Wynton Marsalis's Blog, page 41

Jazz Arts Initiative reveals new name, logo in celebration of 10th anniversary

Ocie and Lonnie Davis, co-founders of JazzArts Charlotte, with Wynton Marsalis. Photo courtesy of JazzArts Charlotte

Charlotte’s premiere jazz organization will enter its 13th season with a new name and look.

Over the weekend, Jazz Arts Initiative President and CEO Lonnie Davis, along with jazz great Wynton Marsalis, unveiled the new name of the organization: JazzArts Charlotte.

Co-founder Davis and her husband, Ocie, developed the nonprofit soon after their arrival in Charlotte in 2009, stemming from their displacement by Hurricane Katrina. The initiative served to bridge the gap between Charlotte and the jazz community. Under its original name, JazzArts Charlotte brought multiple facets of the community together around a shared love of arts and culture, reaching more than 50,000 students through its jazz education programs for K-12 students and curating its popular Jazz Room performance series.

“[JAI] was created 10 years ago when we initially identified a need for jazz and jazz education,” Davis said during Saturday’s press conference. “There needed to be an initiative where we come together to bring consciousness of jazz to the forefront of the community. There’s still a lot of work to do, but we have come a long way.”

Davis further explained that the name and logo change, which represents a new stage of development for the organization, was intentional and created with the ever-changing Charlotte community in mind.

“At this point, 10 years later, we’ve outgrown that name. We’re no longer an initiative because we have reached so many students and have built a substantial jazz audience,” she said. “We want to bring the community in because the community is part of that effort. Jazz lives in Charlotte; that’s why we brought Charlotte into the name.”

Seal of approval from a jazz titan

JazzArts Charlotte has gained many supporters over the years. However, one of its greatest advocates is none other than internationally renowned jazz icon Wynton Marsalis. Marsalis currently serves as managing and artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. He’s seen many jazz education programs around the world, but he counts JazzArts Charlotte among the best.

“Lonnie and Ocie…I always put their names together for using the gift of music in the way that it’s intended to be used,” said Marsalis, who will be performing along with students from JazzArts Charlotte at this year’s Charlotte Jazz Festival. “Jazz is a movement. The more attention and resources we give to it, the more we start to see our youth grow.”

JazzArts Charlotte has several plans in place to commemorate its 10th anniversary.

For starters, its featured Jazz Room series will expand from four to six concerts per month. Plans are also underway for broadening the organization’s enrichment-focused Jazz Academy to reach farther across the life span. There will be a WeBop program geared toward children ages 3 to 5. It’s an idea borrowed from Marsalis’ award-winning early-childhood jazz education program at Jazz at Lincoln Center. Additionally, JazzArts Charlotte will launch its first offerings for adults.

According to Marsalis, jazz teaches many lessons and serves several purposes.

“Yes, music is entertainment. Yes, music is education. But, music is also enrichment,” he said. “It’s enrichment of an entertaining sort and the type of transformation that we’ll only see when we have full participation.”

by Sabrina Clark

Source:

JAI Rebrands as JazzArts Charlotte to Celebrate 10th Year

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – March 30, 2019 – Since 2009, Jazz Arts Initiative has dedicated itself to improving and expanding the jazz music landscape in the Charlotte area. Now, as part of their year-long 10th anniversary celebration, the non-profit organization is rebranding as JazzArts Charlotte with plans for continued growth and expansion of its acclaimed signature jazz music and education programs.

International jazz legend Wynton Marsalis joined JazzArts Charlotte President and CEO Lonnie Davis on Saturday, March 30 for a rebranding kickoff event held for sponsors, volunteers and local dignitaries. Marsalis told the standing-room-only crowd.

“It’s almost impossible to believe it’s been ten years,” said Davis. “It is only fitting that during this milestone year we adopt our new name and identity, JazzArts Charlotte. These simple words perfectly tell our story and sole purpose: the promotion, education and preservation of America’s one true original art form – jazz – in the greater Charlotte region.”

