WBGO Events

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  Celebrate Brooklyn

  Amadou & Mariam and Bambino
  Friday, June 21 at 7:30pm | Prospect Park Bandshell, Brooklyn

   

  Amadou & Mariam’s 2012 album, Folila, which featured guest spots by Santigold and TV On The Radio among others, was hailed by NME as “a great chuffing masterstroke of genre-less genre mixing,” but it also sparkled with of the Afro-blues sound that has made this blind husband and wife duo one of West Africa’s finest exports. The powerhouse young Taureg guitarist Bombino’s playing unfurls with “fast, stuttery, rhythmic hammering, coiling lines inside lines;” (NY Times) he’s been called the Hendrix of the Sahara. Rolling Stone also recently called Bombino's Nomad  "The most exciting blues album of the year."

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  SummerStage

  "Make A Joyful Noise" A Tribute to Mahalia Jackson
  Saturday, June 22 at 6pm | Central Park, NYC

  To mark the 50^th anniversary of the March on Washington, which called for civil and economic rights for African Americans, SummerStage honors the storied legacy of famed Gospel singer and activist Mahalia Jackson with an evening of music and film. Listen to Joshua Nelson, known as “The Prince of Kosher Gospel”, as he pays tribute to Ms. Jackson with his creative reinterpretations of her original catalogue, followed by the screening of “Mahalia Jackson: The Power and the Glory” which gives an intimate look into the life and rise of the famed singer that changed our history one note at a time.

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  Monday Nights with WBGO

  Spiritrio w/ Dimitri Kolensnic, Brandon Lewis and Anthony Wonsey
  Monday, June 24 at 7pm & 9pm  | Dizzy's Club Coca Cola
   
  WBGO is proud to partner with Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola on Monday Nights with WBGO.  The series features up and coming new talent and groups from some of the area's greatest college jazz programs, as well as some legendary musicians. Each performance is aired via live webcast and features artist interview with WBGO host Rhonda Hamilton. Streaming begins at 7:15pm EST on jalc.org/live.

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  WBGO Jazz Series at 54 Below

  Cécile McLorin Salvant
  Tuesday, June 25 at 7pm & 9pm  | 54 Below

   

  French-American jazz vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant  celebrates her highly anticipated debut release, WomanChild. “She sings clearly, with her full pitch range, from a pronounced low end to full and distinct high notes—her face conveys meaning, representing sorrow or serenity like a silent-movie actor.” writes Ben Ratliff of The New York Times. See her perform  with label mate pianist Aaron Diehl, Paul Sikivie on bass and Rodney Green on drums.

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  Midsummer Night Swing

  Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis
  Tuesday, June 25 at 6:30pm | JALC

   

  A classic, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra opens Midsummer Night Swing’s 25th anniversary with a celebration of its own 25th. The JLCO formed when Wynton Marsalis and his septet joined forces with the surviving players of the Duke Ellington Orchestra, creating a group that knows that some jazz masterpieces are meant to be danced to. This beautiful big band will bring back the glory of ballrooms past.

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  FREE Lunch Time Concert

  The Django Reinhardt NY Festival's "Young Lions of Gypsy Jazz"
  Wednesday, June 26 at 12:00pm  | Gateway 2, Newark, NJ
   
  WBGO & Gateway 2 partner to celebrate the summer with a FREE Lunch Time concert that appeals to all ages.  This romantic, melodic, virtuosic, happy, hot swinging music with incredible fingering known as “Le Hot Jazz” is celebrated and carried forward by The Django Reinhardt NY Festival. Performings artists are Samson Schmitt/lead guitar, Ludovic Beier/accordian and accordina, Pierre Blanchard/violin, DouDou Cuillerier/rhythm guitar and Brian Torff/bass. 

