When Helen Sung played at Dizzy’s Club on March 1, 2020, the pianist never imagined it would be a full year before she returned to the stage. Just ten days later, Covid-19 was declared a global pandemic. Music venues around the world closed doors and all tours were canceled or postponed indefinitely. Like musicians and artists everywhere, Sung turned to arts organizations for support and was fortunate enough to receive grants to continue creating music.
In this concert — filmed at Dizzy’s on March 11, 2021 — Helen Sung and her quartet play several pieces ... continua

Musicians: Nate Smith, drums, arrangements Amma Whatt, vocals Jaleel Shaw, alto and soprano saxophone Brad Allen Williams, guitar John Cowherd, piano Fima Ephron, bass Sam Shoup, conductor Marcin Arendt, violin Marisa Polesky, violin Jessica Munson, violin Yennifer Correia, violin Beth Luscombe, viola Mario Williams, viola Mark Wallace, cello Kimberly Patterson cello.

Miles Davis famously once said, "I have to change; it's like a curse." And, that’s exactly what he did throughout his entire career.
In 1969, the trumpet icon may have pulled off his greatest reinvention yet: he went “electric.” He turned the jazz world upside down. It was the beginning of what is commonly referred to as the Electric Miles period – groundbreaking, raw, controversial, and now, classic.
“He had been evolving all along,” electric bassist (and Davis collaborator) Marcus Miller says about his idol. “In the same way that America's ... continua

Jon Batiste spent his 33rd birthday playing an intimate, private concert with his band in the round while Jazz Night in America captured the show. He kept it classy, donning a suede jacket and playing selections from his two latest Verve releases, Chronology of A Dream and Anatomy of Angels.
You probably know Jon Batiste as bandleader and musical director on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. But his credentials are deep as the roots of the Batiste family tree. He's the co-artistic director of the National Jazz Museum in Harlem, and has been a collaborator with ... continua

Tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain, prolific bassist Dave Holland and their international ensemble perform together as Crosscurrents, a musical exploration of the influence of Indian music on the jazz and rock scenes of the '60s.

Mark Guiliana is a drummer renowned for his chameleon-like ways with pulse - whether he's leading his acoustic jazz quartet, playing in a duo with Brad Mehldau or providing the back beat behind David Bowie's final album, Blackstar. Now, Guiliana is in another mutation mode, shifting his focus from acoustic jazz sounds to explore an exciting realm of electro-jazz.
In this concert film from Rough Trade in New York City, the multi-faceted artist celebrates the release of Beat Music! Beat Music! Beat Music! (Motéma Music). The show, which kicked off a European tour, ... continua

As a bassist and bandleader, Linda May Han Oh has demonstrated her gift for liquid dynamism, not only within her peer group but also with heroic elders like guitarist Pat Metheny. As a composer and arranger, Oh recently scaled up her ambitions with Aventurine, a sparkling album featuring what you might call a double quartet, though the music tells a more seamless story.
Jazz Night in America teamed up with Capital Bop's Traveling Loft Series to present this project at NPR's Studio One in Washington, D.C. Just as she did on the album, Oh led a chamber-jazz ensemble ... continua

For Jazzmeia Horn, this concert defined a moment. This was The Appel Room at Jazz at Lincoln Center, after all, one of the most prestigious stages in the America jazz circuit. "Not a lot of people get that opportunity," she reflected, not only to show up for herself and her art, but to act as a good steward of jazz music, an African American art form and legacy by which the idioms of today's industry, according to Horn, don't always reflect the culture of a specific people. She hand-picked an entirely Black and brown team from bandmates to to hair and makeup and even ... continua

Jazz and the visual arts have always enjoyed a mutually beneficial relationship. Last year the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis put that bond front and center with an ambitious original program called Portraits of America: A Jazz Story.
The concert featured new compositions by members of the orchestra, directly inspired by works in the collection of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Ark. So in this special episode of Jazz Night in America, we'll not only hear the resulting music but also get inside the inspiration — ... continua