Jazz at Lincoln Center (JALC) and Managing and Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis today proudly announce programming for its 2025-26 season of concerts at the home of JALC, Frederick P. Rose Hall, colloquially known as The House of Swing, which houses Rose Theater, the Appel Room, and Dizzy’s Club.
Jazz at Lincoln Center’s 38th season, Mother Africa, delves into the creative spirit that unites African and American musical traditions, and runs from July 24, 2025 to June 20, 2026. Featuring 30% more shows than last season, the organization’s 38th season includes: 19 unique weekends of Jazz at Lincoln Center concerts in the 1233-seat Rose Theater, nine concerts in the 467-seat Appel Room, and more than 350 nights of music at Dizzy’s Club, in addition to webcast performances and in-person and virtual education programs. The 2025-26 season also features tour dates worldwide by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, an ensemble of 15 virtuoso instrumentalists, unique soloists, composers, arrangers, and educators whose mandate is to coalesce and animate an unprecedented variety of styles and genres, in collaboration with noted guest artists and appearances by major figures in jazz and its related genres.
Dominating Jazz at Lincoln Center’s 38th season are concerts that explore the deep and enduring ties between jazz, the African continent, and its diaspora, a leitmotif that the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis previously addressed in such past Marsalis opuses as Blood on the Fields (1996), Congo Square (2007), Ochas (2014), and the fresh big band arrangements comprising JLCO’s The South African Songbook concert (2019). The season highlights new works, commissioned by Jazz at Lincoln Center, from renowned jazz artists in the organization’s new The Commission Series. The new season also includes celebratory concerts to honor the centennials of three towering figures in jazz – Miles Davis, Oscar Peterson, and Celia Cruz – further illuminating the far-reaching legacy of Afro-American and the African diaspora musical expression.
“The earliest and most fundamental human mythology is African,” JALC’s Managing and Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis says. “From Venda to Igbo to a host of other belief systems across the continent, there are viable solutions to today’s challenges.”
Several of the performances on the season address the creative sensibilities that enslaved Africans applied in embedding the rhythms, timbres, and melodies from their religious-cultural traditions into the DNA of Black American Music – Negro spirituals, the blues, and early jazz – in the drum-averse United States. Another cohort of concerts home in on the Afro-diasporic vernacular and popular musical genres that evolved in the drum-friendly Caribbean, Central American, and South American diasporas and permeated jazz expression from early 20th century New Orleans origins through the first quarter of the 21st century. Others focus on the African consciousness of such modern North American jazz masters as Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, John Coltrane, Max Roach, Randy Weston, Oscar Peterson, Charles Mingus, and Horace Silver, and the musical production of African jazz musicians after 1945, when the African nations were established and the United Nations was formed.
“Our ancestors had cogent and powerful thoughts on who we are as individuals as we pass through the natural cycles of life, how we should relate to one another socially, and how to be one with the universal spirit that inhabits all,” Marsalis says. “In their globally influential music and dance concepts, we can perceive how to find harmony and balance with nature, how to perceive and interact with the supernatural, and how to create endless variations on fundamental themes in pursuit of a good time.”
Jazz at Lincoln Center’s 2025-26 season concert schedule is available on jazz.org/25-26.
Reflections on Africa in Rose Theater (July 24-25, 2025), offers a preview of the 2025-2026 season, in which the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, music-directed by Vincent Gardner, presents compositions that reflect the impact of African consciousness on music composed by American jazz masters John Coltrane, Randy Weston, Jackie McLean, René McLean, and Horace Parlan. Opening for the JLCO at this special performance are high school–aged musicians from Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Summer Jazz Academy, a two-week residential program for advanced jazz study.
The fall season officially opens in Rose Theater in September with the world premiere of Wynton Marsalis’ Afro! (September 18-20, 2025), a new commission that refracts his lifelong ruminations about the African continent, featuring the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis and featuring vocalist Shenel Johns and Ghanaian-New Orleans djembe virtuoso Weedie Braimah. New Orleans-based drummer Herlin Riley joins the orchestra as the centerpiece of its African tour in the fall of 2025.
In October, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis presents Nduduzo Mahkhatini and the Music of Bheki Mseleku (October 24-25, 2025) in Rose Theater, reuniting with the eminent South African pianist-composer. Mahkhatini played an important role in JALC’s pathbreaking 2019 concert, The South African Songbook, celebrating 25 years of South African democracy with a diverse group of top South African musicians – each of whom selected an essential song from the South African canon, which was then arranged by a member of the JLCO and performed during the orchestra’s first tour of South Africa that year. On this evening, Makhatini and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis present new music along with fresh arrangements of works by Makhatini and Durban-born pianist-saxophonist Bheki Mseleku (1955-2008), whose music Makhatini once analogized to “a sonic pilgrimage from the beautiful and organic landscapes of Durban, to the vibrant energy of London and ultimately toward the inner dimensions of one’s being.”