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  Jazz In The Garden

  Nat Adderly Jr. (Quartet)
  Thursday, June 27 at 12:15pm | Newark Musuem

   

  Nat Adderley Jr., is best known for his work as pianist, arranger and music director with the late Luther Vandross, whom he met when both were students at the, legendary, LaGuardia High School of Music and Performing Arts. In addition to being the son and nephew of legendary performers Nat Sr. and Cannonball Adderley, he has worked with major stars including Kirk Whalum, Natalie Cole, Aretha Franklin and Gloria Lynne. A graduate of Yale University,  he has returned to his Jazz roots to perform musical tributes to his father and uncle as well as his own material. 

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  Celebrate Brooklyn

   

  Lady Smith Black Mambazo/Aurelio Martinez
  Friday, June 28 at 7:30pm | Prospect Park Bandshell, Brooklyn

   

  The legendary South African choral group, still led by its indomitable founder Joseph Shabalala, first won international fame through its work on Paul Simon’s 1986 album, Graceland, but the group has been active for more than half a century. Today they are the living embodiment of Zulu song, and a mobile academy of South African culture. “It isn’t merely the grace and power of their dancing or the beauty of their singing that rivets the attention, but the sheer joy and love that emanates from their being.” (Paul Simon) With the soulful singer and guitarist Aurelio Martinez, the standard bearer of Garifuna music and the first black member of Honduras’ National Congress.

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  Celebrate Brooklyn

  Os Mutantes/Javelin/Janka Nabay & The Bubu Gang
  Saturday, June 29 at 7pm | Prospect Park Bandshell, Brooklyn
   
  Brazilian Tropicália trailblazers Os Mutantes, who sound like a psychedelic collision of The Beatles, John Cage, and Bossa Nova, is “pop at its very best and most innovative” (SPIN). Javelin brings a sound collage “like an otherworldly radio station based in some crate-digger bunker where genre distinctions are a distant memory” (Pitchfork) to the party, and the Sierra Leonean Janka Nabay, the undisputed king of Bubu music, starts things off on a festive, frenetic note.
   

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  WBGO Jazz Series at 54 Below

  Diane Schuur
  Tuesday, July 2 at 7pm & 9pm  | 54 Below
   
  Grammy® Award-winning vocalist and pianist Diane Schuur inspires rave reviews across the globe as the new first lady of jazz. Known to personify the composer's intentions of the Great American Songbook, Schuur swings with heartfelt intensity. In a recording career that spans nearly three decades – and includes two Grammy Awards and three Grammy nominations – Schuur’s music has explored nearly every corner of the 20th century American musical landscape.

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  WBGO Gallery Reception

  Heritage, exhibition celebratin Hispanic Heritage
  Thursday, July 11 at 6pm - 8pm  | WBGO
   
  Join WBGO for a reception celebrating Heritage, an exhibition featuring works of various artists celebrating Hispanic Heritage, curated by Larouche Art contemporary Consortium. Live music, discussion with the artists and more take place at this FREE event.

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  Jazz In The Garden

  Rene Marie
  Thursday, July 11 at 12:15 | Newark Museum

   

  A woman of great strength exuding stamina and compassion, this award-winning singer whose style incorporates elements of Jazz, Soul, the Blues and Gospel .  In 1999, she began her professional music career at age 42.  Since the release of her recording debut, Renaissance, Marie has also evolved into one of the greatest and most sensuous vocalists of our time. Almost 15 years after her debut , Marie’s creativity, boldness and exuberance take hold on Voice of My Beautiful Country, her latest album (2011).  

   

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  Jazz In The Garden

  Ulysses Owens Jr. (Quartet)
  Thursday, July 18 at 12:15pm | Newark Museum

   

  Multi-Grammy Award winning drummer Ulysses Owens Jr.  has performed with world-class musicians including Patti Austin, Terence Blanchard, Wynton Marsalis, Mulgrew Miller, Maceo Parker, and Dianne Reeves to name a few.  In 2010 he received his first Grammy Award for his performance on Kurt Elling’s Dedicated To You, and, in 2012, a second award for Christian McBride’s Big Band album The Good Feeling.  A second album, Unanimous, was released in 2012 on the European jazz label Criss Cross. 

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WBGO Festival Calendar