Jazz at Lincoln Center (JALC) and Managing and Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis today proudly announce programming for the organization’s 39th season of concerts which will take place in Frederick P. Rose Hall, colloquially known as The House of Swing, the home of Jazz at Lincoln Center, which houses Rose Theater, the Appel Room, and Dizzy’s Club, located on Broadway at 60th Street in New York, NY. The 2026-27 season, titled Come Home, is an expansive celebration of the music, vision, and influence of Wynton Marsalis, the organization’s founder and driving force for nearly 40 years. The season runs from July 23, 2026 to June 19, 2027 and will be Marsalis’ last as Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center.
The 39th season underscores the organization’s enduring commitment to music of depth, integrity, and cultural significance, centered on Marsalis’ extraordinary body of work, from sweeping suites inspired by great cities to intimate small-group performances and landmark compositions including Blood on the Fields. Featuring new arrangements from the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis and complemented by music of masters such as Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, Gerry Mulligan, and Antonio Carlos Jobim alongside leading artists of today, the 2026–27 season places Marsalis’ work within the broader continuum of jazz and affirms the blues, swing, and improvisation as elements that define jazz’s identity.
Programming throughout Frederick P. Rose Hall and beyond includes: 21 unique weekends of Jazz at Lincoln Center concerts in the 1233-seat Rose Theater, 8 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 2026-27 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.
In 2026-27, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis presents ten concerts tracing Marsalis’ evolution into a major composer and his role in establishing the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra’s singular sound and umatched stylistic breadth. They reflect Marsalis’ decision midway through the 1980s, at the height of his career, to incorporate holistically into his presentation “all the musics that were part of my experience as a musician” from his teens in the hothouse musical culture of 1970s New Orleans.
“I grew up playing John Philip Sousa marches, Beethoven symphonies, and the blues,” Marsalis has said. “I played in a waltz orchestra. I played in the marching band. Played in a funk band. Played in a jazz band. Played in a circus band. Played on a Broadway show. Played salsa music. I don’t feel I should cut myself off from the traditions I come out of to create a narrow style that’s easily identifiable.”
“All the music that’s in one consciousness is the same. We are free to utilize all that we know, because we don’t have to appeal to a tradition, and we can create a truly modern music that sounds like nothing you’ve ever heard, but is also traditional. It’s revolutionary in its implications. All of it exists at one time.”
Operating with “all jazz is modern” as his mantra, Marsalis refocused his virtuosity, effort, and energy to establish Jazz at Lincoln Center. Through a tireless dedication to quality that characterizes the entirety of Marsalis’ professional career, the organization has developed into an internationally recognized jazz institution and a hub for advancing the appreciation, understanding, and performance of jazz, recognized as a constituent of Lincoln Center equal to all the great performing arts.
Marsalis would become the foundational voice of a team of people that grew a small summer concert series in 1987 into one of the world’s most iconic music institutions. Marsalis spearheaded the organization’s move into owning and operating Frederick P. Rose Hall, The House of Swing, an exceptional performing arts complex in Midtown Manhattan dedicated to presenting, recording, and teaching jazz. That 1987 concert series coincided with Marsalis’ transition from the small group with which he blended the vocabulary and high energy of modern jazz with the improvised counterpoint and funky flavor of the New Orleans way of playing during the first half of the 1980s, when he cemented his stature in the jazz pantheon as a trumpeter and composer. Marsalis presents a contemporary iteration of the group on The Wynton Marsalis Quintet (Jan. 7-9, 2027, Rose Theater), which features a special lineup of pianist Marcus Roberts, bassist Reginald Veal, and drummer Jason Marsalis; and a special guest tenor saxophonist to be announced. They’ll apply their sophisticated sensibilities and unparalleled musicianship towards delivering contemporary interpretations of selected repertoire from the classic early ’80s albums Black Codes (From the Underground), Hot House Flowers, and Think of One, as well as pieces from “Integrity Suite” and songs by New Orleans modernists James Black and Ellis Marsalis that the Marsalis brothers learned during formative years.
Jazz at Lincoln Center’s 2026-27 season concert schedule is available on jazz.org/26-27.
A multigenerational new edition of the Wynton Marsalis Septet (June 17-19, 2027, Rose Theater), which Marsalis formed at the end of the 1980s while developing his “all jazz is modern” conception, presents a sweeping, soulful overview of major works like The Marciac Suite; Lighthouse/Lightning Rod; In This House, On This Morning; and Griot New York. On these albums and others like Tune In Tomorrow, Blue Interlude, Citi Movement, and Live at the Village Vanguard, Marsalis explored different ways to write the sound of the blues, incorporating vocal effects drawn from southern church ritual and the oeuvres of Duke Ellington and Jelly Roll Morton, and creating ample contrapuntal variations with late 20th century harmonic vocabulary. Fantastic musicians from every era of his septet, including Herlin Riley, Reginald Veal, Wycliffe Gordon, Dan Nimmer, Chris Crenshaw, Alexa Tarantino, Chris Lewis, and Abdias Armenteros, come together to offer a panoramic view of Marsalis’s evolving jazz vision.
In developing his ideas, Marsalis drew deeply from the well of Duke Ellington, not least Ellington’s pioneering masterpiece Black, Brown and Beige (July 23-24, 2026, Rose Theater), which launches Jazz at Lincoln Center’s 39th season. Marsalis considers this three-movement suite from 1943, which Ellington described as “a tone parallel to the history of the Negro in America,” to be his lodestar in the process of embracing and unifying in one voice the entirety of the traditions that formed him. “It sits alone in the history of jazz,” Marsalis says. The roles of violinist Ray Nance in the opening section of “Black” and Betty Roche at the conclusion of “Brown” (“The Blues”) are portrayed, respectively, by special guests violinist Eli Bishop and vocalist Ekep Nkwelle.
Ten subsequent concerts by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis cull selections from Marsalis’ 638 (and counting) compositions that represent the conceptual breadth, spiritual depth, and technical complexity that marks his oeuvre.