On October 3-4, 2025 in Rose Theater, Jazz at Lincoln Center presents a 91st birthday retrospective of the 75-year-long career of Capetown-born pianist-composer Abdullah Ibrahim, who was known as “Dollar Brand” when Duke Ellington first heard his trio in 1963 and sponsored his first recording. The 2019 NEA Jazz Master’s Ellington and Monk-inspired style will be on display as he performs works from his vast repertoire in solo and trio contexts and with his long-standing four-horn septet Ekaya. Special guests include 2024 NEA Jazz Master Terence Blanchard, Kenny Garrett, and Cecil McBee.
The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis continues its long-standing relationship with the oeuvre of Duke Ellington with Duke in Africa (January 15-17, 2026), music directed by Chris Lewis and Alexa Tarantino, two of the JLCO’s newest members, featuring the orchestra performing Ellington’s Liberian Suite (1947), Afro Bossa (1963), and Togo Brava Suite (1971) in Rose Theater.
Rising star pianist-arranger Luther Allison music directs Come Sunday in the Appel Room (January 30-31, 2026), a big band program drawn from Duke Ellington’s Sacred Concerts of 1965, 1968 and 1973, joined by a top-shelf band and vocalists Joy Brown and Georgia Heers, who sang when Allison first presented the piece at Dizzy’s Club in 2023.
Mother Africa’s impact on Black American sacred music is the focus of the two concerts in the Appel Room that comprise the fifth annual edition of Jazz at Lincoln Center’s popular educational-oriented Journey Through Jazz series. The Mighty Negro Spirituals (November 21-22, 2025), music directed by Marcus Printup, presents a 21st century perspective on the sacred folk songs with religious lyrics that were created and first sung by enslaved Africans, first published in printed form after the U.S. Civil War, in 1867, and popularized internationally by such ensembles as the Fisk Jubilee Singers. The shared DNA that connects Negro spirituals and the blues – work songs, siren calls, call-and-response, hollers – emerges in the arrangements; as do the oceanic emotions, searing beauty and aspirationally encoded messages of deliverance from oppression that animate these extraordinary works.
Drummer Domo Branch music directs the second Journey Through Jazz concert of the 2025-26 season featuring the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra on Overtures to Africa in the Appel Room (April 10-11, 2026), tracing the pathways of African consciousness in the music of such signpost figures as Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, Max Roach, and Charles Mingus.
Award-winning bassist Endea Owens and firebrand trumpeter Jeremy Pelt (author of the essential five-volume interview series Griot) debut commissioned works that reflect the footprint of African culture on their respective sensibilities in the Appel Room (March 6-7, 2026). Owens’ Whispers of The Celestial Root: Songs of The Black Earth offers a fresh perspective on Africa’s influence on jazz; and Pelt’s Masks, which features his working quintet plus three African percussionists and a vocalist, distills the composer’s intensive studies of the folklore, mysticism, and overall significance of African tribal masks.
JLCO saxophonist, composer, and educator Sherman Irby music directs Birth of the Blues (April 17-18, 2026) with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis and special guests tracing the evolution of blues expression with new arrangements of repertoire by W.C. Handy in Rose Theater.
Big Band Afrobeats (March 6-7, 2026) matches the eminent drummer-bandleader Ulysses Owens Jr.’s big band with Nigerian-born bassist-composer Michael Olatuja in the Appel Room. Olatuja portrayed impressions gleaned as a citizen of Lagos, London, and New York on the exceptional 2020 album Lagos Pepper Soup, his spectacular blend of West African Afrobeats and jazz.
Trinidad-born trumpeter-composer Etienne Charles, whose most recent Jazz at Lincoln Center appearance was the 2023 concert Carnival: The Sound of A People, addresses Anglophone Afro-Caribbean traditions on Folklore LIVE Vol. 2 (June 5-6, 2026) in the Appel Room. The concert revisits and builds upon territory explored on Charles’ exceptional 2009 album Folklore, on which he brought to life the surreal, mythical characters of Afro-Caribbean folklore with original compositions. Charles unveils new musical stories rooted in various elements of the African diaspora – including, but not limited to, low-country Gullah-Geechee rituals, Haitian Vodou, Afro-Mexican Son Jarocho, and Garifuna rhythms – blending big band textures with dancers, masquerade, and spoken word.
Two stirring new commissions get their world premiere debut in The Commissions Series: Danilo Pérez and Godwin Louis. On these evenings, pianist-composer-educator Danilo Pérez, a valued friend of Jazz at Lincoln Center since the 1990s, presents a new commissioned work celebrating the African heritage that shapes Panama’s cultural and musical identity titled The Panáfrica Suite: Echos from the Isthmus and saxophonist Godwin Louis’ introduces African Roots, Diasporic Routes: Benin, Kongo, and the Music of the Americas. Joined by renowned singer Catherine Russell and percussionist Weedie Braimah, Pérez, Louis, and the JLCO treat audiences to a transatlantic voyage in Rose Theater (March 12-14, 2026).