Displaced from their native, New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, Davis and her husband, JazzArts Charlotte Artistic Director Ocie Davis, settled in Charlotte and immediately set out to raise the city’s jazz music profile. With signature performance and education programs like the acclaimed JAZZ ROOM @ The Stage Door Theater, Jazz Youth Ensembles + Workshops, JazzArts Summer Music Camp, among others, the organization quickly became a favorite of the Charlotte arts scene.

Since their inception, JazzArts Charlotte has offered nearly 200 jazz performances, creating a presence and opportunity for many exceptional local and regional musicians as well as attracting national and international talent to the community. In addition, over 50,000 students have been reached through 450 hours of annual instruction each year. Many of these students have gone on to attend some of the top music colleges and embark on successful musical careers.

“Jazz lives here in Charlotte. Today, we are excited to recognize and celebrate that with the community,” said Davis. “We welcome musicians, educators, students, and audiences of all ages to get involved and be a part of JazzArts Charlotte.” For more information, visit thejazzarts.org or call 704-334-3900.

About JazzArts Charlotte

JazzArts Charlotte (formerly Jazz Arts Initiative), is a non-profit 501©(3) organization dedicated to the promotion, education, preservation of jazz and related art forms in the greater Charlotte region. Started in 2009, the organization is comprised of arts patrons, educators, performing jazz artists, business leaders, and volunteers. Their mission focuses on three program development areas: Jazz Education, Performance, and Musician Support. These three elements were established to help nurture a future audience and preserve the tradition of this great American Art Form, Jazz. For more information, visit www.thejazzarts.org, and follow JazzArts Charlotte on Facebook and on Twitter.

Jazz’s Rising Stars Take The Stage With Wynton Marsalis, Rodney Whitaker, Wycliffe Gordon, And Dan Block To Perform The Music Of Duke Ellington In Ellington Through The Ages

Some of the best young musicians on the jazz scene take the stage with Wynton Marsalis, Rodney Whitaker, Wycliffe Gordon, and Dan Block to perform the music of Duke Ellington, some of the most complex music ever written, in Ellington Through the Ages. This special concert event will take place in Rose Theater at Frederick P. Rose Hall, on May 3 – 4, 2019, at 8:00 p.m. Frederick P. Rose Hall, home of Jazz at Lincoln Center, is located on Broadway at 60th Street in New York City.

Jazz at Lincoln Center Managing and Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis, bassist Rodney Whitaker, trombonist Wycliffe Gordon, and saxophonist Dan Block lead an all-Ellington showcase with a group of young rising jazz stars. The band includes 14 of the best young professionals on the scene: Patrick Bartley (alto/reeds), Zoe Obadia (alto/reeds), Julian Lee (tenor/reeds), Ben Cohen (bari sax/reeds), Sam Chess (trombone), Jeffery Miller (trombone), Noah Halpern (trumpet), Jumaane Smith (trumpet), Anthony Hervey (trumpet), Riley Mulherkar (trumpet), Sean Mason (piano), TJ Reddick (drums), Gabe Schnider (guitar), and Endea Owens (bass), many of whom participated in Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Essentially Ellington program. The 24th annual Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition & Festival — the nation’s premier jazz education initiative — takes place on May 9-11. For more details, please click here.

Ellington Through the Ages explores decades of Duke’s music, including his earliest hits, Hollywood charts, swinging blues numbers, pieces inspired by his international travels, and portions of his later suites. It’s an eclectic repertoire and yet unmistakably Ellington through and through — always enjoyable upon first listen, but teeming with brilliant details that continue to reveal themselves over time. This vital music is at the core of Jazz at Lincoln Center, pairing Duke’s timeless genius with the energy and spirit of the next generation of jazz leaders.

A free pre-concert discussion will take place nightly at 7:00 p.m. For additional information and to purchase tickets, visit jazz.org.

Ticket Information Rose Theater ticket prices are $45 and up, dependent upon seating section.

Single tickets 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. Note: Hot Seats — $10 seats for each Rose Theater performance (excluding Jazz for Young People_® concerts and other performances as specified) and select performances in The Appel Room (excluding _Jazz & Popular Song concerts) — are available for purchase by the general public on the Wednesday prior to each performance. Tickets are subject to availability; please call 212-258-9800 for available Hot Seats performance dates.

