Jun 10, 2025 4:13 PM
Theo Croker’s Dream … Manifested!
Partway through his early set at Smoke Jazz Club, Theo Croker blinks the room back into focus. He leans over the piano.…
The New York-based avantjazz Vision Festival, now in its seventh year, will feature 17 days of performances featuring avantjazz, dance, poetry and visual arts
presentations from May 23-June 9. It will include more than 300 leading avantjazz creators from around the world, representing three generations of jazz history and contemporary innovation.
The festival will retain the theme from last year, “Vision Against Violence.” This year’s festival will take place at The Center at Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral, (268 Mulberry St. between Houston and Prince Streets) with additional performances at CBGB’s Lounge. The Mulberry Street shows will be May 23-27, May 30-June 2 and June 6-9; while the CBGB’s Lounge shows, at 313 Bowery, will take place May 28-29 and June 4-5
Highlights of the festival include:
Oluyemi and Ijeoma Thomas with expatriate Alan Silva; Joe McPhee to be featured in a quartet led by Joe Giardullo; Jemeel Moondoc’s Muntu; William Parker’s new Quartet; Billy Bang Trio with Jin Hi Kim and Hamiet Bluiett; French bassist Joelle Leandre in a duo with Hamid Drake; Kidd Jordan, Fred Anderson, William Parker and Hamid Drake; Milford Graves with one of his special projects; a Memorial Day Tribute to Don Cherry featuring Jayne Cortez’s Firespitters, the Dewey Redman Quartet, the Don Cherry Memorial Band and the Pyramid Trio; Paul Dunmall and Paul Rogers from England with Gerry Hemmingway; Matthew Shipp String Trio; Douglas Ewart; David S. Ware’s Quartet for its annual performance; and much more.
Tickets are $20 per night ($15 per night from June 6-8); a nine-day pass to the Center is $150, and a 13-day pass is $175. Center tickets are available in advance by calling the Downtown Music Gallery, 212-473-0043. The shows at CBGB’s (for which there are no advance sales) are $15 per night.
For more information, go to www.visionfestival.org.
To record Dream Manifest (Dom Recs), Croker convened artists from his current and recent past ensembles, plus special guests.
Jun 10, 2025 4:13 PM
Partway through his early set at Smoke Jazz Club, Theo Croker blinks the room back into focus. He leans over the piano.…
“There’s nothing quite like it,” Springs says of working with an orchestra. “It’s 60 people working in harmony in the moment. Singing with them is kind of empowering but also humbling at the same time.”
Jun 17, 2025 11:12 AM
When it came time to pose for the cover of her new album, Lady In Satin — a tribute to Billie Holiday’s 1958…
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
You see before you what we believe is the largest and most comprehensive Critics Poll in the history of jazz. DownBeat…
Galper was often regarded as an underrated master of his craft.
Jul 22, 2025 10:58 AM
Hal Galper, a pianist, composer and arranger who enjoyed a substantial performing career but made perhaps a deeper…
Chuck Mangione on the cover of the May 8, 1975, edition of DownBeat.
Jul 29, 2025 1:00 PM
Chuck Mangione, one of the most popular trumpeters in jazz history, passed away on July 24 at home in Rochester, New…