Marsalis and the Masters (Sept. 17-19, 2026, Rose Theater) features Marsalis’ distinctive orchestral arrangements of canonic works by essential jazz masters like Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, Chick Corea, and Wayne Shorter.
Conguero Pedrito Martinez, djembefole Weedie Braimah, and vocalist Shenel Johns join the orchestra as special guests for From Cuba to the Crescent City (Oct. 23-24, 2026, Rose Theater) featuring the suites Ochas, Afro!, and Congo Square, in which Marsalis explores the American tributaries of West African music, orchestrating into his signature conception Yoruba-inspired portraits of Afro-Cuban orishas and Ghanaian rhythmic patterns and narratives, and reimagining the jazz prehistory created by enslaved Africans in 19th century New Orleans.
Marsalis’ Swinging Cities (Nov. 6-7, 2026, Rose Theater) showcases music from New Orleans, New York, and Shanghai with Vitoria Suite, Shanghai Suite, and Marciac Suite as examples of Marsalis’ assimilation and distillation of cultures encountered, places visited, and relationships engendered while criss-crossing the globe during his 46 years on the road.
The centerpiece of Folk, Blues, and Spirituals (Jan. 21-23, 2027, Rose Theater) is Big Train, Marsalis’ epic, 12-part suite from 1999 that honors, in his own argot, the railroad onomatopoeia that infused so much of Duke Ellington’s music during the 1930s and 1940s. Also on the program are Marsalis’ ingenious arrangements incorporating his assimilation, distillation and juxtaposition of various American vernacular genres–the displaced accents of traditional bluegrass and fiddle reels, as well as folk songs, blues, and spirituals.
Portraits of Bards, Titans and Legends (Feb. 5-6, 2027, Rose Theater) is a bold, imaginative program by Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis of Marsalis’ portraits of the lives and legacies of American cultural heroes like Jack Johnson (Unforgivable Blackness) and Buddy Bolden (Bolden) alongside new compositions inspired by Benjamin Franklin, Walt Whitman, Mark Twain, and Art Blakey with passages selected by historian Geoffrey C. Ward.
Heroines, Desire and the Pursuit of Happiness (March 19-20, 2027, Rose Theater) features the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis performing originals and new big band arrangements of Marsalis’ most emotionally resonant, perspicacious works exploring the boundaries of love, the nuances of romantic relationships, and the unscripted electricity between couples that gives life its sweetest magic. In nearly every major Marsalis piece, from In This House, On This Morning and Blood on the Fields to All Rise, From the Plantation to the Penitentiary, and Afro!, the central idea is delivered by a heroine.
Marsalis’ profound engagement with the American present is the subject of The Ever Fonky Lowdown (April 8-10, 2027, Rose Theater), his prescient, satirical, no-holds-barred 2018 oratorio on the political malaise and poisonous cultural mythology that has plagued America. Set in contemporary America, Marsalis’ 2018 rhyming oratorio narrated by the charismatic con man “Mr. Game” and punctuated by a trio of soulful vocalists (Christie Dashiell, Camille Thurman, and Ashley Pezzotti) features the JLCO’s virtuosic navigation of a score whose lucid complexity does justice to the subject.
Iraqi oud virtuoso Naseer Shamma, Brazilian bandolim player Hamilton de Holanda, and Flamenco and jazz pianist Chano Dominguez join the JLCO for The World in Swing (April 30-May 1, 2027, Rose Theater). The program reaffirms Marsalis’ deeply held belief in jazz as a potent vehicle for cross-cultural exchange, tracing points of intersection that allow America’s to converse with the traditional rhythms, melodies and sounds of their guests’ homelands.
Marsalis: Jazz is Dance (May 20-22, 2027, Rose Theater) is a thrilling, kinetic program culled from a collection of Marsalis’ compositions written expressly for the stage, showcasing his decades of collaboration with the world of dance. Featuring commissions that Marsalis composed in the early 1990s for the New York City Ballet and equivalently prestigious modern dance choreographers like Garth Fagan and Twyla Tharp and the more recent 10-piece suite of zoological portraits titled Spaces, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis animates the music’s momentum and narrative, presented alongside dancers including Lil Buck and Jared Grimes and guest choreographer Claudia Schreier.
In Call and Response (June 10-12, 2027), the members of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra bring a season-long celebration of Marsalis’ artistic achievement to a thrilling close with their own bold interpretations of his most beloved compositions. In the history of jazz, no ensemble has ever assembled more soloists and composer-arrangers on a single stage.
Jazz at Lincoln Center’s 39th season also features consequential concerts by Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra alumni and both iconic artists and rising stars from the organization’s extended family.
Chucho Valdés Quintet Plays the Standards: 85th Birthday Celebration (Oct. 16-17, 2026, Rose Theater) finds virtuoso Cuban pianist-composer Chucho Valdés—a ubiquitous presence at Jazz at Lincoln Center for three decades, most recently with the remarkable suite La Creacion (2022) and in an efflorescent duo concert with Chick Corea (2019)—exploring his deep roots in straight-ahead jazz with an all-star quintet including tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano, bassist John Patitucci, and drummer Marcus Gilmore.
Paquito D’Rivera Plays Chick Corea with Symphony Orchestra featuring Josep Vicent and Emilio Solla Trio (March 12-13, 2027, Rose Theater) features the Havana-born alto saxophonist-clarinetist, who has been a core figure in Jazz at Lincoln Center programming for the last 30 years, an NEA Jazz Master, and perhaps the foremost living exponent of coalescing Pan-American, jazz, and classical musical dialects. Joining the 16-time Grammy winner is a symphony orchestra, directed by Spanish conductor and percussionist Josep Vicent, performing Argentine composer and pianist Emilio Solla’s adaptations of his symphonic arrangements of twelve of Corea’s most iconic works that constituted the 2023 Grammy-nominated RITMO: Tribute to Chick Corea.
