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This interview/discussion series invites audiences to listen to new jazz albums, while also meeting and hearing from the artists who recorded them. Hosted by Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Ken Druker, these informal discussions are held in the Irene Diamond Education Center, at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s home, Frederick P. Rose Hall. The programs are videotaped and available later online at Education Events Online.
Free admission Jazz at Lincoln Center hosts its ninth Listening Party of the season with author Nadine Cohodas as she presents extremely rare video of Nina Simone to mark the paperback publication of her book Princess Noire: The Tumultuous Reign of Nina Simone (University of North Carolina Press) Born Eunice Waymon in Tryon, North Carolina, Nina Simone (1933-2003) began her musical life playing classical piano. A child prodigy, she wanted a career on the concert stage, but when the Curtis Institute of Music rejected her, the devastating disappointment compelled her to change direction. She turned to popular music and jazz but never abandoned her classical roots or her intense ambition. By the age of twenty six, Simone had sung at New York City's venerable Town Hall and was on her way. Tapping into newly unearthed material on Simone's family and career, Nadine Cohodas paints a luminous portrait of the singer, highlighting her tumultuous life, her innovative compositions, and the prodigious talent that matched her ambition. With precision and empathy, Cohodas weaves the story of Simone's contentious relationship with audiences and critics, her outspoken support for civil rights, her two marriages and her daughter, and, later, the sense of alienation that drove her to live abroad from 1993 until her death. Alongside these threads runs a more troubling one: Simone's increasing outbursts of rage and pain that signaled mental illness and a lifelong struggle to overcome a deep sense of personal injustice.
Free admission Jazz at Lincoln Center hosts its tenth Listening Party of the season with drummer Matt Wilson as he discusses his two new projects, WeBop: A Family Jazz Party (Jazz at Lincoln Center) and An Attitude for Gratitude (Palmetto Records) with Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Ken Druker.
Free admission Jazz at Lincoln Center hosts its eleventh Listening Party of the season with trumpeter and NEA Jazz Master Jimmy Owens as he discusses and shows behind-the-scenes video from his new CD, The Monk Project (IPO Recordings) with Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Ken Druker. NEA Jazz Master Jimmy Owens’ debut as a leader on IPO features the legendary trumpeter/flugelhornist leading a stellar septet on a program of his own uniquely original arrangements of Thelonious Monk compositions that are deeply steeped in the feeling of the blues. Owens, who has been heard on countless big band and small group recordings as a virtuoso sideman – including exemplary work on IPO’s One More: Music of Thad Jones, Summary - Music of Thad Jones Vol 2 and With Malice Toward None: The Music Of Tom McIntosh -- has recorded only sporadically as leader, making this date a special one. Longtime colleague, fellow NEA Jazz Master, Kenny Barron, well known for playing Monk’s music with the group Sphere, heads the rhythm section and Robin D. G. Kelley, who wrote the prize-winning biography: Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original contributes learned liner notes, helping to make this a very special tribute to one of America’s greatest composers. Joining Owens in his all star septet is an intergenerational roster of some of the finest, most highly respected players in jazz today. Seated in the all-important piano chair, Owens’ longtime colleague, fellow NEA Jazz Master, Kenny Barron, is supported in the rhythm section by two young veterans, stalwart bassist Kenny Davis and drummer extraordinaire Winard Harper. Filling out the leader’s lyrical trumpet and flugelhorn in the front line are former Wynton Marsalis/Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra trombonist Wycliffe Gordon, Roy Haynes Fountain of Youth Band alumnus, tenor saxophonist Marcus Strickland and the amazing multi-instrumentalist Howard Johnson on tuba and baritone saxophone. Molding these remarkable musicians’ various individual sounds into an orchestral whole, greater than the sum of its component parts, Owens’ arrangement pay homage not just to Monk’s music, but also the large group jazz tradition epitomized by the bands of Duke Ellington, Count Basie and many others.
Free admission Jazz at Lincoln Center hosts its twelfth Listening Party of the season with the brother-and-sister team of clarinetist Anat Cohen and trumpeter Avishai Cohen as they discuss the latest CD from their group 3 Cohens, Family (Anzic Records) with Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Ken Druker. Family was recorded in Brooklyn and features the three Israeli horn players/siblings in league with a swinging New York rhythm section: pianist Aaron Goldberg, double-bassist Matt Penman and drummer Gregory Hutchinson. The sextet is joined by iconic vocalist Jon Hendricks. Family presents some top-notch originals, including Avishai's loving title feature for the group's characteristic three-horn interweave and two Charles Mingus-inflected numbers (Yuval's "Blues for Dandi's Orange Bull Chasing an Orange Sack" and Avishai's "With the Soul of the Greatest of Them All"). The disc also includes a winning take on Duke Ellington's "The Mooch," an international retooling of the New Orleans standard "Tiger Rag" and a freshly colored interpretation of "Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans?" born of the group's great love for and experience with the music of Louis Armstrong. The sextet is joined by iconic vocalist Jon Hendricks for the vintage "On the Sunny Side of the Street" and "Roll 'em, Pete."
Past Listening Parties Include: Kathy Sloane, Todd Barkan & George Cables – Keystone Korner: Portrait Of A Jazz Club
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Listening Party with author Nadine Cohodas
Listening Party with drummer Matt Wilson
WeBop: A Family Jazz Party: Jazz at Lincoln Center proudly introduces WeBop: A Family Jazz Party, a new release that brings the best of its popular WeBop classes home to families everywhere. It’s music for little people, and the big people who love them, to enjoy together—singing, stomping, wiggling, giggling, and jamming with whatever you’ve got. Led by drummer and father of four, Matt Wilson, the recordings feature an all-star, inter-generational band that includes Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra members Marcus Printup and Vincent Gardner, singer and guitarist Doug Wamble, and the legendary percussionist and NEA Jazz Master, Candido Camero. "On this recording we gathered an amazing cast who maintain a joyous sense of immaturity," says Wilson. "The sessions were like a big play date. We gave them the music and allowed them to create in the sonic sandbox. I believe the results are remarkable--more than a 'children's record,' it's a family record that parents and kids can enjoy together.”
An Attitude for Gratitude: “Two bubbles found they had rainbows on their curves. They flickered out saying: “It was worth being a bubble, just to have held that rainbow thirty seconds,” recites drummer and bandleader Matt Wilson in his composition “Bubbles”. Inspired by the poem by Carl Sandburg, the song reflects the message of his 10th album as a leader for Palmetto Records. An Attitude for Gratitude is the 4th album by the award-winning ensemble Matt Wilson’s Arts & Crafts, an extraordinary collective of musical personalities featuring Wilson, Terell Stafford (trumpet), Gary Versace (piano, organ and accordion) and Martin Wind (bass). “This album celebrates having a loving family, a fabulous band and a remarkable community of people who surround and inspire me. Most important, I am most grateful that my wife Felicia is healthy again. She received a stem cell transplant after being diagnosed with leukemia and is doing great!”. An Attitude for Gratitude features compositions by Wilson (“Bubbles”, “No Outerwear” and “Stolen Time”) as well as his by his band mates Gary Versace (“Poster Boy”) and Martin Wind (“Cruise Blues”). The recording also features interpretations of “You Bet” by John Scofield (Wilson’s friend and collaborator), “Teen Town” by Jaco Pastorius, Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water” and “Little Boy with the Sad Eyes” by Nat Adderly. 
Listening Party with trumpeter Jimmy Owens
Listening Party with clarinetist Anat Cohen and trumpeter Avishai Cohen