Hi again!
Our February was flush with music, poetry, conversation and new connections, all centered around a powerfully inspiring major concert at Bedford Central Presbyterian Church in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Voices of Healing and Liberation brought together some of the most powerful voices of our times, across the worlds of music and poetry, and spanning generations. Check out our video featuring testimonials from the audience and JGI team at Bedford Central. And stay tuned to the JGI New York Instagram, where we'll be releasing performance clips from the concert over the coming weeks.
Two days before this major concert, pianist/composer Courtney Bryan, JGI’s co-director, gave an artist talk at Medgar Evers College, sharing excerpts from her original compositions and discussing her process for composing for orchestra, what she calls her “favorite instrument.”
Dr. Courtney Bryan talking about her piece ‘Sanctum’
In addition to Courtney Bryan, the Voices of Healing and Liberation concert featured musicians and poets Samora Pinderhughes, Fred Moten, Brandon Lopez, Amina Claudine Myers and Alexis Pauline Gumbs. It was a very special night of re-imagined spirituals, sound poetry, audience participation, and an overall atmosphere you don’t often feel at jazz shows: true engagement between performers and audience; natural call and response; and multiple threads of Black American music being performed for a mostly Black audience.
If you missed the Voices of Healing talks and concert last month, check out the clip below for a taste. We'll be posting full videos of performances and talks, including the February 8 satellite conversation between Amina Claudine Myers and George Lewis, on our YouTube channel. Subscribe here. Plus, stay tuned for the makeup date for Samora Pinderhughes and the Healing Project's satellite event.
Looking ahead, our Soundoff Sessions series continues tomorrow night at Café Erzulie with a performance by the Dabin Ryu Trio. Scroll down to RSVP.
— Kyla Marshell
JGI Listings Calendar
Looking to hear some music in NYC? Check out JGI New York’s new Listings Calendar, highlighting our picks for best jazz shows around New York each week, curated by our listings editor Hank Shteamer. This week’s picks are Marquis Hill at the Village Vanguard, and the Jesse Davis Quartet feat. Lewis Nash.
TOMORROW: Pianist Dabin Ryu @ Café Erzulie
Join us tomorrow night at Café Erzulie for the Soundoff Sessions, JGI’s biweekly series highlighting NYC’s finest musicians followed by an open jam session. DJ Large Professor opens the night followed by pianist Dabin Ryu’s trio featuring Dezron Douglas on bass and Johnathan Blake on drums.
Doors at 7PM, DJ Large Professor at 7:30, show at 9, session at 10:30.
The Jazz Generations Initiative cultivates creative futures in jazz performance and scholarship by celebrating the music's past and keeping its present rooted in community. Backed by a grant from the Mellon Foundation, and support from the Jazz Foundation of America, we’re most excited to be working with you: the audience, the artists and community that we’re bringing together around this music in New York, New Orleans and in the digital sphere.