Saxophonist Louis Fouché and bassist Luques Curtis music-direct Eddie Palmieri Experience: An All-Star Celebration (Nov. 13-14, 2026, Rose Theater), in honor of the magisterial pianist-composer Eddie Palmieri (1936-2025), a.k.a. the Sun of Latin Music, an innovator in salsa, charanga, and mambo who evolved to introduce new directions for Latin Jazz based on ageless principles. A cohort of distinguished Palmieri alumni delivers the maestro’s message along with the long-time collaborators and music directors, including Brian Lynch, Conrad Herwig, Herman Olivera, Nelson Gonzalez, and more.
Cuba-born pianist-composer Elio Villafranca, a frequent presence at Jazz at Lincoln Center for the past 15 years, presents Florentina (Jan. 29-30, 2027, Appel Room), a powerful new suite inspired by the life of Florentina Zulueta, a woman taken from West Africa and enslaved in Cuba. Written for a 10-piece ensemble and the Cuban choir VeritasAme, the work marks a major milestone following Villafranca’s 2023 Standing by the Crossroads and his Grammy-nominated album CINQUE.
Trombone titan Wycliffe Gordon, an original member of the Wynton Marsalis Septet and the formerly named Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, frames his signature voice-like sound with his astonishing array of musical skills, a crackling septet, and the five person Damien Sneed and Friends. He revives his 2008 musical autobiography, Welcome to Georgia Town (Oct. 9-10, 2026, Appel Room), addressing music ranging from gospel/spirituals to blues to marches to swing, with vocals interspersed, including some from Gordon and the musicians.
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Songwriters Hall of Fame legend Steve Miller returns for a special milestone performance marking his 10th year on the Rose Theater stage. A masterful storyteller and bandleader in the Texas blues tradition, Steve Miller (Oct. 9-10, 2026, Rose Theater) brings his signature sound to the hall along with special guests.
Mulligan and Me (June 4-5, 2027, Appel Room) is a vivid, deeply personal centennial tribute to the brilliant baritone saxophonist and composer Gerry Mulligan (1927–1996), music directed by Ted Nash—Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra alumnus and longtime Mulligan collaborator and friend—and featuring current JLCO baritone saxophonist Paul Nedzela. Conceived by writer Iris Dart (Beaches) as a play with music about Mulligan’s creative partnership with actress and singer Judy Holliday in the 1960s, this work, directed by Rachel Dart, blends storytelling and performance into an intimate portrait of a profoundly important jazz innovator and American cultural icon.
Volcanic Philadelphia-based drummer Justin Faulkner music directs Celebrating John Coltrane at 100 (April 2-3, 2027, Appel Room) with a group featuring a cohort of saxophonists. Faulkner brings urgency, precision, and fire to Coltrane’s music, covering the various styles and eras of Coltrane’s legacy.
Eliane Elias: Jobim Centennial Celebration (Jan. 29-30, 2027, Rose Theater) is the great Sao Paolo-born singer-pianist’s centennial homage to the iconic Brazilian composer-pianist guitarist-songwriter-arranger-singer Antonio Carlos Jobim, whose combination of samba and cool jazz at the cusp of the 1960s was key in the creation and development of bossa nova. She performs choice cuts by the maestro that appear on her January 2027 album.
On Catherine Russell & Friends (Oct. 2-3, 2026, Rose Theater), the two-time Grammy winner, who inhabits across-the-timeline repertoire on its own terms of engagement while imparting the sound of now and makes the marriage of jazz and blues her default basis of operations, celebrates her 70th birthday with a cohort of special guests to be announced. She also honors her mother Carline Ray, a pioneering bassist-guitarist-vocalist who performed with Mary Lou Williams and the International Sweethearts of Rhythm, and the centennial of the first recording by her father, Panama-born pianist-composer-bandleader Luis Russell, Louis Armstrong’s long-time musical director.
The wondrously creative vocalist-storyteller Cécile McLorin Salvant (May 13-15, 2027, Rose Theater) returns to Jazz at Lincoln Center, bringing her preternaturally supple instrument, unerring phrasing, quirky perspective, encyclopedic knowledge of the tradition, and improvisational spirit to her current project. She will perform in quartet configuration with Sullivan Fortner on piano.
Pianist and bandleader Emmet Cohen—winner of the Cole Porter Fellowship in Jazz—brings his acclaimed online Live from Emmet’s Place series to the Appel Room stage in Emmet Cohen and Friends (Feb. 26-27, 2027, Appel Room), capturing the warmth and spontaneity of an in-home jam session. This intimate, living room–style performance features Cohen and his expert trio alongside legendary musicians and surprise guests.
The Art of the Song: Kate Kortum and Ekep Nkwelle (March 5-6, 2027, Appel Room) presents rising star singers Ekep Nkwelle and Kate Kortum, both regularly featured on Jazz at Lincoln Center’s stages, in a double-bill premiere showcasing their luminous voices and individualistic perspectives in the Appel Room.
The Annual Valentine’s Day concert by NEA Jazz Master and five-time Grammy Award-winner Dianne Reeves (Feb. 12-13, 2027, Rose Theater) returns with the sublime vocalist presenting songs of rapture and anguish, romance and heartbreak.
An extended run of perennial favorite Big Band Holidays (Dec. 15-20, 2026, Rose Theater) features the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, music-directed by Chris Crenshaw, swinging through a choice selection of Christmas music arranged by members of the band. This year’s edition of the fan-favorite introduces rising star Georgia Heers, whose vibrant voice brings youthful energy to beloved classics, and boasts Catherine Russell, whose dazzling career and masterful interpretations of American song make her both a beacon and a mentor for this new generation.
The sixth annual edition of Jazz at Lincoln Center’s popular Journey Through Jazz, the Lynne and Richard Pasculano Jazz Series, focuses on the Great American Songbook (Nov. 20-21, 2026, Appel Room). This popular Jazz at Lincoln Center series features the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with guest vocalists, music-directed by Chris Crenshaw, performing iconic arrangements of classic American popular songs from the Golden Age of song as well as some new perspectives on the repertoire.
The fourth annual two-day Unity Jazz Festival (Jan. 15-16, 2027) features intergenerational and multicultural talent throughout The House of Swing, representing a 360-degree spectrum of 21st century jazz approaches. The festival kicks off with Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, Weedie Braimah & The Hands of Time, plus many more artists to be announced.
