The NYC Winter Jazzfest has announced their 2017 lineup to include legends, contemporary greats, and rising stars all together. Over the course of five nights, 14 different stages will host programming spearheaded by Brice Rosenbloom, one of the masterminds behind le Poisson Rouge’s bookings. Let’s get a preview of the action in…
The opening concert takes place on Thursday January 5, when Pharoah Sanders headlines le Poisson Rouge. After catching a couple of Sanders’ shows this year, we’re happy to report that the spiritual jazz legend still very much has what it takes to put on a captivating performance, so don’t sleep on another opportunity to see the saxophone great. The show will be opened by British contemporary Shabaka Hutchings and the Ancestors, who released a new record on Gilles Peterson’s Brownswood Recordings earlier this year. Listen to that below.
The main course, the Winter Jazzfest Marathon, takes place on Friday January 6 and Saturday January 7 in venues like LPR, Judson Memorial Church, Zinc Bar, The Bitter End, The Django at The Roxy Hotel, Bowery Ballroom and Nublu 151. The list of musicians is appetizing, to say the least. Check it out in full below, along with ticketing information.
For starters, tickets for the 2017 NYCWJF go on sale today, Friday November 4. The marathons are $45 for a single day pass and $80 for the 2-day Marathon WJF Pass (obviously highly recommended). This gets you into over a dozen venues and the potential to see endless amounts of music, essentially, from the afternoon into the early morning.
Now let’s have a look at who’s playing. The lineup is dense with talent, some names that should be familiar while its impossible to know them all. Since our readership is diverse in music tastes, I’ve bolded some names of artists that I have personally seen, and some that I’m excited to see, to give a starting research point for those interested.
Artist-in-Residence: Andrew Cyrille Amina Claudine Myers Battle Trance Bill Frisell / Thomas Morgan Duo Brooklyn Raga Massive Craig Harris’ Breathe Criss Cross (w/ Florian Weber, Donny McCaslin, Dan Weiss) Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society Dave Douglas High Risk with Shigeto David Murray Big Band Daymé Arocena Donny McCaslin Group Earth Wind and Brown, featuring Butcher Brown and NIGEL Hall Edmar Castaneda World Ensemble Harold López-Nussa Jakob Bro / Thomas Morgan / Joey Baron Jason Moran & The Bandwagon Plays Monk Justin Brown NYEUSI Kandace Springs Killiam Shakespeare Kneebody Kris Davis’ Duopoly Madison McFerrin Marc Ribot & The Young Philadelphians Mary Halvorson Octet Michael Leonhart Orchestra Nate Smith + Kinfolk Nicole Mitchell’s Black Earth Ensemble Nik Bärtsch Mobile Peter Bernstein’s Monk Trio Pharoah Sanders Quantic Live Ravi Coltrane / David Virelles Duo Russell Gunn’s Ethnomusicology Sam Amidon Samora Pinderhughes: The Transformations Suite Shabaka & The Ancestors Spanish Harlem Orchestra Steven Bernstein’s Universal Melody Brass Band Terri Lyne Carrington & Social Science The Chico Freeman Plus+tet Tomasz Stanko NY Quartet (with David Virelles, Reuben Rogers, Gerald Cleaver) Tomeka Reid Uri Caine Trio Vinicius Cantuaria Quintet William Parker / Cooper Moore / Hamid Drake / Rob Brown Quartet