Additional information may be found at jazz.org | For more information on Essentially Ellington, please visit jazz.org | Facebook: facebook.com/jazzatlincolncenter | Twitter: @jazzdotorg |Instagram: @jazzdotorg | YouTube: youtube.com/jalc | Livestream: jazz.org/live

Jazz at Lincoln Center proudly acknowledges its major corporate partners: Bloomberg Philanthropies, Brooks Brothers, The Coca-Cola Company, Con Edison, Entergy, SiriusXM and Steinway & Sons

Affordable Music for the Family in NYC? Try a Jazz Club

New York has long been a city known for jazz. What’s less well-known is how kid- and family-friendly jazz performances here can be.

Many performers have day jobs as educators, and although many venues are nightclubs, there are jazz performances where even toddlers are welcome.

“When I was a kid, the Vanguard was an extension of my home. It was not only smoky, it was noisy. Now? Forget it. Make a peep and the noise police will shush you,” says Deborah Gordon, general manager of the Village Vanguard, opened by her father in 1935. “It was a rough-and-tumble place when I was a kid, and 13-year-olds definitely weren’t allowed in. You’d have to hang out on the stairs if you wanted to listen.”

A lot has changed. Today, the Vanguard is non-smoking and cleaner, and the minimum age to attend a performance is 13. But Gordon says not all kids are ready at that age for jazz (she says she wasn’t). Visitors should keep a few things in mind before making a reservation:

“Do your homework first about who’s playing, and see if it’s what you want to hear,” she says. Also, no food is served, and the place is, still, a nightclub.

The Blue Note, Smalls Jazz Club, Birdland Jazz Club and the Jazz Standard have no minimum age and welcome well-behaved children accompanied by adults. The minimum age at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola is 7, and the Jazz Standard hosts a “Jazz for Kids” program on Sundays.

As for types of jazz, Todd Stoll, Jazz at Lincoln Center’s vice president of education, recommends vocalists and big band music as a good entry point for kids. He urges families to explore Jazz at Lincoln Center’s YouTube channel, featuring videos explaining improvisation and various jazz artists and genres.

Jazz at Lincoln Center features performances for kids as young as 8 months.

“We call them Family Jazz Parties, and we have six to eight of them a year. They’re family jazz concerts for a kid and a caregiver, with jazz that is very digestible for kids of that age group (8 months to 5 years) while also enjoyable for parents, held in a carpeted venue where kids can move around,” Stoll says. In addition, visitors to New York can buy tickets to a single WeBop jazz appreciation class for a young person and a caregiver.

Jazz at Lincoln Center also offers two family-oriented concerts a year, created by Wynton Marsalis and inspired by a format begun by Leonard Bernstein in the 1950s. The concerts combine music and education around a specific concept, genre or important figure.

“Older than that, and most kids are really ready to check out Dizzy’s or the Vanguard or whatever other place they’re interested in going,” Stoll said. “Just do some research before you go. It’s not a musical or a pop concert, it’s fine art. It doesn’t pander.”

Jazz, says Marsalis, “demands that we develop our hearing. It’s our job to empower kids and to teach them to listen and to hear. We should encourage them to get with the harmony, get to the piano, learn three or four basic chords, a blues — it’s a great tool to encourage hearing.”

Stoll says that delving into jazz is also a great way to better appreciate New York City.

“The first jazz recording ever made was in New York in 1917, just about every jazz great came to New York to make their name here, and the vibe and feeling of New York is still a jazz vibe. New York sweats jazz,” he says.

And unlike many Broadway musicals, jazz performances tend to be reasonably priced and readily accessible without much advance planning.

“It’s a pretty good bang for your buck. We try to keep admission to $35 with a one-drink minimum,” says Gordon, of the Vanguard.

Not only can a family of four sit right up front at a jazz concert for around the price of a single Broadway ticket, but tickets to jazz clubs can often be had the day of a performance. Reservations to shows are made online, and clubs generally have first-come first-served seating. Jazz at Lincoln Center offers student discounts in their concert halls and at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, as do some other places.

“With kids, you definitely want to get them right up close by the drums, where they can see all that’s going on. It really blows them away,” says Gordon. Arrive well before showtime if you want the best seats.

