managing and Artistic Director. The concert also marks the finale of the organization’s milestone 30th anniversary season.
The Ever Fonky Lowdown will feature the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis; guitarist Doug Wamble; vocalists Jazzmeia Horn, Brianna Thomas, and Camille Thurman; narrarator Wendell Pierce; and choreography by Jared Grimes, and it will utilize the group’s virtuosic soloists, broad stylistic versatility, and unparalleled ensemble cohesion. Marsalis will also use this work to convey his hopes, concerns, and insights about contemporary culture and society through an historically informed lens.
The exploration of cultural and societal issues has yielded some of Marsalis’ best work: the 1986 Grammy Award─winning Black Codes (From the Underground), 2007’s From the Plantation to the Penitentiary, and 1994’s Blood on the Fields ─ the first jazz composition ever to win a Pulitzer Prize. His work and music have been a core part of Jazz at Lincoln Center since the organization’s inception, and the world premiere of The Ever Fonky Lowdown continues to highlight this close connection between ambitious leadership and uncompromised creativity.
For additional information and to purchase tickets, visit jazz.org.
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 in 2014 to share its vast archive of recordings. Over the past three decades, Jazz at Lincoln Center has become an important advocate for jazz, culture, and arts education globally, reaching an 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 has reflected on 30 years of celebrating the universal language of music and the influence of jazz in the present day. Throughout the 2017–18 season, Jazz at Lincoln Center has brought together a wide array of events, projects, virtuoso musicians, composers, and educators to illustrate the collaborative nature of the art form. Jazz at Lincoln Center’s 2017–18 season features performances by renowned artists including Joey Alexander, Chick Corea, Paquito D’Rivera, Eliane Elias, Ellis Marsalis, Dick Hyman, Marilyn Maye, Steve Miller, and Dianne Reeves; as well as Jazz at Lincoln Center debuts by the Harlem Quartet and vocalist and songwriter Somi. The milestone season will conclude with this grand finale world premiere by Wynton Marsalis, Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Managing and Artistic Director.
TICKET INFORMATION:
Ticket prices start at $10. All single tickets for The Appel Room and Rose Theater can be purchased at jazz.org 24 hours a day or through CenterCharge at 212-721-6500, open daily from 10am–9pm. Tickets can also be purchased at the Jazz at Lincoln Center Box Office, located on Broadway at 60th Street, ground floor.
Box Office Hours:
Monday–Saturday: 10am–6pm (or 30 minutes past curtain)
Sunday: 12pm–6pm (or 30 minutes past curtain)
Hot Seats—$10 seats for select shows in Rose Theater—are available for purchase to the general public on the Wednesday prior to each performance, subject to availability. Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Hot Seats Ticket Discount Program is supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
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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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.