The Schomburg Center’s annual Women’s Jazz Festival (WJF) celebrated 30 years of centering Black women in the field of jazz. The Women’s Jazz Festival was founded in 1992 by jazz vocalist and then-Harlem resident Melba Joyce (pictured here in red). Year after year, the festival and its curators have brought together musicians, dancers, and a melding of musical genres to deliver an exciting series of concerts featuring some of the best-known and emerging talent by women in jazz today.
Joyce, this year’s curator, was joined onstage by past curators Aja Burrell Wood; Brandee Younger; moderator Robin Bell-Stevens; Cynthia; and Toshi Reagon Music included performances by Bertha Hope (piano), Mimi Jones (bass) and Lucianna Pedmore (drums).