Next Jazz Legacy Announces Performance At City Winery NYC to Kick Off Winter Jazzfest – American Blues Scene

On Thursday, January 12 at City Winery NYC, Next Jazz Legacy — a program created by New Music USA and the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice that addresses gender and racial inequities by providing opportunities for mentorship and professional development to those who have been underrepresented in jazz — will cap off a monumental first year with a special NYC Winter JazzFest performance from its 2022 cohort of emerging women and nonbinary musicians.

The performance will kick off an evening of music curated by GRAMMY-winner and Next Jazz Legacy co-founder Terri Lyne Carrington. Preceding the performance, there will be a panel discussion about why initiatives like Next Jazz Legacy are a critical resource for women and non-binary jazz artists, and how those artists are shaping the music’s future. The panel will be moderated by Melanie Charles, and will feature a discussion with Carrington (Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice), NJL co-founder Vanessa Reed (New Music USA), NJL Mentor/Bandleader Mary Halvorson, and NJL artists Kalia Vandever and Lexi Hamner.

More information on the evening can be found here.

Co-founded by NEA Jazz Master and founder of the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice Terri Lyne Carrington and New Music USA President & CEO Vanessa Reed (with major funding from the Mellon Foundation), Next Jazz Legacy made a remarkable impact over its first year of existence. NJL’s inaugural cohort of awardees gained invaluable experiences to aid in their artistic development. The program arranged apprenticeships under distinguished jazz icons including Esperanza Spalding, Lizz Wright, Marcus Miller, Mary Halvorson, Tia Fuller, Linda May Han Oh and Chris Potter.Luminaries like Wayne Shorter, Bobby McFerrin, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Brandon Ross, Bill Stewart, Kris Davis and Jen Shyu were also brought in by NJL to provide creative mentorship. And throughout the year, awardees performed on prestigious stages at local and national jazz events throughout the country, including at the Kennedy Center’s Mary Lou Williams Jazz Festival and as part of a special Livestream Concert produced by WBGO.

Watch a recent profile of Next Jazz Legacy on PBS NewsHour here. Next Jazz Legacy launched with seven awardees from Boston, New York, Chicago, and Cincinnati representing a wide range of instrumentation and approach to performance and composition. The 2022 cohort of awardees includes Anastassiya Petrova (Piano/Organ), Ivanna Cuesta (Drums), Lexi Hamner (Voice/Trombone), Keyanna Hutchinson (Guitar), Alexis Lombre(Piano), Loke Risberg (Guitar) and Kalia Vandever (Trombone).

Next Jazz Legacy will be announcing its 2023 awardees in January 2023. Keep an eye out for the latest news, and for more special programming coming from Next Jazz Legacy throughout 2023.

WHEN: Thursday, January 12, 2023, beginning at 5pm

WHERE: City Winery (25 11th Ave., New York, NY 10011)

RUN OF EVENING:

●     5PM: Doors open.

●     5:30PM: “Why the Jazz World Needs Gender Equity” panel. Join us for a discussion about why initiatives like Next Jazz Legacy are a critical resource for women and non-binary jazz artists, and how those artists are shaping the music’s future. Featuring Next Jazz Legacy’s co-founders, NEA Jazz Master Terri Lyne Carrington (Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice) and Vanessa Reed (New Music USA), with NJL Mentor/Bandleader Mary Halvorson and NJL artists Kalia Vandever and Lexi Hamner. Moderated by Melanie Charles.

●     7:00PM: Next Jazz Legacy performance. A rare and exciting set featuring all seven of the inaugural Next Jazz Legacy awardees performing together: Ivanna Cuesta (Drums), Lexi Hamner (Vocals Trombone), Keyanna Hutchinson (Guitar), Alexis Lombre (Piano/Keys), Anastassiya Petrova (Keys/Piano), Loke Risberg (Guitar) and Kalia Vandever (Trombone).

●     8:00PM: New Standards live. Curated by Terri Lyne Carrington and featuring an exciting assemblage of musicians, this debut performance will celebrate the recent publication of New Standards, a songbook featuring lead sheets by 101 women composers, the first of its kind. Featuring Linda May Han Oh, Kris Davis, Mary Halvorson, Helen Sung, Michele Rosewoman, Rahsaan Carter, Michael Mayo, Devon Gates, Sara Serpa, Tia Fuller, Caroline Davis, Veronica Leahy, Julius Rodriguez, and Tcheser Holmes.