NYC Winter Jazzfest Announces Initial Artist Lineup

By DownBeat I Dec. 6, 2022

Terri Lyne Carrington’s New Standards Live will perform in an evening of varied ensemble configurations.
(Photo: Courtesy of Terri Lyne Carrington)

The initial list of artists to be featured at the 19th annual NYC Winter Jazzfest, Jan. 12–18, has been announced.

Since its founding in 2005, NYCWJF has cemented a reputation as a hotbed of cultural discovery, supporting the growth and continued vitality of the jazz community. After a delayed and heavily modified festival in 2022, the 2023 edition will be slightly smaller in scope.

The festival offers seven nights of programming, including weekend-long, multi-venue, multi-artist marathons in Manhattan and Brooklyn. The NYCWJF marathon has become recognized as one of New York’s most essential nightlife offerings, giving audiences full access to all participating venues and dozens of groups performing from early evening deep into the wee hours.

The January 2023 festival will include a celebration of Marshall Allen, leading the Sun Ra Arkestra in a full set with special guests. There will also be a tribute to Meghan Stabile, visionary scene maker and founder of Revive Music, who died in June at age 39. Ángela Gil, founder of Future x Sounds, carries on in the spirit of her mentor and friend, and curates an evening at the Brooklyn Bowl in Stabile’s honor, featuring the Louis Cato, hip-hop legend Pete Rock with his band The Soul Brothers, Igmar Thomas’ Revive Big Band and special guests.

On opening night, the first-ever onstage manifestation of drummer Terri Lyne Carrington’s New Standards Live performs in an evening of varied ensemble configurations. The slated performers are Michele Rosewoman, Melanie Charles, Michael Mayo, Linda May Han Oh, Kris Davis, Tia Fuller, Caroline Davis, Helen Sung and Mary Halvorson.

Also on opening night, French musicians Vincent Peirani (accordion) and Émile Parisien (saxophone) will lead their respective ensembles in a combined showcase co-presented with Paris Jazz Club and TSF Jazz. Joining for this special presentation will be trumpeter Avishai Cohen and his quartet. To close out opening night in crate-digging style, renowned U.K. broadcaster, DJ and Brownswood Recordings founder Gilles Peterson will spin well into the night at Nublu — an Alphabet City venue that will host a series of shows throughout the days of the festival.

After the Manhattan and Brooklyn marathons, on Jan. 15 NYCWJF pays tribute to another departed icon of the music community, trumpeter and composer jaimie “breezy” branch, whose passed on Aug. 22 at age 39.

Two special events are taking place on Jan. 17. Pianist, composer, filmmaker and all-around creative force Samora Pinderhughes will present an incarnation of his politically charged multimedia project “Grief & Process,” a collaborative exhibition and performance series that is now unfolding at The Kitchen’s temporary location at The Westbeth’s West Side Loft. The same night, multi-instrumentalist Nate Mercereau will musically direct “Take Two,” an immersive experience bridging the music’s past, present and future where audience and players alike will listen together to the classic 1974 Pharoah Sanders album Elevation in its entirety, after which the musicians will take to the stage for a live reinterpretation of what they just heard.

As in past years, NYCWJF will also program a series of Jazz Talks for the afternoons of Jan. 15–17. These panel discussions spark intellectual reflection and provide the public with a wider context for understanding all that goes on in the artistic lives of our performers. Topics will include jazz and gender, wellness, social justice and more. Details are in formation and will be announced shortly.

For more information, visit the festival’s website. DB