BRYAN STEVENSON, FOUNDER AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE EQUAL JUSTICE INITIATIVE, TO DELIVER 2025 JAZZ CONGRESS KEYNOTE

Jazz Congress announces Bryan Stevenson, founder and Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative, will deliver the keynote address at the conference that brings together members of the global jazz community to nurture the bond between artists, media professionals, and industry leaders. The 2025 Jazz Congress will take place on Wed., Jan. 8 and Thurs., Jan. 9, 2025, at Frederick P. Rose Hall, home of Jazz at Lincoln Center, located at Broadway at 60th Street, New York, New York.

Under Mr. Stevenson’s leadership, EJI has won major legal challenges eliminating excessive and unfair sentencing, exonerating innocent death row prisoners, confronting abuse of the incarcerated and the mentally ill, and aiding children prosecuted as adults. He has argued and won multiple cases at the United States Supreme Court, and he and his staff have won reversals, relief, or release from prison for over 140 wrongly condemned prisoners on death row and won relief for hundreds of others wrongly convicted or unfairly sentenced. Mr. Stevenson has initiated major new anti-poverty and anti-discrimination efforts that challenge inequality in America. He led the creation of EJI’s highly acclaimed Legacy Sites, including the Legacy Museum, the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, and Freedom Monument Sculpture Park. He is the author of the critically acclaimed New York Times bestseller, Just Mercy, which has been awarded several honors. Just Mercy was adapted as a major motion picture and the film won the American Bar Association’s 2020 Silver Gavel Award as well as four NAACP Image Awards. Mr. Stevenson is also the subject of the Emmy Award-winning HBO documentary True Justice. He is a graduate of the Harvard Law School and the Harvard School of Government.

In addition to his groundbreaking work and dedication to helping the poor, the incarcerated, and the condemned, Mr. Stevenson is also a skilled pianist. “The history of jazz,” Mr. Stevenson said in an interview with Chicago Symphony Orchestra, “is inextricably intertwined with the history of civil rights and equal justice. Since its birth, in part, as an outgrowth of the blues, jazz has been a way for countless Black artists to express themselves with a freedom they were deprived of in everyday life.” Mr. Stevenson continued, “it was also a way, whether through John Coltrane’s sophisticated saxophone riffs or Nina Simone’s otherworldly vocals, to disprove the widespread notion that Black people were somehow less than equal.”

In addition to the keynote, Jazz Congress announces conference panels and events, designed to cover a broad range of topics that reflect the current issues facing the jazz community:

• The 2025 Bruce Lundvall Visionary Award Presentation to John Clayton
• “Opening Plenary: Technology and the Arts”
• “Leading Your Own Organization: How to Bring Jazz to Your Community Through Education and Performance”
• In Conversation: Roger Dickerson, 2024 Satchmo Award recipient
• Concert: Celebrating Russell Malone
• Town Hall: Navigating Male-Dominated Spaces
• “Europe & U.S.: Exchanges in Jazz”
• In Conversation: Dee Dee Bridgewater, Patrice Rushen, and Lakecia Benjamin
• Latin Jazz Listening Party
• Jukebox Jury
• “From Algorithm to Audience: AI in Jazz Programming”
• “Where is the Jazz in Jazz Festivals?”
• “Roy Haynes: Life of a Legend”
and more.

Exclusively for Jazz Congress attendees, the Empire Hotel, located at 44 W. 63rd Street in New York, New York, extends special lodging rates. Please click here to access the rate which expires on Nov. 29, 2024.

Jazz Congress 2-Day Pass Pricing and Registration Dates:
$200 – today through December 31, 2024
$250 - January 1 – 8, 2025

Jazz Congress 1-Day Pass Pricing and Registration Dates:
$150 - today through December 31, 2024
$200 - January 1 – 8, 2025

For the Jazz Congress schedule of events and to register, visit jazzcongress.org.

Please contact Customer Service for inquiries about registration. Email [email protected] or call 212.258.9800.

Jazz Congress was founded in 2018, originally as a partnership with JazzTimes who in the past had produced or co-produced numerous jazz gatherings such as the JazzTimes Convention, the IAJE industry track and the Jazz Connect Conference. Since that time, Jazz at Lincoln Center has brought considerable experience and resources to present an industry gathering that not only drew upon the past, but also pointed toward the future. Over the years, Jazz Congress has brought together jazz artists and industry professionals from all over the world.

The Jazz Congress Advisory Board includes Gene Dobbs Bradford, Terri Lyne Carrington, Chanel Enriquez, Stefon Harris, Karen Kennedy, Don Lucoff, Riley Mulherkar, Katie Simon, Denny Stilwell, and Helen Sung.

Press Inquiries:
Zooey Tidal Jones
Senior Director, Public Relations and External Communications
Jazz at Lincoln Center
212.258.9821
[email protected]