ALL TICKETS ON SALE FOR THE 2025 NYC WINTER JAZZFEST
Makaya McCraven, Artist-in-Residence, appearing in multiple and varied settings, including a 10th Anniversary celebration of his 2015 classic In the Moment
An opening night concert with poet aja monet and her jazz band at LPR, plus Fay Victor and Sophye Soliveau
Celebrating 60 Years of “A Love Supreme” with a concert featuring Ravi Coltrane followed by an improvised round-robin inspired by the album Strata-East Records celebration at The Town Hall featuring jazz legends and guests
Festival venues ranging from The Town Hall to Le Poisson Rouge, Roulette, Brooklyn Bowl, Mercury Lounge, City Winery, Performance Space New York, Public Records, Music Hall of Williamsburg, Nublu and more
WINTER JAZZFEST MARATHON NIGHTS
Jan. 10 – Manhattan Marathon | Jan. 11 – Brooklyn Marathon
Our signature multi-artist, multi-venue experience, in nine venues per night
EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT MULTI-NIGHT MARATHON PASSES NOW
CURRENT CONFIRMED ARTISTS
Makaya McCraven (Artist-in-Residence) • Adi Oasis • aja monet • Amaro Freitas • Andrew Cyrille • Arooj Aftab • Billy Harper • Billy Hart • Camille Thurman • Caroline Davis • Cecil McBee • Charles Tolliver • Christian McBride • Emma-Jean Thackray • Endea Owens • Fay Victor • ganavya • George Cables • Gilles Peterson • Isaiah Collier • J.Hoard • Jakob Bro • JD Allen • Jenny Scheinman • Joe Claussell • Kaoru Watanabe • Keyon Harrold • Kneebody • Kojo Melché Roney • Linda May Han Oh • Lion Babe • Lisa Fischer • Lucía • Matthew Whitaker • Melissa Aldana • Michael Mayo • Mahogany L. Browne • Moses Yoofee Trio • Nao Yoshioka • Next Jazz Legacy • Orrin Evans • Paul Cornish Trio • Pedro Martins • Ravi Coltrane • Riley Mulherkar • Roberto Fonseca • Roy Hargrove's Crisol • Sirintip • SML • Sophye Soliveau • Stefon Harris & Blackout • Sun Ra Arkestra • The Air Legacy Trio • The Baylor Project • The Brother Moves On • Trio Imagination • Tyreek McDole • Vijay Iyer • Wadada Leo Smith • Wendy Eisenberg • zoh amba Sun Ensemble • plus more TBA
JANUARY 9
(Le) Poisson Rouge
aja monet
Fay Victor’s Herbie Nichols SUNG
Sophye Soliveau
Nublu
Makaya McCraven
JANUARY 12
Roulette
Impressions: Improvisatory Interpretations on A Love Supreme
Ravi Coltrane Quartet plays the 1964 John Coltrane classic,
followed by round-robin of improvisers TBA
Nublu
Joel Harrison & Alternative Guitar Summit at Nublu
Anthony Pirog, Dida Pelled, Emmanuel Michael, Gilad Hekselman, Pedro Martins
JANUARY 13
The Town Hall
Strata-East Rises
The historic artist-run indie label of the ’70s is celebrated!
Featuring Charles Tolliver (label co-founder), Billy Hart, Cecil McBee, Billy Harper, aja monet, Camille Thurman, Keyon Harrold, Christian McBride, Endea Owens, Steve Jordan, George Cables, and Guests TBA
JANUARY 14
Public Records
Makaya McCraven
Hosted by Gilles Peterson, with DJ set to follow
JANUARY 15
Roulette
Take Two
ganavya reimagines ‘Les Filles de Illighadad’
Book your guest room for Winter Jazzfest 2025!
Moxy Williamsburg and Moxy Lower East Side are the official hotels of NYC Winter Jazzfest, offering special rates for attendees!
Here it is! Announcing the initial list of artists to be featured at the 21st annual NYC Winter Jazzfest! Please mark your calendars for January 9-15, 2025.
NYC Winter Jazzfest began in 2005 at the Knitting Factory on Leonard St., with the inaugural mission of highlighting music that deserved wider attention while the APAP conference was in town, and to a large degree that mission remains. But over the years that mission grew, to focus on artists with meaningful messages, in the desire to serve as a beacon for racial and gender justice, action on climate change, migration, mass incarceration and other pressing issues that affect so many of us. The overarching goal remains as well: to grow the audience for jazz, with a broad programming mission that speaks to the diversity of the New York scene, presenting the widest spectrum of what jazz can be. The mission continues in January with NYC Winter Jazzfest 2025, proud as ever to support a host of today’s most fearless and creative musicians as we push boundaries and imagine new possibilities for our music scene and our world.
Makaya McCraven, Artist-In-Residence
WJF’s artist-in-residence this year, drummer, beatmaker and exploratory mixtape artist Makaya McCraven, will perform in at least four different configurations over the course of the festival. A prolific drummer, composer and producer, McCraven has been aptly called a “cultural synthesizer,” with a unique gift for collapsing space, destroying borders and blending past, present and future into poly-textural arrangements of post-genre, jazz-rooted 21st-century folk music. According to The New York Times, “McCraven has quietly become one of the best arguments for jazz’s vitality.” In celebration of the 10-year anniversary of his breakout album In The Moment with International Anthem, Makaya will perform two fully improvised shows that will be recorded in the spirit of his past albums: one band show playing music from In The Moment and Universal Beings, and a rare improvised set by his working band.
