Get your jazz on at the 2018 NYC Winter Jazzfest
2018 may still be far away but this only means you have enough time to prepare to see the 2018 NYC Winter Jazzfest in New York City this coming January 10-17, 2018.
You can definitely expect a wide spectrum of jazz music during next year’s event, even as the Jazzfest’s 14th annual season celebrates social justice causes like racial justice and women and gender rights.
2018 NYC Winter Jazzfest: What’s happening
Continuing the various themes of social justice presented in the music in 2017, Brice Rosenbloom, Winter Jazzfest founder and producer, said the 2018 concert series will also have this offering
The five main themes for the Jazzfest will focus on modern-day issues like mass incarceration, sexual and gender equality, racial justice, immigration rights and environmental responsibility.
Artists who have signed up include Harriet Tubman, James Brandon Lewis, Samora Pinderhughes’ Transformations Suite, Shabaka and the Ancestors, and MAKU.
These will be part of Jazzfest’s new Jazz and Justice educational series to be launched called “WE RESIST!”
Jazzfest’s artist-in-residence Nicole Mitchell will present her Black Earth Ensemble, Maroon Cloud, and two other new ensembles for the upcoming event.
Mitchell, the founder of Black Earth Ensemble, Black Earth Strings, Ice Crystal and Sonic Projections, was named Flutist of the Year in the Down Beat International Critics Poll for 11 consecutive years.
She was also named “Top Flutist of the Year” from 2010 to 2017 by the Jazz Journalists Assocation.
There will also a tribute to the late pianist and educator Geri Allen, as well as the signature Winter Jazzfest Marathon on January 12 and January 13.
Lastly, the Jazzfest is partnering again for the third year in a row with ECM records, which will present five current acts set to release albums in 2018.
Other labels will also present during the event, like Motema Records.
2018 NYC Winter Jazzfest: New York sounds
Since 2005, the Jazzfest has been presenting new and exciting sounds of New York City and has been praised by New York Times, The New Yorker, and NPR.
It was first conceived as an event to showcase the latest jazz acts during the Association of Performing Arts Presents (APAP) Conference, and covering the many stylistic camps of jazz like hot jazz to avant-garde
In 2015, the event was voted by JazzTimes Magazine as the “#1 Jazz Festival in North America.” In 2017, they put over 150 groups of 700 artists in 14 stages spread through five nights in downtown Manhattan.
For this year, they expect an estimated audience of 10,000 people in attendance.
Participating venues include the New School Tishman Auditorium, (le) poisson rouge on 158 Bleecker Street, and Bowery Ballroom on 6 Delancey Street.
For more information about this event, check out their website.