African musical pathways in the southern Americas is the subject of The Commissions Series: Carlos Henriquez and Obed Calvaire (February 27-28, 2026) in Rose Theater, where the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra performs new works by JLCO’s Carlos Henriquez and Obed Calvaire. Performing new compositions from both musicians, building off Henriquez and Calvaire’s respective Puerto Rican and Haitian roots, the orchestra shines a spotlight on the colorful and vibrant sounds of the Afro-Caribbean experience along with guests saxophonist Godwin Louis and Grammy Award-winning pianist Zaccai Curtis.
Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis continues its long-standing exploration of the deep African roots and branches that bedrock the numerous musical genres of Brazil with Soul of Brazil (June 12-13, 2026) in Rose Theater. Mandolin virtuoso Hamilton de Holanda – a frequent JALC collaborator – joins the orchestra on fresh arrangements of his own compositions and those of Moacir Santos, whose pathbreaking fusions of Afro-Brazilian rhythms with the tropes of big band jazz earned him the sobriquet “The Brazilian Duke Ellington.”
São Paulo-born percussion wizard Cyro Baptista, whose long association with Jazz at Lincoln Center includes the 2014 tribute to the music of Moacir Santos with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, celebrates his 75th birthday in Rose Theater with A Banquet for the Spirits (November 7-8, 2025), joined by special guests from across Baptista’s genre-bending, globe-trotting career.
Jazz at Lincoln Center honors the centennial of the immortal Cuban “Queen of Salsa,” Celia Cruz (1925-2003) with a dance party in the Appel Room (October 17-18, 2025), music directed by JLCO’s Carlos Henriquez, who performed and recorded alongside her as a youngster, and a band including a cohort of New York and Miami-based Latin all-stars and singers, including Aymée Nuviola, Alain Pérez and Ariacne Trujillo Duran.
Dianne Reeves (February 14-15, 2026) features the luminous five-time Grammy Award-winning vocalist and NEA Jazz Master in Rose Theater, presenting her annual celebration of love in all its forms. Revealing an approach to melody and phrasing as skilled as it is spontaneous, the supreme vocalist and expert song interpreter shares songs of rapture and anguish, of romance and heartbreak, delivering cherished standards and surprise repertoire.
The 2025-26 edition of Jazz at Lincoln Center’s perennial holiday concert Big Band Holidays music-directed by trombonist Chris Crenshaw, features the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with sensational vocalists Shenel Johns and Kate Kortum, bringing new life to classical tunes in Rose Theater (December 16-21, 2025).
A two-night celebration of sui generis guitar shaman Bill Frisell’s 75th birthday in the Appel Room (March 27-28, 2026) with “In My Dreams” featuring Jenny Scheinman, Hank Roberts, Eyvind Kang, Thomas Morgan and Rudy Royston on Friday, and separate duets with alto saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins and vocalist Petra Haden on Saturday.
Oscar Peterson: A Centennial Celebration honors one of the 20th century’s great improvisers, whose musical catalog was influenced by the struggles of post-colonialism in the African continent with a star-studded evening in Rose Theater (May 8-9, 2026).
Jazz at Lincoln Center celebrates Sketches of Miles: Miles at 100 featuring the JLCO and special guests, performing iconic orchestrations Davis created with the endlessly inventive Gil Evans in Rose Theater (May 14-16, 2026).
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Songwriters Hall of Fame legend Steve Miller returns to Jazz at Lincoln Center to celebrate two late legends: saxophonist Eddie Harris and drummer Chico Hamilton. Miller’s signature blues-rock guitar style will be complemented by an all-star band as well as the Louisiana rhythms of Lil’ Nathan & The Zydeco Big Timers in Rose Theater (November 14-15, 2025).
Multi-award winning vocalist Jazzmeia Horn returns to the Appel Room (May 29-30, 2026) with Her Noble Force big band. Horn will present a program showcasing her own music, as well as works from female composers who’ve inspired her over the course of her career.
The Appel Room, Ertegun Atrium, Dizzy’s Club, and Varis Leichtman Acoustic Studio, all host concerts during Jazz at Lincoln Center’s third annual Unity Jazz Festival (January 10-11, 2026), presenting a slate of contemporary bands representing a 360-degree panorama of 21st century jazz and jazz-adjacent approaches.
Blues Jam returns to Rose Theater (June 18-20, 2026) for a soul-drenched jam session featuring a star-studded lineup of blues legends and powerhouse vocalists celebrating the enduring power of the blues.
