JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER CELEBRATES NEW ORLEANS
Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis and Yacub Addy and Odadaa! premiere new work, "Congo Square," at weeklong residency in New Orleans followed by southeastern U.S. tour
New Orleans festival at Frederick P. Rose Hall
Jazz in the Schools Tour teaches the music of New Orleans to New York City students
NEW YORK, NY (TBA) - Jazz at Lincoln Center announced today a full-scale celebration of New Orleans from the Big Easy to the Big Apple. The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis (LCJO) will perform free events for people of all ages, including concerts, master classes, clinics, and workshops during a weeklong residency in New Orleans from April 17-23. The residency is in conjunction with the state of Louisiana and in partnership with the French Quarter Festival in New Orleans.
The LCJO in collaboration with Odadaa! will perform a world premiere composition called "Congo Square" co-written by Mr. Marsalis and Yacub Addy who leads Odadaa! The new work is dedicated to Mr. Marsalis' native New Orleans and following the New Orleans premiere will be performed on tour from Florida to New York. This is the debut performance of the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis in New Orleans. As part of the events in New Orleans, a photography exhibit of work by photographer Frank Stewart will open on April 17 at Basin Street Station in New Orleans.
In addition, Jazz at Lincoln Center will produce a New Orleans Festival throughout its home in New York, Frederick P. Rose Hall. There will be Crescent City Gospel concerts in The Allen Room featuring Wycliffe Gordon, Crescent City Swing in Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola featuring Wess "Warmdaddy" Anderson, and a Jazz in the Schools tour by the Juilliard Jazz Ensemble featuring the music of the Big Easy called, "New Orleans: Melting Pot of Sound." Many of these productions take place during Jazz at Lincoln Center's celebration of Jazz Appreciation Month throughout April.
New Orleans celebration schedule:
April 17-20
New Orleans, LA, TBA
LCJO education, various artists
April 17
New Orleans, LA, Basin Street Station
Frank Stewart Photography Exhibit Opens + Wynton Marsalis Press Conference
April 21
New Orleans, LA, TBA
LCJO Jazz for Young People
April 23
New Orleans, LA, Congo Square in Louis Armstrong Park
LCJO + Odadaa! - WORLD PREMIERE
April 24
West Palm Beach, FL Kravis Center
LCJO + Odadaa! Congo Square
April 25
Miami, FL, Gusman Center for the Performing Arts
LCJO + Odadaa! Congo Square
April 27
Clearwater, FL, Ruth Eckerd Hall
LCJO + Odadaa! Congo Square
April 29
Chapel Hill, NC, Memorial Hall
LCJO + Odadaa! Congo Square
April 30 Norfolk, VA Chrysler Hall LCJO + Odadaa! Congo Square
May 2
Washington, D.C., Kennedy Center Concert Hall
LCJO + Odadaa! Congo Square
May 2-7
New York, NY, Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola
Crescent City Swing - Wess "Warmdaddy" Anderson Quartet
May 4, 5, 6
New York, NY, Frederick P. Rose Hall, Rose Theater
LCJO + Odaadaa! Congo Square
May 4, 5, 6
New York, NY, Frederick P. Rose Hall, The Allen Room
Wycliffe Gordon and guests in Crescent City Gospel
THE NEW ORLEANS RESIDENCY
"Congo Square," a cross-cultural musical collaboration between trumpeter, composer, bandleader and educator, Wynton Marsalis and the Ghanaian drum master Yacub Addy, will be an extended composition about 80 minutes in length, co-composed for joint performance by the LCJO and Mr. Addy's nine-piece ensemble Odadaa! The piece is inspired by the public square in New Orleans where, from the mid-1700s to the late-1800s, Africans gathered on Sunday afternoons to perform African rhythms, songs and dances on a variety of African and European instruments. Due largely to the fact that New Orleans was originally a French colony, Congo Square was the only place in America where slaves could regularly perform African music and dance. Elsewhere in the British colonies and later in the U.S., African drumming was regarded as a menacing form of communication that was banned and punishable by death. Historians agree that the unique exception of Congo Square is what made it possible for New Orleans to become the birthplace of jazz at the turn of the twentieth century.
Mr. Marsalis serves as a Chair on Lieutenant Governor Landrieu's National Advisory Board for Culture, Recreation and Tourism, a national advisory board to guide the Lieutenant Governor's administration's plans to rebuild Louisiana's tourism and cultural economies. He has also part of the Bring Back New Orleans Commission, New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin's initiative to help rebuild New Orleans culturally, socially, economically, and uniquely for every citizen.
