Jazz lovers rejoice! The New Mexico Jazz Festival is back for the sixteenth year and stronger than ever. This year, the festival is a collaborative effort by the Lensic Performing Arts Center and Outpost Performance Space in Albuquerque, with concerts at both venues. As their part of the event, the Lensic Performing Arts Center presents some of the world’s most accomplished jazz musicians, in four can’t-miss concerts. The New Mexico Jazz Festival runs from September 15 – October 7, 2022.
The Legendary Count Basie Orchestra
The Legendary Count Basie Orchestra, recipients of 18 Grammy awards, has performed at every major jazz festival and major concert hall in the world. Some of the greatest soloists, composers, arrangers, and vocalists in jazz history (Lester Young, Billie Holiday, Thad Jones, Sonny Payne, Freddie Green, Frank Wes, Joe Williams, among others) became international stars once they began working with the Count Basie Orchestra. Today, under the longtime direction of trumpeter Scotty Bernhardt, the orchestra continues its illustrious history of delivering world-renowned big-band jazz. The Legendary Count Basie Orchestra will perform at the Lensic Performing Arts Center on Thursday, September 15, 7:30 p.m.
Ravi Coltrane Cosmic Music Project with Brandee Younger
Critically acclaimed and Grammy-nominated post-bop saxophonist, bandleader, and composer Ravi Coltrane comes from a long line of jazz legends: he’s the second son of John and Alice Coltrane and is named after sitarist Ravi Shankar. Still, over the course of a twenty-year career, he has established a sound and group concept that stands undeniably on its own. Coltrane is joined by Grammy nominated harpist Brandee Younger, who plays in the avant-garde tradition of Dorothy Ashby and Alice Coltrane. The Ravi Coltrane Cosmic Music Project will perform at the Lensic Performing Arts Center on Friday, September 16, 7:30 p.m.
Terri Lyne Carrington + Social Science
Grammy-winning drummer, producer, and educator Terri Lyne Carrington is joined by her all-star Social Science ensemble to perform music from her latest release, Waiting Game. Described as her most audacious and politically charged project to date—and celebrated as one of the best releases of 2019 by Rolling Stone, Downbeat, Boston Globe, and Popmatters, Waiting Game expresses an unflinching, inclusive, and compassionate view of humanity’s breaks and bonds. As a special preshow event, free and only for concert ticketholders, Carrington will join jazz historian and retired deputy chair at the National Endowment for the Arts A.B. Spellman for a Meet the Jazz Master discussion onstage starting at 6 p.m. Terri Lyne Carrington will perform at the Lensic Performing Arts Center on Saturday, September 17, 7:30 p.m.
Tower of Power
The scorching ecstasy of Tower of Power’s horn section leads the way as they continue to punch out the soul, funk, and R&B hits that have made them music legends for over 50 years. With their signature “Oakland soul” sound—inspired by the music of Detroit (where Tower of Power’s Emilio Castillo grew up), Memphis, and Philadelphia — the band’s hits include What Is Hip?, You’re Still a Young Man, So Very Hard to Go, and You Ought to Be Having Fun. Tower of Power will perform at the Lensic Performing Arts Center on Thursday, October 6, 7:30 p.m.
For more information on the 16th Annual New Mexico Jazz Festival, including all other events taking place throughout Santa Fe and Albuquerque, visit the website.
This article was posted by David Salcido