Family Concerts, held live and in-person in Rose Theater, have been a Jazz at Lincoln Center mainstay since the early 1990s. The events this year include Who is Louis Armstrong? (March 6-7, 2026), and Who is Celia Cruz? (October 17-18, 2026), hosted by Carlos Henriquez and featuring vocalist Ariacne Trujillo Duran.
In sum, Jazz at Lincoln Center’s 2025-26 season admirably supports Marsalis’ assertion that the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra “might be the most flexible and all-encompassing ensemble in the history of our music,” and embodies the organization’s self-imposed challenge to represent the highest aspirations of jazz expression.
The vast majority of Jazz at Lincoln Center’s 2025-26 season concerts — and many sets from Dizzy’s Club — will be broadcast in real time on Jazz at Lincoln Center’s subscription streaming service Jazz Live, which can be accessed via smart TV, mobile device, and desktop platforms. Learn more at jazzlive.com.
Education
Jazz at Lincoln Center serves the largest jazz education program network in the world. Its initiatives build on the organization’s 38-year history of promoting education in jazz performance and appreciation. These programs reach all populations, from infants to seniors, and advance Jazz at Lincoln Center’s belief that jazz education is for all – regardless of experience, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status.
The goal of each program is for participants to learn the communal history of jazz in a sociopolitical context, receive guidance on better communication of personal objectives while maintaining balance in a group, and gain awareness of the mission of jazz musicians today – building on the aspirational foundation laid down by earlier generations.
With the lodestar composer, pianist, and orchestra leader Duke Ellington as a foundational guide, Jazz at Lincoln Center continues to produce an extensive range of educational and advocacy programs for all ages, not only on the stages in The House of Swing, but through outreach to thousands of public and private schools across the United States that serve a broad cross-section of American children and teenagers. “Jazz at Lincoln Center and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra have a responsibility to invest in community,” Marsalis says. “The community includes our young people. We have a lot of work to do, in all of our schools, teaching our kids how to listen and identify excellence.”
Jazz at Lincoln Center’s signature education program, the Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition & Festival (EE), celebrates its 31st anniversary on April 30 – May 2, 2026. The program will continue to spread the message of Duke Ellington’s music, leadership, and collective orientation, providing five free transcriptions of original Duke Ellington recordings – along with four original transcriptions of Melba Liston’s music – to high school ensembles across thousands of schools and community bands in 58 countries. In addition to sheet music, the program also provides rehearsal guides, original recordings, professional instruction, and more, free of charge to member schools. The popular Regional EE Festivals return in 26 locations across the United States, in addition to three in Australia.
Other highlights of the 2025-26 Education season include:
- Swing University, an online program that serves a global jazz community with jazz appreciation classes on a wide variety of topics during summer, fall, winter, and spring terms. Classes return online with courses ranging from Celia Cruz to Luis Russell to our popular mainstays – Jazz 101 and Jazz 201.
- WeBop, an interactive program for families with children ages 8 months to 7 years old, hosts in-person classes beginning in September 2025. Through a new WeBop Family Jazz Party, Jazz & Africa, children and their caretakers will explore the rich African connections to jazz.
- Let Freedom Swing, are in-school educational concert programs focused on history, civics, and social justice, held as in-person concerts in schools across New York City, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Miami, London (UK), and at Crystal Bridges Museum in Bentonville, AK.
- The National Collegiate Jazz Championship, (formerly the Jack Rudin Jazz Championship), an invitational for 10 collegiate jazz bands takes place at Jazz at Lincoln Center (January 18-19, 2026).
- Jazz Academy continues to provide middle and high school students with high-level, low-cost jazz education and resources both in-person and online. Middle school students receive tuition-free instruction in the program’s Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Bronx locations. High school age students continue instruction at Frederick P. Rose Hall. Following the Jazz at Lincoln Center Youth Orchestra’s (JLCYO) critically acclaimed spring 2025 tour of London, the JLCYO tours Japan and collaborates with Japanese jazz students in March 2026. The two-week intensive Summer Jazz Academy (SJA) takes place at Bard College in Hudson Valley, and at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City. In July, SJA students make their Rose Theater debut as the opener for the JLCO.
- A Closer Listen, a free program featuring jazz experts and enthusiasts holding in-depth discussions on jazz works, continues online.
Blue Engine
Blue Engine Publishing continues to release more compositions and arrangements by JLCO members and Wynton Marsalis from the library of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis.
Throughout the 2025-26 season, Blue Engine Records — Jazz at Lincoln Center’s in-house label — will continue to issue both new and archival releases via streaming and physical formats. These include music featuring the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis releases, from emerging jazz stars. Certain season concerts will also be made available shortly after their performance dates as streaming recordings, in an effort to keep jazz lovers around the world abreast of happenings at Frederick P. Rose Hall, home of Jazz at Lincoln Center.
Touring 2025-26 season
Since summer 2021, Jazz at Lincoln Center has collaborated with organizations throughout New York City and environs beyond to present successful summer concert events, many of which are free of charge. From July through September 2025, Jazz at Lincoln Center continues these summer programs with Caramoor, Times Square Alliance, Lincoln Center, and more.