"With these performances we hope to bring some joy to the people who are working so hard to bring the city back. New Orleans is my home no matter where I go in the world and all of my music speaks to the essence of that culture," said Wynton Marsalis, Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center,
"The idea for the Congo Square project has been in the works for a few years now, and is even more resonant and important for us to carry out considering recent events," said Derek E. Gordon, President and CEO of Jazz at Lincoln Center. "New Orleans and specifically Congo Square is crucial to the origins of jazz and to our national cultural history, and this important commission, residency and tour reflect Jazz at Lincoln Center's desire to honor and build upon that legacy and share it with audiences in Louisiana and beyond. We extend special thanks to Louisiana's Lieutenant Governor Mitchell J. Landrieu and Senator Diana Bajoie for their strong support and commitment for the New Orleans residency, without which it would not be possible."
JAZZ IN THE SCHOOLS TOUR
As part of the New Orleans events, Jazz at Lincoln Center will tour its Spring 2006 Jazz in the Schools Tours "New Orleans: Melting Pot of Sound" featuring the Juilliard Jazz Ensemble. The tours will explore the magic and mechanics of New Orleans jazz while emphasizing audience participation and active learning. This program is for students in grades 2 - 9. Performances will take place on March 13-22, 2006; April 24-27, 2006 in schools and also on March 23 & 24, 2006 and April 28, 2006 at Frederick P. Rose Hall, home of Jazz at Lincoln Center. In-school performances run 50-60 minutes and are $600, which includes a professional development session. For performances at Frederick P. Rose Hall, tickets are $5/student, $8/chaperone. Juilliard artists include Thomas Barber (trumpet, leader), Andrew Gutauskas (soprano saxophone), James Burton (trombone), Dan Kaufman (piano), Yasushi Nakamura (bass), and Carmen Intorre (drums). Musical selections include "When the Saint's Go Marching In" (traditional), "Whoopin' Blues" (Davis) "Down By the Riverside" (traditional) and more (visit
www.jalc.org for itinerary).
NEW ORLEANS FESTIVAL IN NEW YORK AT FREDERICK P. ROSE HALL
The spirit of swinging New Orleans-style jazz will also be celebrated in New York during the New Orleans Festival at Jazz at Lincoln Center's home, Frederick P. Rose Hall, from May 2-7. Tickets for concerts in Rose Theater are $30, $50, $75, $100, $130. Tickets for concerts in The Allen Room are $40, $75 and $130. Tickets for both are available at the Jazz at Lincoln Center box office on Broadway at 60th St., by calling CenterCharge at (212) 721-6500 or via
www.jalc.org. For Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola reservations call (212) 258-9595 or visit
www.opentable.com.
JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER SUPPORTS NEW ORLEANS CULTURE
On September 17, 2005, Jazz at Lincoln Center produced the Higher Ground Hurricane Relief Benefit Concert and Auction at Frederick P. Rose Hall in New York City. Participants in the five-hour event read moving words and performed New Orleans standards or songs evoking the events surrounding Hurricane Katrina. The concert, nationally telecast live on Live From Lincoln Center on PBS and distributed to BET Jazz and other television outlets including VH-1 Classic and VH-1 Soul, drew roughly 7 million viewers nationwide and millions more who listened on radio via XM Satellite Radio, NPR, WBGO Jazz88.3FM and more.
To date, over $3 million has been raised for the Higher Ground Relief Fund that was established by Jazz at Lincoln Center and administered through the Baton Rouge Area Foundation. These funds have been distributed to benefit the musicians, music industry related enterprises and other individuals and entities from the areas in Greater New Orleans who were impacted by Hurricane Katrina and to provide other general hurricane relief. A live recording of the Higher Ground Hurricane Relief Benefit Concert was released by Blue Note Records and proceeds exceeding $100,000 have been donated to the fund. The CD is currently available for sale in record stores and at
www.bluenote.com.