There’s an energy to improvisation and live music, and between a band and an audience in intimate settings, Gordon says.

As for the Vanguard, a cozy basement venue known for its narrow red staircase and red-carpeted stage backed by red velvet curtains, Gordon jokes: “We are dedicatedly un-renovated. It takes a lot of work to keep it as shabby as we do. It looks pretty much like it did in the ’30s.”

Stoll says kids can learn a lot from jazz: “On an intellectual level, improvisation is the freedom and the importance of the individual voice. Swing is how that voice is related to a group. Blues is facing adversity with optimism. Those are three things we want kids to get from jazz. It also teaches us culturally about America, with lessons about race, gender and socio-economic disparity, if parents want to make it a lesson about that.”

by The Associated Press

Source: The New York Times

Juilliard Jazz Presents “Jelly Roll Morton and Thelonious Monk” on Thursday, April 4, 2019

Juilliard Jazz presents the music of legendary jazz pianists and composers Jelly Roll Morton and Thelonious Monk performed by the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra with conductor Wynton Marsalis, director of Juilliard Jazz, on Thursday, April 4, 2019, at 7:30pm in Alice Tully Hall.

The Juilliard Jazz Orchestra concert features the musical language of two jazz pianists and composers whose individual sounds build off their deep understanding of the blues and the history of jazz music. Ferdinand Joseph “Jelly Roll” Morton represents the first great composer in jazz music. His compositional language embraces the sound of the blues, dance music, and the sounds and rhythms of everyday life. Thelonious Monk left a body of work that is known and respected by musicians of all genres the world over as a hallmark of quality and sophistication. His 72 pieces are a landmark of modern musical poetry.

Members of the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra are Zoe Obadia and Immanuel Wilkins (alto saxophones), Gideon Tazelaar and Abdias Armenteros (tenor saxophones), and alumnus David Milazzo (baritone saxophone); Jonah Moss, Noah Halpern, Anthony Hervey, and Giveton Gelin (trumpets); Jeffery Miller, Rashaan Salaam, and Brendan Lanighan (trombones); guitarist Jacob Kelberman; pianist Jonathan Thomas; bassist Adam Olszewski; and drummer John Steele. The resident conductor is Jerome Jennings.

The program features Jelly Roll Morton tunes: “Black Bottom Stomp” (arr. by Ted Nash), “Burnin’ the Iceberg” (arr. by Victor Goines), “The Crave” (arr. by Carlos Henriquez), “Jelly Roll Blues” (arr. by Chris Crenshaw), “The Pearls” (arr. by Wynton Marsalis), and “Sidewalk Blues” (arr. by Sherman Irby); and Thelonious Monk tunes: “Stuffy Turkey” (arr. by Victor Goines), “Friday the 13th” (arr. by Kenny Rampton), “We See” (arr. by Sherman Irby), “Jackie-ing” (arr. by Ted Nash), “Ugly Beauty” (arr. by Wynton Marsalis), and “Four In One” (arr. by Chuck Israels).

Tickets at $20 ($10 for full-time students) are available at juilliard.edu/calendar

Award-winning trumpeter brings classical jazz to Beijing

Seeing trumpeting legend Wynton Marsalis live in concert is high on the bucket list of many jazz fans. Now, the multiple Grammy Award-winner is on his third-ever visit to China, treating crowds at Beijing’s Forbidden City to his signature blend of sounds and rhythms. Our reporter Yang Ran was at the sold-out venue, and had a chance to speak to the jazzman.

Wynton Marsalis presented a comprehensive classical jazz night composed of pieces by masters like Miles Davis and James Rushing and Marsalis’ two compositions. The two compositions, the Monkey King’s March and Li Bai’s Blues, are Marsalis’ special tribute to China and his understanding of Chinese philosophy.

Marsalis has helped start the Classical Jazz summer concert series and Lincoln Center in New York City and has been leading the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra since 1991, and the big band backed him on his oratorio album Blood on the Fields, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1997. And Marsalis was the first jazz musician to win the award.

