The 33rd season of Jazz at Lincoln Center will include appearances by a wide range of internationally renowned singers, tributes to jazz legends and premieres of new suites by members of its resident orchestra.
The season begins September 25-26, with a program including new arrangements of classic Charlie Parker songs for the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, and ends with a similar program featuring music by John Coltrane (June 11-12 ). In both cases, younger saxophonists will be invited.
In between, the season will include more than two dozen engagements of two different nights on the main stages of Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Call Room and the Rose Theater.
On October 2 and 3, a quartet with Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau, Christian McBride and Brian Blade will revisit “MoodSwing”, an album that these four jazz stars released in 1994 (under the name of Joshua Redman Quartet).
The Duke Sings concerts on November 13 and 14 will bring together four rising singers – including Samara Joy McLendon, winner of the 2019 Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Competition and finalist of the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition Vuyo Sotashe – for a program of compositions for voice by Duke Ellington, accompanied by a group led by saxophonist Ruben Fox and pianist Christopher Pattishall.
Cuban singer Omara Portuondo (from the Buena Vista Social Club) will make the headlines on November 6 and 7. Brazilian pianist and singer Eliane Elias will play the music of Antonio Carlos Jobim from May 14 to 15. And to wink at the experimental dimension of the global reach of jazz, percussionist Cyro Baptista will celebrate his 70th birthday October 23-24, with John Zorn as a special guest.
Trumpeter Terence Blanchard will be honored with a career retrospective, entitled “A Life in Music” (March 12-13), including appearances by his electro-acoustic group E-Collective and singer Cassandra Wilson.
Drummer Matt Wilson and pianist Helen Sung will collaborate on a double feature film titled “Jazz Meets Poetry” from April 31 to May 1, with each conductor presenting a project focused on poetry.
A number of presentations will be devoted to social justice this year, including “Freedom, Justice and Hope” (April 2-3), a collaboration between the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and lawyer-activist Bryan Stevenson; and “Freedom Con Clave” (June 4-5), a premiere of new works by Carlos Henriquez, the bassist of the orchestra (he will perform here with a smaller group).