*Portraits of Bards, Titans, and Legends, Heroines, Desire, and the Pursuit of Happiness, Jazz is Dance and Call and Response made possible by the John and Jody Arnhold Innovation Fund.
Education
Jazz at Lincoln Center serves the largest jazz education network in the world. Its initiatives build on the organization’s 39-year history of promoting education in jazz performance and appreciation. These programs reach all populations, from infants to seniors, and advance JALC’s belief that jazz education is for all—regardless of experience, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status.
Each program aims to help participants understand jazz’s communal history within its sociopolitical context, communicate their personal goals more effectively while sustaining group balance, and embrace the contemporary mission of jazz musicians—advancing the aspirational legacy established by earlier generations.
With the music of 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 campus of 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. “We have a lot of work to do, in all of our schools, teaching our kids how to listen and identify excellence,” Marsalis says.
Jazz at Lincoln Center’s signature education program, the Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition & Festival (EE), celebrates its 32nd anniversary on May 6-8, 2027. The program advances the legacy of Duke Ellington’s music, leadership, and collective ethos by providing free transcriptions of his original recordings—and for the first time, those of Wynton Marsalis—to high school ensembles and community bands at thousands of schools in 63 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 28 locations across the United States. A new interactive app, developed in partnership with Myxstem, is offered free to all students. The app enables users to study published repertoire directly with members of the JLCO by selecting, isolating, and analyzing video and audio recordings.
Jazz for Young People concerts, held live and in-person at Rose Theater, have been a Jazz at Lincoln Center mainstay since the early 1990s. This season’s subjects are Who Is Duke Ellington? and What Is Freedom? with music and narration from the Future of Jazz Orchestra. Performances will be offered for school groups on Nov. 6 and March 19, and for family audiences on Nov. 7 and March 20.
This program funded through the generosity of Mica and Ahmet Ertegun.
2026-27 Education season highlights 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.
WeBop, an in-person interactive program for families with children ages 8-months to 7-years-old, begin fall 2026.
Let Freedom Swing, an educational concert series focused on history, civics, and social justice, is offered in schools and community centers across New York City, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Miami, Mineapolis, London (UK), and at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, AK.
The award-winning Summer Jazz Academy with high-level instruction for middle and high school students. Summer Jazz Acadmy now in its 11th year, the most sought after program of its kind, includes vocal students for the very first time and takes place on the campus of Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY. Summer Jazz Academy student performances take place both on campus and in Rose Theater as openers for the JLCO.
A Closer Listen, a free virtual program featuring jazz experts and enthusiasts holding in-depth discussions on jazz works, returns.
Select Jazz at Lincoln Center season concerts and sets from Dizzy’s Club will be broadcast in real time on JALC’s subscription streaming service Jazz Live, which can be accessed via smart TV, mobile device, and desktop platforms. Learn more at jazzlive.com.
Blue Engine Publishing continues to release more compositions and arrangements by Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra members and Wynton Marsalis from the library of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis.
Throughout the 2026-27 season, Blue Engine Records—Jazz at Lincoln Center’s in-house label—continues 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 as well as releases from emerging jazz stars.
Touring:
At the end of June 2026, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis performs throughout the the U.S. Northeast, highlighted by their return to Tanglewood Music Festival in Lenox, MA on June 26. In July at Frederick P. Rose Hall, as a culminating event of Summer Jazz Academy, student big bands will open the JLCO’s performances of Duke Ellington’s Black, Brown and Beige. The JLCO’s U.S. West Coast tour dates include a performance at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, CA on Sept. 23.
For the first time, the JLCO, featuring guest vocalists Catherine Russell and Georgia Heers, will tour Big Band Holidays overseas, performing throughout the Baltic and Scandinavian regions. The tour kicks off in Riga, Latvia on Nov. 29, marking the JLCO’s debut performance in Latvia.
Beginning Feb. 15, 2027, the JLCO will embark on a monthlong tour starting on the U.S.West Coast and conclude with a multi-day collaboration with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. Additional tour details and locations to be announced. Visit jazz.org/tour.
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 2026-27 season, sets at the club include Herlin Riley’s now annual Thanksgiving week run; the cabaret-oriented Songbook Sundays series; the Salsa Meets Jazz series; and the debut of Blues Tuesdays. Dizzy’s iconic Thursday-Saturday evening Late Night Sessions, featuring some of the most talented emerging artists in jazz, continues.
Ticket Information
Current Jazz at Lincoln Center subscribers are invited to explore our TAKE 3,4,5 package or Create Your Own subscription for all Rose Theater and Appel Room concerts and enjoy 10% off single ticket prices. The TAKE 3,4,5 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.
Current subscribers with a fixed seat package from a previous season enjoy a 15% discount off single ticket prices through a Create Your Own Subscription, and all other subscribers who create their own series receive a 10% discount off single ticket prices in addition to all other subscriber benefits.
In order to reserve the best seats, current subscribers can take advantage of a priority period beginning today through May 1, 2026 before single sale tickets go on sale to the general public on May 19, 2026.
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 2026-27 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 May 12, 2026. To access single tickets before the general public, become a Jazz at Lincoln Center member by May 18, 2026.
Pricing
Ticket prices for Rose Theater are $30 and up dependent upon seating section, except as noted below:
Jazz for Young People® 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 May 19, 2026.
Jazz at Lincoln Center proudly acknowledges its 2026-27 season partners:
Bloomberg Philanthropies, United Airlines, and Hive & Colony.
Leadership support for Jazz at Lincoln Center’s concert season is provided by Lynne and Richard Pasculano.
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; Joseph DiMenna; Ford Foundation; Angela and Robert Kissane; Mellody Hobson and George Lucas; Michele and Mark Mandel; and the Zou Family Fund.
Major support is provided by the Abrams Foundation; Charina Endowment Fund; Howard Gilman Foundation, Inc.; Manitou Fund; the Ambrose Monell Foundation; the Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation; Lisa and David Schiff; Seedlings Foundation; and an Anonymous donor.
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.