“Jazz music has the artistic cachet and value to marry that type of consideration. I just wanted to leave something lasting for people to celebrate the heritage of jazz… we started with very simple principles. No generation gap, we try to bring all the ages together. All of our music is modern. We don’t separate the younger from the older. And no segregation of people’s race, age and gender. All I think is about coming together,” Wynton Marsalis said.

In 1983, at the age of 22, Marsalis became the only musician to win Grammy Awards in jazz and classical music during the same year. And he won again in both categories the next year. Also he had won the Grammy trophies for five years in succession from 1983 to 1987.

“Those awards are not serious. It is good to put the tuxedo on, look good and smile. It’s fun. But it is not about substance, it is more about popularity. So at that time I was young and I got a lot of publicity. So people maybe they haven’t heard any jazz, but they recognize me and say let’s vote for him. It is not a testament of your artistic value. It was fun. It was fun but it doesn’t mean you beat anybody, “ Marsalis said.

Born in a musician and music teacher family, Marsalis has been dedicated to music education for decades. He started to host the educational programs on public television and National Public Radio in 1995 and he serves as director of the Julliard Jazz Studies Program. He gives hearty suggestions to the jazz students.

“I’ve seen more higher quality students than in the 1980s and ’90s. I see many students that can play. And I see many students from all over the world that are interested in the substance of playing. Also it is a challenge that those students have to make a livelihood. Anything in the art is difficult. Because you have to change people’s feeling about how they live in the world. Just by playing something or singing or dancing or acting. It is much easier to just do the most popular thing. This is an interesting time. Because there is such an emphasis on just entertainment, things that lack substance. So you have to be very patient,” Marsalis said.

Approximately seven million copies of his recordings have been sold worldwide. Wynton Marsalis has toured on every continent except Antarctica.

By Yang Ran

Source: CGTN

Wynton Marsalis and Ken Burns: Country Music

New York, NY (March 14, 2019) – In the exclusive special concert event, Wynton Marsalis and Ken Burns: Country Music, iconic documentarian Ken Burns, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis and guests Rhiannon Giddens, Emmylou Harris, and Marty Stuart will explore the shared roots found throughout American music.

Wynton Marsalis and Ken Burns: Country Music will take place on April 25 – 27 at 8:00 p.m. in Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater, Jazz at Lincoln Center, at 60th Street and Broadway in New York City.

From country music to jazz, folk to gospel, bluegrass to old country blues, there is a deep commonality in our all-too-often segregated genres. With never-before-seen clips from Burns’s upcoming _Country Music_series ─ which will premiere on PBS on September 15 ─ audiences will learn the fascinating and often intertwined histories of songs made famous by artists such as Ray Charles, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Kris Kristofferson, Dolly Parton, Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys, Hank Williams, Vince Gill, Rhiannon Giddens, Stephen Foster, DeFord Bailey, Jimmie Rodgers, and others — and then hear brand-new arrangements of those songs written and performed by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis and guests.

A free pre-concert discussion will take place nightly at 7:00 p.m. in the Agnes Varis and Karl Leichtman Studio in the Irene Diamond Education Center.

For additional information, visit jazz.org.

Ticket Information

Rose Theater ticket prices are $40 and up, dependent upon seating section.

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. Note: Hot Seats — $10 seats for each Rose Theater performance (excluding Jazz for Young People® concerts and other performances as specified) and select performances in The Appel Room (excluding Jazz & Popular Song concerts) — are available for purchase by the general public on the Wednesday prior to each performance. Tickets are subject to availability; please call 212-258-9800 for available Hot Seats performance dates.

Additional information may be found at jazz.org | Facebook: facebook.com/jazzatlincolncenter | Twitter: @jazzdotorg | Instagram: @jazzdotorg | YouTube: youtube.com/jalc | Livestream: jazz.org/live

Jazz at Lincoln Center proudly acknowledges its major corporate partners: Bloomberg Philanthropies, Brooks Brothers, The Coca-Cola Company, Con Edison, Entergy, SiriusXM, and Steinway & Sons.

Grammy-winning jazz musician to perform at Lincoln Center Shanghai

Marsalis explains his understanding of music and jazz to audiences with a piano performance at the Jazz at Lincoln Center Shanghai on Wednesday.

