Winter Festivals, Conferences to Fuel Intense Week of Jazz in New York

By DownBeat I Jan. 9, 2024

The coming week promises to be a busy and fruitful time in New York for jazz artists and improvising musicians who are locally based or are visiting from other locations in the U.S. and beyond. Here is a brief rundown of the many important jazz festivals and conferences happening in the Big Apple during the next 10 days, starting with NYC Winter Jazzfest, a major yearly event that continues to draw capacity crowds and stir up creative enthusiasm among artists of all stripes.

NYC Winter Jazzfest

The complete list of artists scheduled to perform at this year’s 20th annual NYC Winter Jazzfest have been announced. The festival takes place Jan. 10–18.

“It is our 20th season,” says NYC Winter Jazzfest founder and producer Brice Rosenbloom. “We began in 2005 at the Knitting Factory on Leonard Street with the mission of highlighting music that deserved wider attention while the APAP conference was in town, and that mission remains. Over the years that mission has expanded to focus on artists with meaningful messages, in the desire to serve as a beacon for racial and gender justice, community building and wellness. Especially in these times of divisiveness, we understand the importance of nurturing community through music.”

The overarching goal of the festival remains as well: to grow the audience for jazz, with a broad programming mission that speaks to the diversity of the New York scene. Participants who appeared at early incarnations of the festival and are returning for this year’s edition include Marc Ribot and Burnt Sugar The Arkestra Chamber.

This year’s NYC Winter Jazzfest also aims to celebrate several now-deceased artists whose presence and influence remain felt in the jazz community: Max Roach, Alice Coltrane, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Curtis Fowlkes, Pharoah Sanders, Sun Ra, J Dilla and Amp Fiddler.

Artist-in-residence this year is saxophonist and multi-reedist Shabaka (formerly known as Shabaka Hutchings), who will perform in six different configurations over the course of the festival. In addition to what is sure to be a revelatory Jan. 11 duo set at Dizzy’s Club with Joe Lovano (preceded by an intimate chat at Jazz Congress on the “Universality of Jazz”), Shabaka will take part in both of the festival’s Marathon nights in ensembles including Jason Moran, Saul Williams, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson and more. He will perform at the Jan. 14 tribute to the Black cultural center The East and at an Impulse! Records showcase at Le Poisson Rouge on Jan. 15.

Next Jazz Legacy, a program focused on increasing opportunities for women and non-binary improvisers who are underrepresented in the art form. The program’s second-year cohort — consisting of pianist Camila Cortina Bello, trumpeter/flugelhornist Milena Casado, bassist Liany Mateo, vocalists Anaïs Maviel and Tatiana LadyMay Mayfield, and saxophonists Neta Raanan and Anisha Rush — is scheduled to kick off the Manhattan Marathon at Winter Jazzfest on Jan. 12 at (Le) Poisson Rouge. Following their performance, the stage will be graced by the Next Jazz Legacy mentor and Grammy-nominated harpist Brandee Younger’s trio.

Many of this year’s NYC Winter Jazzfest shows are selling out fast. To purchase tickets and see the full schedule of performances, click HERE.

APAP|NYC

The 67th annual conference APAP|NYC 2024 will take place in New York Jan. 12–16, 2024. Produced by the Association of Performing Arts Professionals, APAP|NYC is the world’s premier gathering of the performing arts presenting, booking and touring industry and the annual members conference of the APAP organization.

More than 3,000 industry professionals will attend the conference at the New York Hilton Midtown and at performing arts showcases throughout New York.

APAP ensures a thriving performing arts industry focused on commerce, as well as community and creation. “We are beyond excited for this year’s convening, where we will welcome thousands of world-class artists and professionals who make the performing arts happen in our communities across North America and beyond,” said APAP President and CEO Lisa Richards Toney. “This collective space — APAP’s big tent that includes professionals, both emerging and seasoned, of all missions, functions, disciplines and genres — is where we recharge, reignite and drive the performing arts forward.”

Drag queen performing artist Sasha Velour will be featured at the conference’s opening plenary on Jan. 12. APAP has taken a strong stand against laws prohibiting drag performance and the mounting hate crimes against this community.

The APAP Honors awards on Jan. 15 will be presented to seven-time Grammy winner Terence Blanchard, dance and arts managers Lisa Booth (deceased) and Deirdre Valente, Lincoln Center Chief Artistic Officer Shanta Thake, arts researcher Randy Cohen, arts philanthropists John W. Brown and Rosemary Kopel Brown, and emerging dance artist Ruby Morales.

This year’s conference will welcome attendees from 18 countries outside the U.S. and Canada. Appearing and being represented during APAP is now more critical than ever for artists and troupes who need to secure international tours in order to guarantee their short and long-term viability.

APAP’s Young Performers Career Advancement program, which supports classical musicians early in their careers, will once again present a showcase of their work at Carnegie Hall. The Jan. 15 event is free and open to the general public.

For more information, click HERE.

Jazz Congress

Jazz Congress 2024 will take place Jan. 11 at Frederick P. Rose Hall, home of Jazz at Lincoln Center. The fourth edition of the conference will bring together members of the global jazz community in person for the first time since 2020. Each year, through the Bruce Lundvall Visionary Award, Jazz Congress recognizes an individual who has demonstrated extraordinary leadership and vision in expanding the audience for jazz and who has made a difference for the artists, the music and the audience. The 2024 Bruce Lundvall Visionary Award will be given to Dee Dee Bridgewater, an NEA Jazz Master, Grammy- and Tony Award-winning vocalist, educator and social activist.

The 2024 Jazz Congress keynote event “Celebrating Wayne Shorter” will be hosted by Michelle Mercer, music commentator for NPR and author of Footprints: The Life and Work of Wayne Shorter. Panelists will include collaborators and colleagues discussing Shorter’s work and mastery.

Highlights of the 2024 Jazz Congress panel discussions include “Leading Your Own Organization: How to Bring Jazz to Your Community through Education and Performance,” “Winter Jazz Festival 20th Anniversary Panel,” “Eddie Palmieri and Latin Jazz,” “Innovation, A.I., and Jazz,” “Reconsidering Innovation, Transformation and Genius, through the lens of Jazz, Gender and Justice” and “The Vital Role of Apprenticeship and Mentorship for a More Inclusive Jazz Future.”

Jazz Congress annually features events for attendees who seek to nurture musicians, businesses and organizations that play, promote, produce, present, market and support jazz. To register and for more information, click HERE.

Unity Festival

Jazz at Lincoln Center will host its inaugural Unity Festival Jan. 12–13 throughout The House of Swing. Featuring 15 diverse acts, Unity Festival will showcase Jazz at Lincoln Center fan favorites and artists from the global jazz scene performing across three New York venues: The Appel Room, Dizzy’s Club and Ertegun Atrium.

Unity Festival presents new music from Endea Owens, Chief aTunde Adjuah, Linda May Han Oh, Bokani Dyer, Summer Camargo, Isaiah Thompson, Randy Brecker, William Parker and more. Day-passes serve as all-access tickets to performances in The Appel Room, Dizzy’s Club and Ertegun Atrium. For tickets and more information, click HERE. DB