Press Inquiries:
Zooey Jones
Senior Director, Public Relations & External Communications
Jazz at Lincoln Center
[email protected]
212-258-9821
Alyssa Bendetson
Associate Director, Public Relations & External Communications
Jazz at Lincoln Center
[email protected]
212-258-9908
JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER 2026-76 SEASON
CONCERT CHRONOLOGY
Duke Ellington’s Black, Brown and Beige
The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra
July 23–24, 2026
7:30 p.m.
Rose Theater
This special summer concert features the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (JLCO), with music direction by trombonist Chris Crenshaw, performing Duke Ellington’s pioneering 1943 masterpiece Black, Brown and Beige, a monumental three-movement magnum opus that was, in his words, a “tone parallel to the history of the Negro in America.” Vocalist Ekep Nkwelle and violinist Eli Bishop join the JLCO as special guests. This is Ellington’s most ambitious and profound work—a singular achievement in jazz history that will provide an unforgettable concert experience.
This concert is pay-what-you-choose and not part of subscriptions.
Marsalis and the Masters
The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis
September 17-19, 2026
7:30 p.m.
Rose Theater
Wynton Marsalis interprets the music of jazz masters Thelonious Monk, Louis Armstrong, John Coltrane, Chick Corea, and other giants. Performed with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, these big band arrangements by Wynton bring his imagination, intelligence, and insight to seminal works that are tuneful and substantive.
Catherine Russell and Friends
October 2-3, 2026
7:30 p.m.
Rose Theater
Two-time Grammy Award–winning vocalist Catherine Russell marks her 70th birthday with a joyful celebration honoring the music, the mentors, and the moments that have shaped her remarkable career. Born into a true royal family of jazz—her mother, Carline Ray, was a member of the pioneering International Sweethearts of Rhythm, and her father, Luis Russell, served as music director for Louis Armstrong’s big band in the 30s and 40s—Russell embodies jazz greatness across generations. She brings together a group of cherished collaborators and lifelong friends, welcoming audiences into the music with unmistakable warmth, class, and a deep sense of family.
Steve Miller
October 9-10, 2026
7:30 p.m.
Rose Theater
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Songwriters Hall of Fame legend Steve Miller returns for a special milestone performance marking his 10th year on the Rose Theater stage. A masterful storyteller and bandleader in the Texas blues tradition, Miller brings his signature sound to the hall once again for an unforgettable evening, joined by special guests.
Wycliffe Gordon: Welcome to Georgia Town
October 9-10, 2026
Fri sets are at 7:00 & 9:00 p.m.
Sat sets are at 4:30 & 7:00 p.m.
The Appel Room
Trombonist Wycliffe Gordon, an original member of the Wynton Marsalis Septet and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, is a walking revival. With his astonishing array of musical skills, a crackling septet, and the evocative five-person chorus Damien Sneed and Friends, Gordon presents his musical autobiography, Welcome to Georgia Town, a journey through his life experiences and upbringing in Georgia. This deeply personal original work reveals his vision of authentic music from the contemporary American South.
Chucho Valdés Quintet Plays the Standards
October 16-17, 2026
7:30 p.m.
Rose Theater
One of the great and true maestros of the world, virtuoso Cuban pianist and composer Chucho Valdés returns to Rose Theater to celebrate his 85th birthday. Recipient of Cuba’s highest honors, the National Prize of Music in Cuba and the Medal Félix Varela, he presents a thrilling exploration of his deep roots in Jazz Norteamericano. Joined by an all-star quintet featuring legendary saxophonist Joe Lovano, innovative bassist John Patitucci, and prodigious drummer Marcus Gilmore, Valdés brings his fiery, erudite, and purposeful playing to the stage for an unforgettable birthday celebration. Don’t miss history in the making.
From Cuba to the Crescent City
The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis
October 23-24, 2026
7:30 p.m.
Rose Theater
Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (JLCO) explore the deep and enduring connections between jazz and the African diaspora. Featuring selections from three of Wynton’s original suites—Ochas, Afro!, and Congo Square—the program blends Yoruba-inspired portraits, Afro-Cuban rhythms, and Ghanaian musical traditions with the communal heritage of jazz handed down from 19th-century New Orleans. The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra is joined by special guests Pedrito Martinez and Weedie Braimah—two musicians of genius with encyclopedic command of diverse musical languages—on drums, percussion, and vocals, and by soul-stirring vocalist Shenel Johns.
Marsalis’ Swinging Cities
The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis
November 6-7, 2026
7:30 p.m.
Rose Theater
Celebrate the global language of jazz and the spirit of place in Marsalis’ Swinging Cities. Featuring his Vitoria Suite, Shanghai Suite, and Marciac Suite, the program reflects Wynton’s global journey, distilling the cultures, experiences, and connections he and the orchestra have formed across these years. Marsalis says, “This is a celebration of the uncommon embrace and unflagging support I have received from different cities during my nearly five decades on the road.”
Family Concert: Who Is Duke Ellington?
November 7, 2026
3:00 p.m.
Rose Theater
Step into the world of the composer, pianist, and bandleader Duke Ellington in this family-friendly concert with the Future of Jazz Orchestra big band collective curated by Jazz at Lincoln Center, featuring the rising young stars in jazz today. From sophisticated orchestral forms to elegant melodies and stomping blues, audiences of all ages will discover the originality, sophistication, and unbridled joy that made Ellington a true American cultural icon.
Eddie Palmieri Experience: An All-Star Celebration
November 13-14, 2026
7:30 p.m.
Rose Theater
Join us for an all-star concert honoring the lifelong devotion of pianist, arranger and composer Eddie Palmieri (1936–2025) to Afro-Caribbean music and jazz. Fittingly known as “The Sun of Latin Music,” Palmieri was a Puerto Rican visionary whose journey through the Afro-diaspora reshaped the sound of Latin jazz and salsa. His longtime collaborators—saxophonist Louis Fouché and bassist Luques Curtis—music direct a star-studded lineup of Palmieri alumni, including Brian Lynch, Conrad Herwig, Herman Olivera, Nelson Gonzalez, and more, to showcase his music across the decades.