In June 2025, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis will perform at the Montreal Jazz Festival, Rochester Jazz Festival, and Ottawa Jazz Festival.
From July 14-27, 2025, the JLCO will be in residence at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Summer Jazz Academy, a residential high school summer institute for advanced study in jazz performance. Bard College will host the Summer Jazz Academy from July 14-20; Rose Theater hosts Summer Jazz Academy, including workshops and performances, from July 21-27, culminating in student recitals at Dizzy’s Club.
In November 2025, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis travels to Lied Center of Kansas to premiere Wave the Wheat, a suite featuring commissioned works by each orchestra member.
The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra tours Big Band Holidays with singing sensation Shenel Johns, led by Chris Crenshaw, from December 2-14, 2025.
In January and February 2026, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis tours the Midwest, including a stop at the University of Michigan to workshop Wynton Marsalis’s new work, Symphony No. 5, ahead of its premier performances with the Philadelphia Orchestra at Kimmel Center of Performing Arts in Philadelphia on May 28 and May 30-31, 2026; at Carnegie Hall in New York City on May 29, 2026; and with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Orchestra Hall at Chicago Symphony Center in Chicago from June 4-6, 2026.
The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis embarks on a tour of Japan between March 16-22, 2026.
Dizzy’s Club
Jazz at Lincoln Center’s world-renowned Dizzy’s Club, one of the three main performance venues at Frederick P. Rose Hall, produces world-class jazz performances nightly, often reflecting and augmenting the programming in Rose Theater and the Appel Room.
Throughout the opening months of the 2025-26 season, performances include Herlin Riley’s now annual Thanksgiving week run; Cyrus Chestnut Quartet; the great vocalist Mary Stallings, the cabaret-oriented Songbook Sundays series; Hometown Heroes; and Salsa Meets Jazz series. Dizzy’s iconic Thursday-Saturday evening Late Night Sessions, featuring some of the most talented emerging artists in jazz, continues.
Health and Safety Guidelines
We believe in the power of music to uplift, inspire, and create a sense of community. We very much look forward to welcoming you to The House of Swing at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall this season and are committed to employing all measures to ensure your safety as well as the safety of our artists and staff. Learn more about our health and safety guidelines at jazz.org.
Ticket Information
Current Jazz at Lincoln Center subscribers and audiences are invited to explore our Create Your Own subscription for all Rose Theater and Appel Room concerts and enjoy 10% off single ticket prices. The Create Your Own package allows subscribers to create a custom concert package of three or more performances across the season, personalized to individual interests and schedules, across both venues.
Subscribers with a Curated Series or fixed seat package enjoy a 15% discount off single ticket prices. Curated subscriptions come with the benefit of staying in the same seat for every performance and are renewable each year, allowing subscribers to keep their seats from season to season.
In order to reserve the best seats, current subscribers can take advantage of a priority period beginning today through June 30, 2025 before single sale tickets go on sale to the general public on July 22, 2025.
Becoming a subscriber is the best way to get the best seats at the guaranteed best prices for the entire season, as single ticket prices will increase based on demand as concerts approach. Subscribers also have the benefit of utilizing free, unlimited ticket exchanges to manage their schedule.
For more information on 2025-26 season subscriptions, visit jazz.org/subs. To order a subscription or to request information, please call the Subscription Services hotline at 212-258-9999, e-mail [email protected], or visit jazz.org/subs.
Membership Discount
Jazz at Lincoln Center offers a robust Membership program with a wide array of benefits, including deep discounts on concert tickets. Individuals who join at the $100 level and above are eligible to receive VIP single ticket pre-sale access and discounted tickets to Jazz at Lincoln Center-produced concerts in Rose Theater and the Appel Room on the day of the event. Tickets must be purchased at the Jazz at Lincoln Center Box Office or online beginning at 12:01 a.m. on the day of the performance. Members must show their valid membership card or log in to jazz.org using their account credentials to receive this discount. Subject to availability. Learn more and sign up at jazz.org/membership.
VIP single ticket pre-sale for donors, members, and subscribers will be available starting July 15, 2025. To access single tickets before the general public, become a Jazz at Lincoln Center member by July 14, 2025.
Pricing
Ticket prices for Rose Theater are $30 and up dependent upon seating section, except as noted below:
Family Concert tickets in Rose Theater are $10, $20 and $25.
Ticket prices for the Appel Room are $55 and up, dependent on seating section for the 7:00 p.m. sets, and $45 and up, depending upon seating section for the 9:30 p.m. sets.
Ticket prices for Dizzy’s Club start at $20.00.