The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra (LCJO), composed of many of the finest jazz soloists and ensemble players today, has been the Jazz at Lincoln Center resident orchestra since 1988. Jazz at Lincoln Center features the versatile LCJO in nearly all aspects of its programming: the LCJO performs and leads educational events in New York, across the U.S., and around the globe; in concert halls, dance venues, jazz clubs, public parks, river boats, and churches; and with symphony orchestras, ballet troupes, students, and an ever-expanding roster of guest artists. Under the leadership of Music Director Wynton Marsalis, the LCJO performs a vast repertory spanning the history of jazz, from masterpieces by composers such as Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Fletcher Henderson, Thelonious Monk, and Charles Mingus, to commissioned works by Benny Carter, Joe Henderson, Jimmy Heath, Chico O'Farrill, members of the LCJO, and others. Over the last few years, the LCJO has performed collaborations with many of the world's leading symphony orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, the Russian National Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Czech Philharmonic, the Boston, Chicago, and London Symphony Orchestras, and others. The members of the LCJO frequently conduct educational events produced by Jazz at Lincoln Center, including lectures, master classes, and Jazz for Young PeopleSM concerts while on tour, and serve as mentors in the annual Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition & Festival. In 1999, the LCJO was designated a Cultural Ambassador of the United States of America under the White House Millennium Council Program. In March 2001, Mr. Marsalis was designated a United Nations Messenger of Peace by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. The LCJO has appeared on television broadcasts across North and South America, Europe, Asia (including China), and Australia, including "The Tonight Show" and seven "Live From Lincoln Center" broadcasts. The LCJO was also featured in the 1999 Thirteen/WNET "Great Performances" documentary "Swingin' with Duke." The LCJO's most recent recording is A Love Supreme (2005), the big band's rendition of the original by John Coltrane, on Palmetto Records. In 2002, the band released All Rise on Sony Classical, which features special guest ensembles the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Morgan State University Choir, the Paul Smith Singers and the Northridge Singers of California State University. Other Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra CDs include Live in Swing City (1999), Big Train (1999), Sweet Release & Ghost Story (1999), Jump Start and Jazz (1997), Blood on the Fields (1997), They Came to Swing (1994), The Fire of the Fundamentals (1993), and Portraits by Ellington (1992), all of which are on Columbia Jazz. The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra personnel includes Music Director & Trumpet player: WYNTON MARSALIS; Trumpets: SEAN JONES, RYAN KISOR, MARCUS PRINTUP; Trombones: VINCENT GARDNER, ANDRÉ HAYWARD; Reeds: SHERMAN IRBY, WALTER BLANDING, VICTOR GOINES, TED NASH, JOE TEMPERLEY; Piano: DAN NIMMER; Bass: CARLOS HENRIQUEZ and Drums: ALI JACKSON.
Yacub Addy is a pioneering master of Ghanaian drumming, a composer and educator. He is the senior practicing drummer in the renowned Addy drumming family from the village Avenor near Accra, Ghana.
Raised in the British colony of the Gold Coast and determined, despite the pressures to westernize, to keep his culture alive, Mr. Addy organized and led the first staged performance of traditional Ghanaian music and dance in 1957, the year of Ghana's independence. He later formed the historic groups Ashieduketrekre, which set a performance standard for traditional Ghanaian artists to follow during the 1960s, and Obade, which became the first professional traditional Ghanaian group to tour in the West, recording its classic Kpanlogo Party in London in 1973. Mr. Addy's art took him from Ghana to Europe and America, where in 1982 he created Odadaa!, comprised predominantly of artists of his own Ga ethnic group. Odadaa! is the classic Ga ensemble in America, performing traditional Ghanaian music and dance arranged and choreographed by Mr. Addy, and new compositions strongly rooted in tradition.
In recent years he has incorporated additional instruments with Odadaa!'s ensemble of drums, vocals, bamboo flutes, guitar and balaphon. He has presented the results of collaborations with kora master Foday Musa Suso, jazz saxist T.K. Blue, and most recently with Wynton Marsalis. This season the BET Jazz channel will broadcast two episodes of their series Journey with Jazz at Lincoln Center which features Mr. Addy's collaboration with Mr. Marsalis, interspersed with live footage from his stellar performance in New York with Odadaa! and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis. An upcoming project titled Kolo (Ghanaian slang for "colonialism") speaks to Mr. Addy's experience of Ghana's independence movement, inspired by music and movement no longer performed in Ghana which was created for protest or banned during that era. It was premiered at Aaron Davis Hall in New York City in May 2004 and incorporates jazz vibraphonist Stefon Harris and saxist Talib Kibwe.
Mr. Addy has influenced many others in Ghana, Europe and the United States to perform traditional Ghanaian music and dance and to create music based in it. His recordings include Kpanlogo Party with Oboade (Lyrichord Records, 1973), Blema Bii - Children of the Ancients (Makossa Records, 1982), and, with Odadaa!, Children of the Ancients (Aku Music, 1999). He currently teaches as a member of the faculty of Skidmore College and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in upstate New York.
Jazz at Lincoln Center is a not-for-profit arts organization dedicated to jazz. With the world-renowned Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra and a comprehensive array of guest artists, Jazz at Lincoln Center advances a unique vision for the continued development of the art of jazz by producing a year-round schedule of performance, education, and broadcast events for audiences of all ages. These productions include concerts, national and international tours, residencies, weekly national radio and television programs, recordings, publications, an annual high school jazz band competition and festival, a band director academy, a jazz appreciation curriculum for children, advanced training through the Juilliard Institute for Jazz Studies, music publishing, children's concerts, lectures, adult education courses and student and educator workshops. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis, Chairman of the Board Lisa Schiff, President & CEO Derek E. Gordon, Executive Director Katherine E. Brown and Jazz at Lincoln Center board and staff, Jazz at Lincoln Center will produce hundreds of events during its 2005-06 season. In October 2004, Jazz at Lincoln Center opened Frederick P. Rose Hall - the first-ever performance, education, and broadcast facility devoted to jazz. For more information, visit
www.jalc.org.
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