Journey Through Jazz: The Great American Songbook
The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra
November 20-21, 2026
Fri sets are at 7:00 & 9:00 p.m.
Sat sets are at 4:30 & 7:00 p.m.
The Appel Room
The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, under the music direction of Chris Crenshaw, presents its sixth season of Journey Through Jazz, the popular and informative concert series exploring the fundamentals of jazz through performance and narrative. This edition delves into the Great American Songbook, spotlighting rising-star vocalists and fresh takes on classic tunes from the golden age of song.
This concert is pay-what-you-choose and not part of subscriptions.
Big Band Holidays
The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra
December 15-20, 2026
Tues and Weds shows are at 7:00 p.m.
Thurs and Fri shows are at 7:30 p.m.
Sat shows are at 2:00 & 7:30 p.m.
Sun shows are at 2:00 & 7:00 p.m.
Rose Theater
Celebrate the holiday season with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (JLCO) and Big Band Holidays, a can’t-miss tradition now in its 13th year in the House of Swing. Under the music direction of Chris Crenshaw, the JLCO enlivens festive favorites through swinging arrangements by orchestra members. Long celebrated as a launching pad for jazz’s brightest voices—including Cécile McLorin Salvant, Samara Joy, and Gregory Porter—this year’s edition of Big Band Holidays introduces rising star Georgia Heers, whose vibrant voice brings youthful energy to beloved classics, alongside Catherine Russell, whose dazzling career and masterful interpretations of American song make her both a beacon and a mentor for this new generation. Together, they fill the room with warmth, joy, and holiday magic that keeps audiences coming back year after year.
Wynton Marsalis Quintet
January 7-9, 2027
7:30 p.m.
Rose Theater
Wynton Marsalis’ quintet music features exploratory improvising and writing for two horns, rhythmic shifts and strettos as well as unpredictable modulations of moods and keys. Above all, there is his hardcore belief in the dynamic power of swinging jazz. From 1984’s Black Codes (From the Underground) to the Integrity Suite (played before the U.S. Supreme Court in 2023), the music is spontaneous, highly interactive, and serious fun. This special lineup features a superb rhythm section of pianist Marcus Roberts, bassist Carlos Henriquez, and drummer Jason Marsalis; and a special guest tenor saxophonist to be announced.
Unity Jazz Festival
January 15-16, 2027
6:00 p.m.
Events take place throughout Frederick P. Rose Hall, home of Jazz at Lincoln Center
The fourth annual Unity Jazz Festival showcases intergenerational and multicultural talent throughout the House of Swing, representing a 360-degree spectrum of 21st-century jazz and music associated with jazz. While many acts are still to be announced, the festival kicks off Friday night with the composer, bandleader, and “one of our greatest living pianists” (Downbeat) Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra. Start the year surrounded by live, collaborative music that creates an inviting and vibrant community.
Folk, Blues, and Spirituals
The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis
January 21-23, 2027
7:30 p.m.
Rose Theater
Wynton Marsalis has always championed the vernacular music of America—what he calls “Root American Musics,” encompassing blues, folk, gospel, country, and spirituals. Equally influential is the American landscape itself: its shining skyscrapers, expansive highways, rural roads, and ever-changing terrains. Together, these sounds and sights form the bedrock of Wynton’s music. Growing up on a block between the railroad tracks and the Mississippi River, he was immersed in Americana, and traveling the country by car over the decades has given him a deeper understanding of its breadth and depth. Showcasing his arrangements of fiddle reels, folk songs, blues, and ballads, this program also revisits Big Train, Jazz at Lincoln Center’s 1998 commission of a 12-part suite evoking the sound and meaning of trains—from the Underground Railroad and westward expansion to the Great Migration and the Glory Train. All aboard!
Eliane Elias: Jobim Centennial Celebration
January 29-30, 2027
7:30 p.m.
Rose Theater
Multi-Grammy-winning Brazilian pianist and vocalist Eliane Elias honors the 100th birthday of the legendary Brazilian composer and “father of bossa nova” Antônio Carlos Jobim. With sophisticated harmonies and iconic lilting melodies, songs like “The Girl from Ipanema” and “Desafinado” define a sound, a historic period, and a sensual approach to the music. Joined by acclaimed bassist Marc Johnson, Brazilian drummer and percussionist Rafael Barata, and Brazilian guitarist Leandro Pellegrino, Eliane will also feature songs from her new album in a concert filled with the internationally beloved sounds of bossa nova.
Elio Villafranca: Florentina
January 29-30, 2027
Fri sets are at 7:00 & 9:00 p.m.
Sat sets are at 4:30 & 7:00 p.m.
The Appel Room
Florentina is a powerful new suite by pianist and composer Elio Villafranca. It is inspired by the life of Florentina Zulueta, a woman taken from West Africa and enslaved in Cuba. Born as Tolo-Ño, her name and identity were repeatedly erased. Villafranca gives her a voice in this story of loss, resilience, and dignity. Written for a 10-piece ensemble and the Cuban choir VeritasAme, the work marks a major milestone following Villafranca’s 2023 Standing by the Crossroads and his Grammy-nominated album CINQUE.
Portraits of Bards, Titans, and Legends
The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis
February 5-6, 2027
7:30 p.m.
Rose Theater
Jazz is the art of the people. Wynton Marsalis, the son of a jazz musician, was raised in New Orleans clubs amid a cast of vivid characters, and his music is fueled by the creativity and intelligence of the musicians who bring it to life. This music is inseparable from the explosion of invention made possible by America’s democratic freedoms. Featuring New Orleans small ensembles, Jazz Age big band traditions, and the full Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, the program presents Wynton’s musical portraits of American legends—boxer Jack Johnson, cornetist Buddy Bolden, and drummer Art Blakey—alongside his concerto for the deeply soulful Scottish baritone saxophonist Joe Temperley. Wynton will also unveil a new work set to the wise and practical words of American bards Benjamin Franklin, Walt Whitman, and Mark Twain, with passages selected by historian Geoffrey Ward.
Dianne Reeves
February 12-13, 2027
7:30 p.m.