Note: Hot Seats—$10 seats for each Rose Theater performance (excluding Family Concerts and other performances as specified) and select performances in the Appel Room — are available for purchase by the general public on the Wednesday prior to each performance. Tickets are subject to availability; please call 212-258-9877 for available Hot Seats performance dates.
Hot Seats are available only in person at the Box Office, with a maximum of two tickets per person. 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.
*Please note that a $3.50 Jazz at Lincoln Center Facility Fee applies to ALL ticket purchases, with the exception of $10 Hot Seats. A $7 handling fee also applies when purchasing tickets from CenterCharge or when purchasing tickets online via jazz.org.
All single tickets for the Appel Room and Rose Theater can be purchased through jazz.org 24 hours a day or through CenterCharge at 212-721-6500, open daily from 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Tickets can also be purchased at the Jazz at Lincoln Center Box Office, located on Broadway at 60th Street, Ground Floor.
Box Office hours:
Tuesday-Sunday: 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Monday: Closed
Open an additional half-hour after the scheduled start time of ticketed performances. On Wednesdays before a Rose theater concert, the Box Office will open at 10 a.m. to sell Hot Seats.
Single tickets go on sale July 22, 2025.
Jazz at Lincoln Center proudly acknowledges its 2024-25 season partner: Bloomberg Philanthropies
A very special thanks to Jody and John Arnhold for their extraordinary support of Jazz at Lincoln Center and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.
We proudly recognize leadership support from Dalio Philanthropies; Howard Gilman Foundation, Inc.; Mellody Hobson and George Lucas; Michele and Mark Mandel; Simon Family Foundation; and the Zou Family Fund.
Leadership support for Jazz at Lincoln Center’s concert season is provided by Lynne and Richard Pasculano.
Major support is provided by the Abrams Foundation; Angela and Robert Kissane; Manitou Fund; the Ambrose Monell Foundation; the Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation; and Seedlings Foundation.
Generous support is provided by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
Artists, schedules, and venues are subject to change.
JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER 2025-26 SEASON
CONCERT CHRONOLOGY
Reflections on Africa
The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra
July 24-25, 2025
7:30 p.m.
Rose Theater
Music-directed by JLCO trombonist Vincent Gardner, this special summer concert features Africa-inspired compositions from John Coltrane, Randy Weston, Jackie McLean, René McLean, Horace Parlan, and more. With an opening performance from students participating in our Summer Jazz Academy, this multi-generational concert celebrates the music’s roots as well as some of its youngest stars.
Wynton Marsalis’ Afro! with Shenel Johns and Weedie Braimah
The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis
September 18-20, 2025
7:30 p.m.
Rose Theater
Afro! brings the vibrant rhythms of Africa to the Rose Theater stage with the world premiere of a new composition by Wynton Marsalis. The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra is joined by Ghanaian djembe virtuoso Weedie Braimah and extraordinary vocalist Shenel Johns for an exploration of jazz’s deep roots in African music.
Abdullah Ibrahim
October 3-4, 2025
7:30 p.m.
Rose Theater
Just shy of his 91st birthday, South African legend and NEA Jazz Master Abdullah Ibrahim returns to Rose Theater for a career-spanning retrospective. Performing solo, in a trio, with his legendary Ekaya group, and alongside special guests Terence Blanchard, Kenny Garrett, and Cecil McBee, this concert puts Ibrahim’s full talents on display.
Celia Cruz: A Centennial Celebration!
October 17-18, 2025
7:30 p.m.
Rose Theater
Experience the enduring legacy of Celia Cruz, the “Queen of Salsa,” with an all-star band led by JLCO bassist Carlos Henriquez, who played alongside Cruz in his youth. This tribute concert features guest vocalists Aymée Nuviola, Alain Pérez, and Ariacne Trujillo Duran and honors one of the most influential voices in Latin music.
Family Concert: Who is Celia Cruz?
October 18, 2025
3:00 p.m.
Rose Theater
Discover the life and music of Celia Cruz, the “Queen of Salsa,” in this engaging family-friendly concert featuring vocalist Ariacne Trujillo Duran. Learn about the fundamentals of salsa and Cruz’s monumental influence on Latin music with your host, JLCO bassist Carlos Henriquez.
Nduduzo Makhathini and the Music of Bheki Mseleku
The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis
October 24-25, 2025
7:30 p.m.
Rose Theater
Take a musical journey through South African jazz with visionary pianist Nduduzo Makhathini. This dynamic concert finds the JLCO channeling the iconic sounds of multi-instrumentalist and composer Bheki Mseleku and features a new composition by Makhathini in a tribute to South Africa’s rich musical heritage.
Cyro Baptista at 75: A Banquet for the Spirits
November 7-8, 2025
7:30 p.m.
Rose Theater
Brazilian percussion master Cyro Baptista, described by Wynton Marsalis as “truly one of the greatest musicians in the world,” marks his 75th birthday with a high-energy, unforgettable celebration at Rose Theater featuring special guests from across his genre-bending, globe-trotting career.
