JALC at 25

Jazz at Lincoln Center marks our 25th Anniversary season by acknowledging our past while continuing to look to the future. As we have moved from a summer concert series to a full constituent of Lincoln Center, and with the 2004 inauguration of Frederick P. Rose Hall, the world’s first performance, education and broadcast facility devoted to jazz, JALC’s mission—to enrich, entertain and expand a global community for Jazz through education, performance and advocacy—has not changed. Jazz is our national music, America’s greatest art form, and we strive to be an institution worthy of representing it—curating, educating, maintaining traditions, and archiving its achievements, without segregation, without a generation gap, and with the credo, “all jazz is modern.” We want to ensure that the music, and, as important, the audience, continues to grow over the next 25 years, with a new generation of fans able to understand, love and enjoy jazz.

The ongoing improvisation that is our 25th Anniversary celebration will be anchored by the renowned Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis. We will revisit some of the milestone JALC performances of the past quarter-century, and will continue to honor the creators and innovators of the Jazz canon—Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Nina Simone, and others. Living legends such as Toots Thielemans, Bobby McFerrin, and Chick Corea will appear on our stages, as will current stars like Brad Mehldau, Marcus Roberts, Bill Frisell and Madeline Peyroux. Education will continue to be at the forefront of our efforts, with programs for teachers and students, Jazz for Young People Concerts, and Swing University classes. We hope you will be in the audience, here in New York, out on tour, or at home through our live webcasts, as we begin the next 25 years of the incredible history of jazz, at Lincoln Center and beyond.