Rose Theater
“Dianne Reeves is one of our generation’s definitive jazz masters, a vocal stylist of extraordinary skill and vivacity” – Huffington Post
NEA Jazz Master and five-time Grammy Award–winning vocalist Dianne Reeves sets the mood for Valentine’s Day weekend, continuing a beloved Jazz at Lincoln Center tradition (in its 15th year!). With her bold, dramatic flair, perfect intonation, and masterful delivery, Reeves is a riveting storyteller with a broad repertoire of love songs. She gives these concerts an extra-special personal touch, and the warmth of Rose Theater—Reeves’ “home away from home”—will make for a perfect Valentine’s celebration.
Emmet Cohen and Friends
February 26-27, 2027
Fri sets are at 7:00 & 9:00 p.m.
Sat sets are at 4:30 & 7:00 p.m.
The Appel Room
Pianist and bandleader Emmet Cohen—winner of the Cole Porter Fellowship in Jazz—brings his acclaimed online Live from Emmet’s Place series to the stage, capturing the warmth and spontaneity of an in-home jam session. This intimate, living room–style performance features Cohen and his expert trio alongside legendary musicians and surprise guests. Embracing jazz history and its communal traditions, Cohen approaches every note with imagination and respect. Equally compelling as a virtuoso soloist and a generous collaborator, he unites artists across styles, generations, and cultures, creating moments of shared joy and discovery. Don’t miss this unforgettable celebration of modern jazz.
The Art of the Song: Kate Kortum and Ekep Nkwelle
March 5-6, 2027
Fri sets are at 7:00 & 9:00 p.m.
Sat sets are at 4:30 & 7:00 p.m.
The Appel Room
Vocalist Ekep Nkwelle, a graduate of Duke Ellington School of the Arts, Howard University, and The Juilliard School, captivates audiences through her deep spirituality, poetic insight, and expansive repertoire—from powerful protest songs to tender ballads. She has the wisdom of the ancestors in her sound. Kate Kortum, vocalist from Houston, Texas, and Juilliard graduate, is the 2025 winner of the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition. She interprets the Great American Songbook with an intensely personal musicality, harmonically sophisticated improvisation, and a focus on inhabiting the lyric story. Don’t miss these two rising stars in a double-bill premiere in The Appel Room—New York City’s premier intimate concert hall, rightfully renowned for its 50′ x 83′ glass wall with spectacular views of Central Park and the Manhattan skyline.
Paquito D’Rivera Plays the Music of Chick Corea
With Symphony Orchestra featuring Josep Vicent and Emilio Solla Trio
7:30 p.m.
March 12-13, 2027
Rose Theater
Cuban-born alto saxophonist, clarinetist, composer, and NEA Jazz Master Paquito D’Rivera is a living cultural institution in Afro-Latin music, jazz, and classical music. A 16-time Grammy and Latin Grammy Award winner, D’Rivera joins as special guest in this celebration of Chick Corea’s music, an evening conceived by Spanish conductor Josep Vicent with arrangements by Argentine pianist and composer Emilio Solla. Taking inspiration from their collaboration RITMO: Tribute to Chick Corea, recorded live in July 2021 in Alicante, Spain, this U.S. debut concert unites symphony orchestra and jazz ensemble to reimagine Corea’s iconic works—including “Spain” and “Armando’s Rhumba.” It celebrates his deep connection to Latin music as well as his lasting influence on jazz.
Heroines, Desire, and the Pursuit of Happiness
The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis
March 19-20, 2027
7:30 p.m.
Rose Theater
Experience originals and bold new big band arrangements of Wynton’s most emotionally charged works. From In This House, On This Morning and Blood on the Fields to All Rise, From the Plantation to the Penitentiary, and last year’s Afro!, his most provocative pieces feature a heroine delivering the most significant idea. From 1983’s Hot House Flowers and 1989’s Blue Interlude to1998’s The Midnight Blues to the third movement of 2026’s Cello Concerto, he returns again and again to the unscripted electricity between couples in mutual pursuit saying, “Love is the spark that gives life its sweetest magic.” This program showcases jazz’s enduring power to move the heart, heal the weary, and conjure up the moon on a starless night.
Family Concert: What Is Freedom?
March 20, 2027
3:00 p.m.
Rose Theater
Discover the power of jazz to tell stories of courage and hope in What Is Freedom? with the Future of Jazz Orchestra—Jazz at Lincoln Center’s curated big band of today’s top emerging artists shaping the next generation of the music. Inspired by the lawyer and social justice activist Bryan Stevenson, this concert combines jazz, spirituals, and spoken-word reflections. It is both entertaining and informative, illuminating the ways jazz celebrates resilience, justice, and freedom.
Celebrating John Coltrane at 100
April 2-3, 2027
Fri sets are at 7:00 & 9:00 p.m.
Sat sets are at 4:30 & 7:00 p.m.
The Appel Room
This season marks the centennial of saxophonist and composer John Coltrane, who rose rapidly from unknown sideman in Dizzy Gillespie’s orchestra to rising star in Miles Davis’ quintet, master soloist with Thelonious Monk, and, ultimately, enlightened leader of his era-defining quartet. Today, he stands as one of the most celebrated figures in jazz. Born in North Carolina, Coltrane spent his teen years in Philadelphia alongside future greats like Benny Golson and Jimmy Heath—a city that continues to nurture young jazz talent today, including music director, drummer Justin Faulkner. As the volcanic heartbeat of the Branford Marsalis Quartet and leader of the Philadelphia Youth Jazz Orchestra, Faulkner brings urgency, precision, and fire to Coltrane’s music while carrying forward the city’s storied tradition of cultivating the next generation of inspired jazz musicians.
The Ever Fonky Lowdown
The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis
April 8-10, 2027
7:30 p.m.
Rose Theater
Wynton combines the rhythmic language of New Orleans funk and the melodic influence of unsung Crescent City genius, drummer James Black, and a trio of soulful sirens, Christie Dashiell, Ashley Pezzotti, and Georgia Heers, to satirize the public’s descent into supporting a sectarian, con-man leader called Mr. Game. Set in contemporary America, Wynton’s 2018 rhyming oratorio seems to be prophetic in light of today’s national climate. At times humorous, infuriating, pathetic, and sobering, this non-partisan examination of the cost of apathy and the loss of empathy is sure to provoke deeper thoughts and feelings to inspire meaningful action. The Ever Fonky Lowdown uses theatrical, vocal, and dance elements to tell a contemporary tale in a most original way.