Steve Miller
November 14-15, 2025
7:30 p.m.
Rose Theater
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame legend Steve Miller returns to Jazz at Lincoln Center to honor two late legends: saxophonist Eddie Harris and drummer Chico Hamilton. Miller’s signature blues-rock guitar style will be complemented by an all-star band as well as the Louisiana rhythms of Lil’ Nathan & The Zydeco Big Timers for a night of lively rhythms and bluesy grooves.
Journey Through Jazz: The Mighty Negro Spirituals
The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra
November 21-22, 2025
Friday night sets are at 7:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m.
Saturday sets are at 4:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.
The Appel Room
The Journey Through Jazz series, now in its fifth year, continues with The Mighty Negro Spirituals, a musical adventure guided by JLCO trumpeter Marcus Printup. Discover how the Negro spirituals of Afro-American enslaved people became the bedrock of jazz and gospel music.
Part of the Lynne and Richard Pasculano Jazz Series, this is a pay-what-you-choose performance. Concert will be on sale on July 22.
Big Band Holidays
The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra
December 16-19, 2025: 7:30 p.m.
December 20, 2025: 2:00 p.m. & 7:30 p.m.
December 21, 2025: 2:00 p.m.
Rose Theater
Ring in the holiday season with this annual fan-favorite performance filled with festive cheer! Featuring music direction by JLCO trombonist Chris Crenshaw and sensational vocalists Shenel Johns and Kate Kortum, this holiday spectacular brings new life to classic tunes.
Unity Jazz Festival
January 9-10, 2026
Events take place throughout Frederick P. Rose Hall, home of Jazz at Lincoln Center
The third annual Unity Jazz Festival brings together an all-star lineup of acts performing throughout Frederick P. Rose Hall, the House of Swing. With living legends, rising stars, and avid fans mingling between the Appel Room, Dizzy’s Club, and the Ertegun Atrium late into the night, the festival delivers an electric atmosphere where music lovers unite to experience jazz in all its forms.
Duke in Africa
The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis
January 15-17, 2026
7:30 p.m.
Rose Theater
This memorable concert—staged 60 years after Duke Ellington’s historic performance in Senegal—explores the composer’s profound connection to Africa. Co-music-directed by saxophonists Chris Lewis and Alexa Tarantino, the JLCO brings new life to compositions drawn from Ellington’s Afro-Bossa, Liberian Suite, and the Grammy Award-winning Togo Brava Suite.
Come Sunday: The Sacred Works of Duke Ellington
January 30-31, 2026
Friday night sets are at 7:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m.
Saturday sets are at 4:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.
The Appel Room
Duke Ellington’s sacred compositions, which he called “the most important thing I have ever done,” will be brought to life by Grammy Award-winning pianist and music director Luther S. Allison. Vocalists Joy Brown, Georgia Heers, and a first-call big band will help explore the spiritual depths of Ellington’s music.
Dianne Reeves
February 13-14, 2026
7:30 p.m.
Rose Theater
Five-time Grammy Award winner and NEA Jazz Master vocalist Dianne Reeves returns to Rose Theater for a memorable Valentine’s Day. Whether you’re a longtime fan or a newcomer, don’t miss this beloved tradition performed by one of the most extraordinary vocalists in jazz today.
The Commissions Series: Jeremy Pelt and Endea Owens
February 20-21, 2026
Friday night sets are at 7:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m.
Saturday sets are at 4:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.
The Appel Room
Join trumpeter Jeremy Pelt and bassist Endea Owens for an evening of innovative jazz inspired by Africa. Both musicians, also known for their compositional brilliance, will present their latest works—Masks and Whispers of the Celestial Root: Songs of the Black Earth, respectively—offering fresh perspectives on Africa’s influence on jazz.
The Commissions Series: Carlos Henriquez and Obed Calvaire
The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra
February 27-28, 2026
7:30 p.m.
Rose Theater
Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra bassist Carlos Henriquez and percussionist Obed Calvaire pay tribute to their respective Puerto Rican and Haitian roots with new compositions. Joined by saxophonist Godwin Louis and Grammy Award-winning pianist Zaccai Curtis, the JLCO spotlights the vibrant sounds of the Afro-Caribbean experience.
Big Band Afrobeats: Ulysses Owens Jr. and Michael Olatuja
March 6-7, 2026
Friday night sets are at 7:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m.
Saturday sets are at 4:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.
The Appel Room
Backed by a full big band, drummer Ulysses Owens Jr. and British-Nigerian bassist Michael Olatuja present a unique blend of jazz and Afrobeat rhythms in the Appel Room. With their innovative approach and high-octane energy, they’ll take guests on a thrilling musical journey through Afrobeat’s infectious grooves.
Family Concert: Who is Louis Armstrong?
The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra
March 7, 2026
3:00 p.m.
