Take 3, 4, 5 Series

Ahmad Jamal opens Jazz at Lincoln Center's (JALC) season with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (JLCO) with Wynton Marsalis, embedding Jamal's quartet including Reginald Veal, Herlin Riley, and Manolo Badrena to perform new arrangements of his innovative works and intoxicating rhythms.

Guitarist Bill Frisell is joined by vocalist-banjoist-guitarist-fiddler Sam Amidon, pianist-composer and leader of the Bandwagon Jason Moran, and mezzo-soprano Alicia Hall Moran, to span music by George Gershwin, William Billings, Stephen Foster, Charles Ives, and beyond.

Pianist and celebrated festival creator George Wein commemorates his 88th birthday with his Newport All-Stars, featuring tenor saxophonist Lew Tabackin, trumpeter Randy Brecker, clarinetist Anat Cohen, guitarist Howard Alden, bassist Peter Washington, and drummer Lewis Nash. New York Times jazz journalist (and Wein's biographer) Nate Chinen hosts the proceedings.

Sun Ra incorporated elements drawn from black vaudeville, modern dance, Egyptian cosmology, Eastern philosophy, numerology, surrealism, kitsch, and the Bible to serve a corpus that deployed African rhythms, atonal melodies, electronic timbres, raw blues expression, unfailing swing, and one-for-all discipline drawn from the big bands that Ra internalized in his youth. Sun Ra lives on in the current edition of the Sun Ra Arkestra, led by original member, alto saxophonist-woodwindist Marshall Allen.

Returning to the United States for the first time since 2003, the musical aggregate of Cuban all-stars appears in their current 13-piece iteration, Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club, featuring Omara Portuondo, Guajiro Mirabal, Barbarito Torres, and Eliades Ochoa.

The JLCO with Wynton Marsalis revisits Marsalis' 2008 extended work, Abyssinian Mass, commissioned in honor of the Harlem church's 200th anniversary. They are augmented by tap dancer Jared Grimes, sermonizing from a special guest, and a 70-voice gospel choir, Chorale Le Chateau, conducted by Damien Sneed.

Vocalists Catherine Russell, Brianna Thomas, and Charenee Wade channel the independent spirits of 1920s blues divas Bessie Smith, Mamie Smith, Ma Rainey, and the legendary crossover singer Ethel Waters. Music Director Vince Giordano addresses this important American music from a 21st century perspective.

The dynamic pianist and conductor Damien Sneed explores the deep and soulful connections between these two iconic genres, which such giants as Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus, and Wynton Marsalis have synthesized in their works.

Guitarist Jim Hall performs with his exemplary trio and in various configurations with guitarists Peter Bernstein and John Abercrombie.

The JLCO with Wynton Marsalis collaborates with the Sachal Jazz Ensemble, master musicians from Pakistan who incorporate ancient instruments with the sounds and rhythms of iconic jazz repertoire.

Protean saxophonist Chris Potter, whose plugged-in Underground quartet is one of the freshest units of jazz today, will present an expanded version with acoustic elements.

The JLCO with Wynton Marsalis performs instrumental arrangements from the Swing Era units of Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Benny Goodman, and Tommy Dorsey, joined by the sensational 23-year-old vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant.

Singer-guitarist-songwriter Buddy Miller and vocalist-fiddler Carrie Rodriguez, out of Austin, TX, join guitarist Bill Frisell to celebrate the moment that is thought of as the beginning of country music—the 1927 recordings in Bristol, TN, where The Carter Family and Jimmie Rogers first recorded. "Things will," Frisell states, "just go on from there."

Reed section members Ted Nash and Victor Goines debut newly commissioned works for the JLCO. Nash leads the band through Presidential Suite comprising six pieces inspired by "important and inspiring speeches by world leaders," and Goines presents Crescent City, a meditation on his hometown, New Orleans.

A front-runner in numerous critics' polls in recent years, Vijay Iyer undertakes his JALC debut with his working trio of bassist Stephan Crump and drummer Marcus Gilmore.

Bobby McFerrin reimagines an American tradition with a performance that springboards off his new recording spirityouall. Iconic songs like "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" and "Every Time I Feel the Spirit," along with original tunes, uncover his roots in rock, folk, funk, and bluegrass, while never abandoning his fearless improvisational approach.

A three-time GRAMMY® Award winner, pianist Billy Childs makes his first JALC appearance since 2004, deploying an ensemble with all-stars Scott Colley on bass and Brian Blade on drums, augmented by the Ying Quartet.

Saxophonist Joshua Redman show-cases his extraordinary tone and penchant for creating elegant melodies within challenging structures and infusing them with emotional content. Propelling the flow is his working quartet—pianist Aaron Goldberg, bassist Reuben Rogers, and drummer Gregory Hutchinson.

The JLCO with Wynton Marsalis brings forth two decades of experience in presenting interactive, amusing, family-friendly shows to introduce and illuminate Brubeck's extraordinary life to young and old alike.

On her return to JALC for Valentine's Day, four-time GRAMMY® Award winner Dianne Reeves will demonstrate that no singer is better equipped to captivate and seduce you with songs of love and romance.