The World in Swing
The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis
April 30-May 1, 2027
7:30 p.m.
Rose Theater
Iraqi oud virtuoso Naseer Shamma, Brazilian bandolim master Hamilton de Holanda, and Spanish jazz and flamenco pianist Chano Domínguez join the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis for an expansive program that celebrates jazz as a dynamic bridge across cultures, anchored in Wynton’s decades-long commitment to global musical collaboration with living masters of their traditions. Founder of the Arabic Oud House (a series of music schools throughout the Middle East and North Africa), a musicologist, and a UNESCO Artist for Peace, Shamma has earned international acclaim for elevating the oud and expanding the global reach of Arabic music. Winner of the Prêmio da Música Brasileira, de Holanda has redefined the bandolim’s role in Brazilian music, expanding its range through show stopping improvisation and compositions that span choro, jazz, classical, and popular traditions. Domínguez—a singular improviser at the intersection of jazz and flamenco, and the recipient of Spain’s National Prize for Current Music—is recognized for his bold, multilingual virtuosity. Through electrifying musical dialogue, the program weaves jazz with traditional and original melodies from flamenco, Brazilian, and Arab classical music to create vivid, emotionally resonant portraits of place and history that reveal a shared humanity.
Cécile McLorin Salvant
May 13-15, 2027
7:30 p.m.
Rose Theater
The wondrously creative vocalist, storyteller, and MacArthur Genius Award recipient Cécile McLorin Salvant returns to the House of Swing, where she first captivated audiences with her daring artistry. A singular artist and true iconoclast, Salvant defies expectations at every turn, drawing from a vast repertoire that spans familiar standards in surprising new arrangements, original compositions, reinterpretations of centuries-old songs, and rarely performed gems from the Great American Songbook. In the intimate setting of her quartet featuring her frequent collaborator, pianist Sullivan Fortner—winner of the Cole Porter Fellowship in Jazz, the Larry J. Bell Jazz Artist Award, and 2026 Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Album—Salvant wields her preternaturally supple voice, unerring phrasing, and encyclopedic knowledge to create performances that are at once intellectually thrilling, emotionally profound, and unmistakably her own.
Marsalis: Jazz Is Dance
The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis
May 20-22, 2027
7:30 p.m.
Rose Theater
Garth Fagan Dance, New York City Ballet, Alvin Ailey, and Twyla Tharp are just a few of the legendary companies that have commissioned ballets by Wynton Marsalis. This evening showcases highlights from his celebrated collaborations with the world of dance. Performed by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, the program features dances drawn from this extraordinary canon, alongside new choreography by Atlanta Ballet’s Choreographer-in-Residence and Princess Grace Award Winner Claudia Schreier, and a restaging of selections from Spaces (2016), an animal ballet created and performed by the gravity-defying Memphis jookin’ innovator Lil Buck and Tony Award–nominated tap virtuoso Jared Grimes. Playful and intimate, acrobatic and sensual, the performance is brought to life with colorful spoken introductions for each animal— reminding us of a shared connection with animals, for example “because each nightingale can improvise up to 300 unique songs, they are often compared to jazz musicians.”
Gerry Mulligan Centennial: Mulligan and Me
June 4-5, 2027
Fri sets are at 7:00 & 9:00 p.m.
Sat sets are at 4:30 & 7:00 p.m.
The Appel Room
Mulligan and Me is a vivid, deeply personal centennial tribute to the brilliant baritone saxophonist and composer Gerry Mulligan (1927–1996), music directed by Ted Nash—Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra alumnus and longtime Mulligan collaborator and friend—and featuring current JLCO baritone saxophonist Paul Nedzela. Conceived by writer Iris Dart (Beaches) as a play with music about Mulligan’s creative partnership with actress and singer Judy Holliday in the 1960s, this work, directed by Rachel Dart, blends storytelling and performance into an intimate portrait of a profoundly important jazz innovator and American cultural icon. Audiences will be captivated by the rare combination of live jazz, theatrical narrative, and Mulligan’s inventiveness and charm, experiencing up close the artistry that helped define an important movement in modern jazz.
Call and Response
Jazz at Lincoln Center with Wynton Marsalis
June 10-12, 2027
7:30 p.m.
Rose Theater
The members of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra bring a season-long celebration of Wynton Marsalis’s artistic achievement to a thrilling close with their own bold interpretations of his most beloved compositions. In the history of jazz, no ensemble has ever assembled more soloists and composer–arrangers on a single stage. Over its 35-year history, the orchestra has premiered countless landmark works; between 2008 and 2026 alone, its members created more than 1,200 original compositions and arrangements. This astonishing creative and diverse output has propelled the orchestra into the ranks of the most flexible and dynamic large ensembles of all time.
Wynton Marsalis Septet
June 17-19, 2027
7:30 p.m.
Rose Theater
The Wynton Marsalis Septet was an incredibly beloved group, often playing encores until deep into the night. Bringing the feeling and sophistication of all styles of New Orleans music to the fundamental concepts of modern jazz—swing, blues, ballads, and the Afro-Latin diaspora—the septet produced a set of definitive recordings that added another chapter to the story of jazz. From 1990’s Citi Movement, the JALC 1992 Commission In This House, On This Morning to the landmark seven-CD Live at the Village Vanguard, the four-horn “big band” sophistication of Wynton’s long-form writing framed the unbridled creativity of their improvisations to create an intensely collaborative and disciplined band that sold out halls and excited audiences all over the world. Great musicians from every era of his septet, including Herlin Riley, Reginald Veal, Wycliffe Gordon, Dan Nimmer, Chris Crenshaw, Alexa Tarantino, Chris Lewis, and Abdias Armenteros, come together to offer a panoramic view of Wynton’s ever-evolving life in jazz.