The Jazz Congress will be an all-day affair on Jan. 8–9 (9:30 a.m.–7 p.m.), giving all those in the jazz community and newcomers an opportunity to network in a warm, friendly environment with artists, journalists, managers, and other jazz professionals while attending a series of informative workshops and panels. All events at Jazz at Lincoln Center (60th Street and Broadway).
The prison industrial complex doesn’t seem like an appropriate discussion for a jazz panel, but it’s apropos under the title “Jazz and Criminal Justice: The Transformative Power of Music for Justice-Impacted Lives.” The conversation focuses on programs across the country that are using music as a tool for hope and engagement in incarcerated communities. This panel is curated by Alina Bloomgarden, Music on the Inside, Inc.; moderator, Kenyatta Emmanuel; panelists Leland Baker, Newport Festivals Foundation; Barbara Bethea, Creative Arts Therapy Program at Rikers Island; Mikell Green Grand, MOTI; and Alfred Roberts, Musical Connections, Carnegie Hall.
The first day concluded with a musical tribute celebrating Russell Malone, the guitarist who died at 60 on Aug. 23, 2024. Performers will include many of the musicians he worked with during his career, such as Ron Carter, Christian McBride, Diana Krall, Kenny Barron, the Monty Alexander Trio, Donald Vega, Rick Germanson, Ekep Nkwelle, and T.K. Blue.
Two of the many events on Jan. 9 will include morning panels like “Navigating Male-Dominated Spaces” (the Appel Room). It is no secret that men have dominated the jazz space since its inception. The obstacles of moving through these spaces both on the bandstand and behind the scenes will be discussed by musicians Akua Dixon, Terri Lyne Carrington, Endea Owens, and Helen Sung; moderated by Karen Kennedy.
Later in the afternoon, a panel of colleagues and family members will discuss the unheralded career of Roy Haynes with “Life of a Legend.” The NEA Jazz Master died on Nov. 12, 2024, just months before his 100th birthday. Panelists will include Graham Haynes, Marcus Gilmore, Craig Holiday Haynes, Dave Holland, and John Patitucci; moderated by Terri Lyne Carrington.
Haynes had received an abundance of awards, including two from the French government — the first in 1996, acknowledging him as a knight with the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, and in 2009 as Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. These honors gave him the title of Sir Roy Haynes. It seems that Lester Young was aware of Haynes’s royalty in the 1940s when he nicknamed him “the royal of Haynes.” It was a recent conversation with the drummer’s daughter Leslie K. Haynes who made me aware of her father’s title of “Sir.”
For a complete two-day Jazz Congress schedule, visit Jazzcongress.org.
After its successful debut in 2024, the Unity Jazz Festival returns to Jazz at Lincoln Center Jan. 10–11, bringing together artists and enthusiastic music lovers. A roster of diverse, intergenerational acts will convene in the Ertegun Atrium to swing in a new year of hipness: Agnes Varis and the Karl Leichtman Studio, Dizzy’s Club, and the Appel Room. The music jumps off at 6 p.m. each evening and swings into the midnight hour.
Highlights of the festival include Tatiana Eva-Marie, playing music derived from the Django Reinhardt tradition, with French jazz and Gypsy influences; Pedrito Martinez and Alfredo Rodriguez; the Sun Ra Celebration with Sullivan Fortner & His Galactic Friends; an All-Star Tribute to Sir Roy Haynes with Dee Dee Bridgewater, Dave Holland, Graham Haynes, Marcus Gilmore, Terri Lyne Carrington, John Patitucci, Dave Kikoski, Jaleel Shaw, and Kenny Barron, and more.
For tickets and a complete schedule, visit jazz.org/unity. For livestreaming information ,visit jazzlive.com.
Music that ignites shiny, glittering stars into fiery comets that defy the jazz police will orbit on Jan. 9–15 at the 21st annual Winter Jazzfest at multiple venues in Manhattan and Brooklyn, from Performance Space, City Winery, and LPR to Roulette, Public Records, Music Hall of Williamsburg, and Brooklyn Bowl. The fest will feature more than 600 artists. The jazz festival that started out as a one-day New York event is now global.
This year, the mission is as vital as ever: “focusing on artists with meaningful messages regarding racial and gender justice, climate action, migration, incarceration, and other pressing issues that affect so many of us,” noted founder and producer Brice Rosenbloom in a press release.
Jan. 9 is the kick-off with surrealist blues poet Aja Monet, Fay Victor’s Herbie Nicols Sung jazz quintet, and singer and harpist Sophye Soliveau at Le Poisson Rouge.
There is also a 60th-anniversary celebration of John Coltrane’s earth-moving “A Love Supreme” on Jan. 12 at Roulette (409 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn), presenting Impressions: Improvisatory interpretations featuring Ravi Coltrane and his quartet with David Virelles, Jeff “Tain” Watts, and Dezron Douglas, followed by a round-robin set of guest improvisers, including Angelica Sanchez, James Brandon Lewis, Joel Ross, Melissa Aldana, and Nasheet Waits.
On Jan. 13 at Le Poisson Rouge (158 Bleecker Street; two shows — 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.), there will be a salute to Strata-East Records, one of the most influential jazz labels in the world, co-founded by trumpeter Charles Tolliver and pianist Stanley Cowell. Known for producing albums by Max Roach, Gil Scott-Heron, and Pharoah Sanders, among others. Featured will be original Strata-East artists Tolliver, Cecil McBee, Billy Hart, and Billy Harper, alongside Christian McBride, Endea Owens, Keyon Harrold, and Camille Thurman.
On Jan. 10, two creative forces come together: trumpeter and composer Wadada Leo Smith and pianist and composer Vjay Iyer, for an evening of improvised genius, subtle emotion, spiritual intensity, and mystery: a duo of individuality with combined ides that — as Smith says — “merge as a single wave, or a single voice.”
Among its many events, the festival favorites are the Two-Day Marathons, Jan. 10-11 in the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. Some of those performances will include pianist/organist Matthew Whitaker, the Baylor Project, Cuban pianist Roberto Fonseca & Joe Claussell, pianist Orrin Evans’s Big Band with Lisa Fischer (Luther Vandross, Rolling Stones), and Trio Imagination with Reggie Workman, drummer Andrew Cyrille, and pianist Virelles. Virelles had the pleasure of playing with the two legends when they were Trio 3 with saxophonist Oliver Lake. “Playing with Reggie and Andrew is a big challenge, but I try to connect with them as a piano, being mindful that my piano occupies a lot of space, so I have to balance my sound design,” said the pianist.
The Winter Jazzfest celebrates good music despite its so-called genres of avant-garde, post-bop, jazz-funk, fusion, composed music, global beats, and beyond.
For complete listing and tickets, visit winterjazzfest.com.