(Jiang Xiaowei / SHINE)

US jazz master Wynton Marsalis will stage a series of performances at a jazz music center near the Bund.

The Grammy-winning trumpet virtuoso will perform with his band at the Jazz at Lincoln Center Shanghai, the only foreign branch of the New York-based Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, on Thursday and Saturday.

The center is based in The Central on Nanjing Road E., part of a development of four classic properties built in the 1930s.

Marsalis, who was listed by Time magazine as “one of the 25 most influential figures in the United States,” has composed a special piece of work for his upcoming performances.

It involves elements such as the white magnolia, Shanghai’s city flower, and the Monkey King from “Journey to the West” written by Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) novelist and poet Wu Cheng’en (1500-1582).

The debut of the special piece will be at 7:30pm on Thursday at the center.

“Shanghai has the history and tradition of jazz and we’d like to bring the West and East together here,” Marsalis said.

The legendary musician has also prepared two “public rehearsals” with his band for local audiences.

Senior artists from the center will promote jazz knowledge and answer questions.

The Central, which is near completion, is a commercial landmark for upmarket shops, fine dining, performing arts venues, as well as a boutique hotel.

The five-story Central Mall, covering about 6,000 square meters and which for decades sold electrical equipment, closed in 2007. Many historic features of the neoclassical, European-style Central Mall have been preserved.

On Friday he will perform at the Shanghai Oriental Art Center in the Pudong New Area.

by Yang Jian

Source: SHINE

Maestro Cristian Măcelaru leads the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra in two of Marsalis’ celebrated compositions

The Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, America’s longest running festival of new orchestral music, celebrates its 57th season, July 28 – August 11, 2019, with a remarkable women-centric season, featuring a series of relevant and forward-looking commissioned works.

This is the Festival’s third season with Music Director and Conductor Cristian Măcelaru at the helm, and the esteemed conductor continues to push the leading edge at Cabrillo. This year the Festival presents four commissioned works—three world premieres, two US premieres, and eight West Coast premieres. The highlights are many.

Sunday, August 11, 2019 – 7pm

Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium

Closing night is dedicated to American legend Wynton Marsalis, one of the most accomplished and acclaimed artists and composers of his generation. Marsalis has helped propel jazz to the forefront of contemporary American culture through his performances, recordings, compositions, educational efforts, and his visionary artistic leadership of Jazz at Lincoln Center. Marsalis’ love of Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart has also driven him to pursue a career in classical music. He recorded the Haydn, Hummel and Leopold Mozart trumpet concertos at age 20 and won a Grammy Award for his debut recording.

Tonight his friend and frequent collaborator Maestro Măcelaru leads the Festival Orchestra in two of Marsalis’ celebrated compositions: his Violin Concerto featuring acclaimed Scottish violinist Nicola Benedetti and Blues Symphony. Marsalis will be composer in residence at Cabrillo Festival for his first time this season, and while not scheduled to pick up his horn in performance, he will participate in an afternoon talk with Măcelaru.

Marsalis’ Concerto in D for violin and orchestra was written specifically for Benedetti. The piece draws inspiration from the violin concerto’s first formation in the Baroque era through its current manifestation in the 21st Century, incorporates a slow movement inspired by an African American spiritual, and explores Benedetti and Marsalis’ own musical heritages in Scottish folk and American jazz music, respectively. It is not only a unique fusion of musical styles from around the world but a celebration and representation of collective cultures embodied in one work.

Marsalis’ Blues Symphony features a compendium of his encyclopedic knowledge of blues, jazz, and other traditional American music. One of his only pieces composed for purely orchestral forces, this celebration of the blues is heard through the prism of moments in American, and specifically African-American, history, and folklore.

Jazz at Lincoln Center’s 2019 Gala “The Birth of Jazz: From Bolden to Armstrong”

New York, NY (March 7, 2019) – Jazz at Lincoln Center’s 2019 Gala, “The Birth of Jazz: From Bolden to Armstrong,” will celebrate New Orleans, the birthplace of jazz, and support Jazz at Lincoln Center’s mission to entertain, enrich and expand a global community for jazz through performance, education, and advocacy. This one-night only benefit performance and dinner ─ a Big Easy party that will romp through a jazz and blues repertoire ─ takes place on Wednesday, April 17, 2019, 7:00 p.m.at Frederick P. Rose Hall, “The House of Swing,” located at Broadway at 60th Street, New York, New York.