Pianist Mulgrew Miller and saxophonist Kenny Garrett, whose paths have intersected during tenures with Mercer Ellington, Woody Shaw, and Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, join the JLCO with Wynton Marsalis as guests of trombonists Chris Crenshaw and Vincent Gardner.

2012 NEA Jazz Master Jack DeJohnette on drums, serial poll winner Joe Lovano on saxophone, 2011 "Best New Artist" GRAMMY® Award winner Esperanza Spalding on bass, and Argentinean pianist Leo Genovese make up this all-star quartet.

Maria Schneider, a two-time GRAMMY® Award winner, brings her 17-member collective into The Allen Room for her first JALC appearance since 2003. The composer-arranger will present her lyrical, intricately woven, and sensuous pieces highlighted with ravishing instrumental colors and textures.

The magisterial Andalusian Gitano guitarist Tomatito blends the earthy sound of classical flamenco and the sophisticated harmonic template of modern jazz. Produced in partnership with the Flamenco Festival of New York.

Vocalists Luísa Maita and Clarice Assad present their personal refractions of the various streams of Brazilian musical expression, inspired by the music of Jobim, Gilberto, Villa-Lobos, and Hermeto Pascoal.

Celebrating his 75th birthday, the legendary South African trumpeter, flugelhornist, composer, and lyricist Hugh Masekela presents a retrospective extravaganza. Joined by special guests, Masekela explores his fascination with American jazz and his roots in Zulu folkloric strains.

The JLCO with Wynton Marsalis explores Brubeck's extraordinary legacy with fresh arrangements that illuminate the breadth and scope of his body of work. Brubeck is credited with bringing jazz to the mainstream in the '50s and '60s and releasing the first jazz album to sell over a million copies. His several hundred songs and numerous works provide an extended palette from which to choose.

Pianist Eric Reed, an alumnus of the JLCO, leads the first-ever New York staging of Dave Brubeck's rarely-heard masterwork, The Real Ambassadors, addressing the still-topical civil rights movement. Written at the behest of the US State Department in the 1950s at the height of his fame, pianist-composer Dave Brubeck and his wife Iola, in collaboration with Louis Armstrong, drew on their respective experiences spreading American culture and music around the world to create this jazz musical.

Michael Feinstein celebrates Gershwin's deep connection to jazz, both in his personal roots and influences. Gershwin was a formidable stride pianist, whose first-hand gurus were Lucky Roberts and James P. Johnson, and through his audacious themes and ingenious chord sequences, thousands of musicians have used Gershwin's work as a jumping off point for classic improvisations.

Michael Feinstein is ideally suited to interpret Porter's archly comic, ambiguous, pointed lyrics and to execute his memorable melodies, several dozen of which have inspired generations of jazzfolk to improvise at the highest level.

On a program that may impel those of the opinion that 21st century jazz doesn't concern itself with melodic values to question their assumptions, New Jazz Standards—convened under the auspices of Jazz at Lincoln Center's new A Side, B Side Series—presents an all-star ensemble of melody-masters who have written new works specifically for this freshly-assembled collaboration. Songwriters include Tin Hat violinist Carla Kihlstedt, pianist-composer Guillermo Klein, tenorman Bill McHenry, The Bad Plus bassist Reid Anderson, and drummer Eric Harland.

On a program that may impel those of the opinion that 21st century jazz doesn't concern itself with melodic values to question their assumptions, Nuevo Jazz Latino—convened under the auspices of Jazz at Lincoln Center's new A Side, B Side Series—presents an all-star ensemble of a decidedly Afro-Cuban orientation, whose members have written new works specifically for this freshly-assembled collaboration. Songwriters include Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra bassist Carlos Henriquez, a Bronx native, and four brilliant Cubans: pianist Elio Villafranca, saxophonist Yosvany Terry, drummer (and MacArthur Award winner) Dafnis Prieto, and conguero-vocalist Pedrito Martinez.

JLCO Music Director Wynton Marsalis and drummer Ali Jackson present the compositions of a pair of Philadelphia-born, post-Boomer virtuosos - bassist Christian McBride and guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel - who will join the JLCO for the occasion.

Soulful elegance, virtuoso musicianship, melodic creativity, and unfailing swing will be operative during this meeting of John Pizzarelli and Jane Monheit, each a world-class communicator of an array of American and other popular song styles.

The JLCO with Wynton Marsalis draws from its already deep well of Ellingtonia and conjures new arrangements that illuminate the depth and complexity of the maestro's all-modernistic, all-the-time corpus. Ellington's distinctly democratic vision sets the stage for an evening sure to be modern in many contexts.

Bill Frisell is joined by fellow guitar master Greg Leisz and trio partners bassist Tony Scherr and drummer Kenny Wollesen exploring music of the electric guitar in the space age—Speedy West, Jimmy Bryant, country icons Merle Travis and Chet Atkins, and groups like The Ventures, The Astronauts, The Wrecking Crew, and more.

No living entertainer knows the ins and outs of the music of the Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression more thoroughly than the singer pianist Michael Feinstein. For the third and final concert of his Jazz and Popular Song series, Feinstein explores the music of Louis Armstrong, Mildred Bailey, Sophie Tucker, Fats Waller, Ethel Waters, and Lee Wiley.