Jazz at Lincoln Center's New Season Highlights Ties to Africa
Jazz at Lincoln Center's 38th season will celebrate jazz, Africa and the African diaspora with programs that pay tribute to genre greats like John Coltrane and Miles Davis, while others will spotlight vocalists, pianists and other trumpeters. It will also include a tour of Africa by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.
The new season opens on July 24 with a preview concert,, 'Reflections on Africa,' in the Rose Theater. The program, with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and Vincent Gardner as the musical director, offers compositions reflecting the effect of African consciousness on music composed by jazz artists including Coltrane, Randy Weston, Jackie McLean and Horace Parlan.
The season continues on Sept. 18 with 'Afro!,' a new composition by Wynton Marsalis, the managing and artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, which illuminates his meditations on the African continent. It will also feature the vocalist Shenel Johns, the djembe player Weedie Braimah and the drummer Herlin Riley.
On Oct. 3-4, Jazz at Lincoln Center will present a 91st birthday retrospective of the 75-year-long career of the Capetown-born pianist and composer Abdullah Ibrahim. (He was known as Dollar Brand when Duke Ellington first heard his trio in 1963 and sponsored his first recording.)
On Oct. 24 and Oct. 25, the Orchestra will feature another South African pianist, Nduduzo Makhathini, including a debut of new work that he has composed.
Works by Ellington take center stage Jan. 15-17, 2026, with 'Duke in Africa.' The music directors for that program will be Chris Lewis and Alexa Tarantino, two of the Orchestra's newest members.
On Feb. 13 and on Valentine's Day, Dianne Reeves will explore the universal theme of love as she shares songs that highlight rapture, anguish, romance and heartbreak.
The Orchestra will feature works by Davis from May 14-16, 2026, in 'Sketches of Miles: Miles Davis at 100.' Later that month (May 29-30, 2026), Jazzmeia Horn, the winner of the 2015 Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz International Vocals Competition, will present a program showcasing her vocal range and improvisation, with the Her Noble Force big band.
Etienne Charles, the Trinidad-born trumpeter and composer, will take on Anglophone Afro-Caribbean traditions in 'Folklore LIVE Vol. 2' from June 5-6, 2026, in the Appel Room. Later that month, June 12-13, 2026, the Orchestra with Marsalis will also explore the African roots that help make up the genres of Brazil, with 'Soul of Brazil,' featuring Hamilton de Holanda and the music of Moacir Santos, in the Rose Theater.
The full season is online at jazz.org/25-26.
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