NYC Winter Jazzfest Marathons
The epic Winter Jazzfest Marathons will once again unfold across two nights (Friday January 10 & Saturday January 11), at nine Manhattan venues followed by eight more in Brooklyn. The Manhattan venues this year are Le Poisson Rouge, City Winery and City Winery Loft, Performance Space New York (Main and Side Stages), Mercury Lounge, Nublu, Zinc Bar and The Bitter End. In Brooklyn the festival takes up residence at Brooklyn Bowl, Baby’s All Right, Music Hall of Williamsburg, Superior Ingredients, Jolene Soundroom, Loove Labs and Union Pool.
A Love Supreme 60
Recorded in December of 1964 at Rudy Van Gelder’s New Jersey studio with pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Jimmy Garrison and drummer Elvin Jones, John Coltrane’s seminal album A Love Supreme was released in February 1965 on Impulse! From blues-toned meditations to powerful musical intensity, Coltrane’s devotional four-part masterpiece commands transcendental spiritual awakening. Marking the album’s 60th anniversary and its continued impact will be acclaimed tenor saxophonist Ravi Coltrane and his extraordinary quartet, followed by a round-robin set of guest improvisers to be announced.
Strata-East Rising
A Landmark concert w/ Charles Tolliver, Cecil McBee, Billy Hart, Billy Harper, Christian McBride, aja monet, Endea Owens, Steve Jordan, Keyon Harrold, Camille Thurman, + more TBA
This special tribute show celebrates Strata-East Records, the landmark jazz label co-founded by Charles Tolliver and Stanley Cowell. Launched in 1971, Strata-East Records is one of the most influential jazz labels in the world, known for producing albums by legends Max Roach, Gil-Scott Heron and Pharoah Sanders, among many others. The music of Strata-East encouraged listeners to strive higher, to push toward the unforeseen, to believe that things will improve, to lean into life when it all seems so dire. Planned in collaboration with Tolliver, two bands will reimagine some of the label’s biggest songs. Gathering at The Town Hall will be an all-star lineup including original Strata-East artists Tolliver, Cecil McBee, Billy Hart and Billy Harper, alongside Steve Jordan, Christian McBride, aja monet, Endea Owens, Keyon Harrold, Camille Thurman and more. Curated By Marcus J. Moore, Brice Rosenbloom and Ched Tolliver.
Take Two: ganavya reimagines ‘Les Filles de Illighadad’
For this Take Two, ganavya chose the album ‘Les Filles de Illighadad’, by Les Filles de Illighadad, released on Sahel Sounds in 2016. The album was recorded informally, including village songs but with a guitar and calabash: Fatou Seidi Ghali is the first woman to play Tuareg-style guitar, and there’s a meditative nature to the album without losing the playfulness that the sense of village has. In ganavya’s performance inspired by the album, she takes traditional pilgrimage songs— songs from her desert lands— and performs it alongside guitar and simple percussion, the same way that Ghali does. How is this jazz? you might ask: if jazz is the sound of freedom, of creating new forms to match the new worlds, the sound of innovation, these two fit the bill.
Christian McBride Residency at Mercury Lounge
The first of three nights at Mercury Lounge with legendary bassist Christian McBride is officially part of Winter Jazzfest. Don’t miss the Christian McBride Band (with Ron Blake, Geoffrey Keezer and Terreon “Tank” Gully) celebrating 20 years since the February 2005 recording of its funky and adventurous Ropeadope release Live at Tonic! Two additional bands (tba) share the bill.
Joel Harrison and Alternative Guitar Summit Present:
The Cutting Edge of Guitar: Collaboration, Creation and Exploration
The Alternative Guitar Summit is the world’s leading platform advocating for new music on guitar. In this showcase, we present some of the most important present and future voices on the instrument: established figures Joel Harrison (producer/founder), Gilad Hekselman and Anthony Pirog as well as new emerging greats Emmanuel Michael, Dida Pelled and Pedro Martins. Joining them are Rudy Royston (drums) and Jerome Harris (bass). There will be individual as well as collaborative performances in this singular event on Sunday, January 12, 7pm at Nublu.
About NYC Winter Jazzfest
Praised by The New York Times, The New Yorker, NPR and countless other national publications, the NYCWJF has become a creative home for pathbreaking artists from the local NYC scene and globally, and a pivotal destination for arts leaders and cultural cognoscenti, hardcore fans and new listeners alike. The festival has grown at a rapid pace, from the original one-day single-location program to annual schedules putting as many as 150 groups (over 600 artists) on 20 stages throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn.
Founded by New York concert impresario Brice Rosenbloom, NYCWJF has become the definitive all-inclusive jazz event that offers a “state of the union” of jazz and its many stylistic camps from avant-garde to post-bop, jazz-funk, fusion, hypermodern through-composed music and jazz-inflected world music. From party bands to ambient electronic groups to the most advanced compositional approaches – audiences sample everything the jazz world has to offer. As a destination event, attendees regularly travel from other states and countries to attend the festival. Many in the industry see it as jazz’s answer to SXSW. We hope to see you there!
Partners: Boom Collective, Yamaha, Venue Pilot, Nublu, Moxy Hotels, Impluse! Records, Strata-East Records, Paris Jazz Club, TSF Jazz, Candid Records, Dada Strain, Pique-nique, Alternative Guitar Summit, KMDH, WBGO, WRTI, One Jazz, Fusicology, Do NYC, Afar