Jazz at Lincoln Center will present the Ed Bradley Award for Leadership to Becky and Art Samberg. Mr. Samberg has been a member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Board of Directors since 2012 and has a long history of supporting Jazz at Lincoln Center’s mission and music. With a civic-minded philanthropic vision, the Samberg Family generously contributes to many charities, educational entities, and cultural groups, both personally and through foundations the family has established.

Also, on this special evening, the organization will also bestow the Jazz at Lincoln Center Award for Artistic Excellence to NEA Jazz Master and legendary New Orleans musician Ellis Marsalis. Mr. Marsalis receives this honor in recognition of his artistry and as one of the most renowned music educators in the world, having had a profound impact on the lineage of the music as embodied by the many musicians whose lives he has informed, inspired, and educated.

Commemorating the release of the upcoming film, Bolden, directed by Dan Pritzker, and Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Blue Engine Records release of the Bolden Original Motion Picture Soundtrack with music composed, arranged and performed by Wynton Marsalis,Jazz at Lincoln Center’s 2019 Gala concert will feature a stellar lineup of musicians and special guests. The selections will illuminate jazz’s most significant musical figures, chief among them, Buddy Bolden, who ranks among the most influential yet obscure figures in the pantheon of American music, and Louis Armstrong, Bolden’s musical descendant who created a Rosetta Stone for the music.

Anchored by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, the concert will feature Jonathan Batiste, Harry Connick Jr., Sullivan Fortner, Vince Giordano, Noah Halpern, Anthony Hervey, Branford Marsalis, Jason Marsalis, Dianne Reeves, and Don Vappie.

Reno Wilson who plays Louis Armstrong in the Bolden film, will perform “I’ll be Glad When You’re Dead, You Rascal You.”

2019 Gala Chairs

Helen and Bob Appel

Jody and John Arnhold

The Jay Pritzker Foundation

Jeff Samberg

Joe Samberg

Laura Samberg-Faino

Gala Co-Chairs

Lisa and Dick Cashin

The Jaffe Family Foundation

Burwell and Chip Schorr

Gala Vice-Chairs

Shahara Ahmad-Llewellyn

Siris Capital, LLC/ Robin and Peter E. Berger

Betsy Levitt Cohn

Gail and Alfred Engelberg

Buzzy Geduld

Sharon Sullivan and Jeff Kindler

Ann Tenenbaum and Thomas H. Lee

Jacqueline L. Bradley and Clarence Otis

Ronald O. Perelman

Barry F. Schwartz

Dianne and David Stern

Gala Benefactors

Anonymous

Steve Aiello

Simona and Jerome A. Chazen

Diane M. Coffey

Mihaela and Harry Crosby

Gordon J. Davis/ Venable LLP

Jeanette Davis-Loeb

Mica Ertegun

Dr. Donna J. Astion and Michael D. Fricklas

Greg Marcus

Courtney Lee-Mitchell and Marcus Mitchell

Janice and Steve Miller

Lisa Roumell and Mark Rosenthal

Astrid and Christian SabellaRosa

Lisa and David T. Schiff

Dagni and Martin Senzel

Gala ticket prices begin at $2,500.00 and table prices begin at $35,000. For tickets, please contact the Jazz at Lincoln Center Benefit Office at 212-245-6570 or jalc@eventassociatesinc.com.

A limited number of concert-only tickets for $150 and $200 can be purchased on jazz.org 24 hours a day or by calling 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 are Monday- Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. (or 30 minutes past curtain) and Sunday from noon to 6:00 p.m. (or 30 minutes past curtain).

Jazz at Lincoln Center proudly acknowledges its major corporate partners: Bloomberg, Brooks Brothers, Centene Charitable Foundation, The Coca-Cola Company, Con Edison, Entergy, SiriusXM, Steinway & Sons, and The Shops at Columbus Circle at Time Warner Center.