Rose Theater
The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra pays tribute to the incomparable Louis Armstrong, one of jazz’s foundational figures, in this lively family concert. Introduce your youngest listeners to “Pops” and his groundbreaking contributions to jazz with a performance that will forever change the way they think about music.
The Commissions Series: Danilo Pérez and Godwin Louis
The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis
March 12-14, 2026
7:30 p.m.
Rose Theater
Two stirring new commissions get their debut: Grammy Award-winning Panamanian pianist Danilo Pérez’s The Panáfrica Suite: Echoes from the Isthmus and saxophonist Godwin Louis’ African Roots, Diasporic Routes: Benin, Kongo, and the Music of the Americas. Joined by renowned singer Catherine Russell and percussionist Weedie Braimah, Pérez, Louis, and the JLCO treat audiences to a transatlantic voyage across the history of our music.
Bill Frisell: 75th Birthday Celebration with Special Guests
March 27-28, 2026
Friday night sets are at 7:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m.
Saturday sets are at 4:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.
The Appel Room
Jazz guitar icon Bill Frisell takes over the Appel Room for a star-studded weekend that looks to the future while renewing the past. On Friday, he continues his “In My Dreams” project with longtime collaborators Jenny Scheinman, Hank Roberts, Eyvind Kang, Thomas Morgan, and Rudy Royston; on Saturday, he’ll duet with vocalist Petra Haden and alto saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins.
Journey Through Jazz: Overtures to Africa
The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra
April 10-11, 2026
Friday night sets are at 7:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m.
Saturday sets are at 4:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.
The Appel Room
Overtures to Africa explores Africa’s influence on some of jazz’s greatest legends: Charles Mingus, Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, and Max Roach. Part of the Journey Through Jazz concert series, this performance brings the JLCO to the intimate Appel Room, delving into the profound impact of African culture on jazz.
Part of the Lynne and Richard Pasculano Jazz Series, this is a pay what you choose performance. Concert will be on-sale on July 22.
Birth of the Blues
The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis
April 17-18, 2026
7:30 p.m
Rose Theater
Embark on a captivating journey through the evolution of blues, starting with W. C. Handy, the “Father of the Blues.” Led by JLCO saxophonist Sherman Irby, this concert traces the blues up the Mississippi River, showcasing its deep roots in American culture and its development into a musical genre that revolutionized the world.
Oscar Peterson: A Centennial Celebration
May 8-9, 2026
7:30 p.m.
Rose Theater
Piano titan Oscar Peterson looms large as one of the 20th century’s great improvisers. Join us for a star-studded night in honor of one of the piano’s greatest practitioners.
Concert will be on sale on July 22.
Sketches of Miles: Miles Davis at 100
The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra
May 14-16, 2026
7:30 p.m.
Rose Theater
The JLCO commemorates the centennial of one of jazz’s most influential figures, Miles Davis. Featuring the orchestrations of one of Davis’ greatest collaborators, the endlessly inventive Gil Evans, these performances demonstrate why the innovative trumpeter’s big band work was every bit as important as his small group output.
Jazzmeia Horn and Her Noble Force
May 29-30, 2026
Friday night sets are at 7:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m.
Saturday sets are at 4:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.
The Appel Room
Grammy Award-nominated and NAACP Image Award-winning vocalist Jazzmeia Horn returns to the Appel Room with Her Noble Force big band. Known for her bold interpretations and fearless improvisations, Horn will present her own music—as well as works from female composers who’ve inspired her—in front of the Manhattan skyline.
Etienne Charles: Folklore LIVE Vol. 2
June 5-6, 2026
Friday night sets are at 7:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m.
Saturday sets are at 4:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.
The Appel Room
Trumpeter Etienne Charles, known for his innovative stagings of Caribbean lore, returns to the Appel Room to present Folklore LIVE Vol. 2. Charles unveils new musical stories rooted in various elements of the African diaspora connecting the African diaspora—including, but not limited to, low country Gullah-Geechee rituals, Haitian Vodou, Afro-Mexican Son Jarocho, and Garifuna rhythms—blending big band textures with dancers, masquerade, and spoken word.
Soul of Brazil
The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis
June 12-13, 2026
7:30 p.m.
Rose Theater
Featuring the JLCO with Wynton Marsalis, this concert brings the unmistakable rhythms of Brazilian music to Rose Theater. Featuring new music from special guest bandolinist Hamilton de Holanda as well as the works of legendary composer Moacir Santos, this concert amplifies the heartbeat of Brazil, giving shape to its musical soul.
Blues Jam
June 18-20, 2026
7:30 p.m.
Rose Theater
Back by popular demand, Blues Jam returns to Rose Theater for an electrifying night of soul, featuring Grammy Award winners, beloved icons, and rising stars—all celebrating the enduring power of the blues with a fresh, modern edge.