Jul 17, 2025 12:44 PM
DownBeat’s 73rd Annual Critics Poll: One for the Record Books
You see before you what we believe is the largest and most comprehensive Critics Poll in the history of jazz. DownBeat…
Leroy Jenkins (left) and Billy Bang
(Photo: Courtesy of Arts for Art)New York-based Arts for Art, the presenters of the annual Vision Festival, held a holiday concert honoring violinists Billy Bang (1947–2011) and Leroy Jenkins (132–2007) on Dec. 4 with performances by Andrew Drury and Spontaneous River, a 15-piece string ensemble directed by violinist Jason Kao Hwang. The program, titled A Holiday Celebration, featured music composed by the honorees.
Hwang provided conduction and arrangements. The music was dynamic and was received by a small but enthusiastic audience.The performance was held at the Lowline Lab, in a portion of the old Essex Street Market in Lower Manhattan that is a prototype for an innovative underground park. The Lowline is a proposed one-acre green space to be supported by solar technology and designed to be created in an abandoned trolley terminal below Delancey Street.
The event was a fundraiser to help Match the Artist Campaign, whose theme is to honor those artists who have inspired us. Several photographers donated work of Bang and Jenkins and the photos are available at the Arts for Art website, www.artsforart.org/store/. DB
James Brandon Lewis earned honors for Artist of the Year and Tenor Saxophonist of the Year. Three of his recordings placed in the Albums of the Year category.
Jul 17, 2025 12:44 PM
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