Every Wednesday from June 24 to September 16, from noon to 1:30PM, the weekly series features legendary and Grammy-nominated performers in Dante Park at Broadway and 64th Street.
The Lincoln Square Business Improvement District (BID) is celebrating summer in the Big Apple with the highly-anticipated return of its soulful summer concert series – Summer Jazz Sensations. Returning for a fifth year, the jazz-filled series will run Wednesdays, beginning June 24 through September 16, where attendees can enjoy free outdoor performances by iconic and legendary jazz artists from the tri-state area and beyond who have performed around the world, from noon to 1:30 p.m. The series will be held in Dante Park, on Broadway between 63rd & 64th Streets, right in the heart of the Lincoln Square neighborhood. Note: In the event of rain, concerts are rescheduled to Friday immediately following each Wednesday performance.
Lincoln Square BID will partner with local eateries, including Le Botaniste, to offer a rotation of treats, bites, and sips available at select concerts. At intermission, the BID’s partners at West Side Y will lead the audience through some gentle stretch yoga, providing a soothing and relaxed atmosphere for concert goers.
“We’re excited to jazz up the neighborhood with Summer Jazz Sensations returning for a fifth straight year, bringing music and summertime entertainment to the neighborhood,” said Monica Blum, President of the Lincoln Square Business Improvement District. “As new businesses continue to open in Lincoln Square, a neighborhood that has always been a cultural and culinary destination, Summer Jazz Sensations is a fun way to bring the neighborhood together with world class, local musicians that reflect the best that Lincoln Square has to offer. We look forward to another successful year of our free summer concerts for locals and visitors to enjoy.”
In the last year, the Lincoln Square BID also has a variety of new retail businesses and eateries that have opened for attendees to enjoy, including cheesesteak staple Olde City, new smoothie bar Earthbar, Barcelona-based retail shop Mango, Italian menswear brand Boggi Milano, trendy boutique La Mode Royale, the luxury tea brand by Royal Cathay at The Shops at Columbus Circle, and more to come.
The full lineup of concerts and performers include:
June 24: Camille Thurman with the Darrell Green Quartet
Thurman is an accomplished composer, esteemed saxophonist, vocalist, and unique interpreter of the jazz tradition, Thurman is quickly becoming one of the leading standard bearers of the art form. Her distinct musical approach to classic and original repertoire, which highlights her craft as a powerhouse singer and instrumentalist, is a captivating blend of tradition and innovation. The New York City native has amassed several honors including NAACP Image Award nominee for Outstanding Jazz Album, Fulbright Scholas Cultural Ambassador Grand recipient and many more.
Over a career that’s spanned more than two decades, Green has become a master technician and prolific sideman, sharing stages with everyone from Blue Note vibraphonist Stefon Harris to saxophonist Red Holloway. Though jazz is his primary focus, Green is conversant in every genre from straight-ahead jazz to Latin and West African music. He will also perform with the Ron Jackson Trio on July 8.
July 1: Rutgers University Emerging Artists Ensemble, led by Kenny Davis
Ensemble participation is a fundamental part of education in the music programs at Mason Gross School of the Arts. In addition to an annual concerto competition and two chamber music competitions each, students have the opportunity to perform in over 300 performances each year with large ensembles, chamber groups, master classes, and solo recitals. These performances take place on and off campus and at venues in New York City.
Davis’ career began with listening to R&B artists such as Earth Wind & Fire, Brothers Johnson, and The Temptations. He taught himself the guitar and then went on to study music theory with David Holder Sr. and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in music education at Northeastern Illinois University.
July 8: Lucia Jackson & The Ron Jackson Trio
A graduate of the Alvin Ailey School of Dance, Lucia Jackson has created her own hybrid of modern dance and jazz vocalizing, a successful combination that melds the forward-looking motion of modern dance with the proud traditions and endless possibilities of jazz singing into a unique art form. Jackson was born and raised in Spain. She studied voice and piano at Madrid’s prestigious Escuela de Música Creativa and attended the Royal Professional Dance Conservatory Mariemma.
Versatile and sophisticated seven-string guitarist Ron Jackson has performed, recorded, and taught music in over 30 countries and has been a leader in jazz festivals all over the world. Joined by rising stars Nathan Brown on upright bass and Darrell Green (June 24 performer) on drums, his new album is an intriguing, multi-faceted set of new and soon-to-be jazz standards that will appeal to audiences of every age and taste.
July 15: Corcoran Holt Quintet
Holt is a bassist, composer, educator, and Assistant Professor of Jazz Bass at Arizona State University. A Washington, D.C. native, Holt has performed and recorded with many of today’s most respected voices while cultivating a sound rooted in lineage, groove, and fearless expression. He began playing djembe and other West African percussion at the age of four as a member of the Wose Dance Company under the tutelage of Baba Aidoo Holmes and Mahiri Fadjimba Keita and began studying upright bass at the age of ten with the renowned D.C. Youth Orchestra Program. He completed a B.A. in Jazz Studies from Shenandoah Conservatory in 2004 and earned his M.A. in Jazz Studies from Queens College in New York City in 2006. Holt appeared on three Grammy-nominated recordings, including Kenny Garrett’s “Pushing the World Away.” He also performs on Garrett’s “Sounds from the Ancestors,” which won the NAACP Image Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Album in 2021.
July 22: Jason Tiemann Trio
Tiemann is a New York City-based jazz drummer and is currently on the jazz faculty of the Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz at the University of Hartford. He is quickly forging his musical voice on the New York scene by fusing his depth of historical foundation with crisp technique and propulsive, intuitive swing.
July 29: Steve Davis featuring Abena Koomson-Davis
Davis was raised in Binghamton, New York and graduated from Hartt School’s Jackie McLean Institute. It was with McLean’s guidance and recommendation that Davis landed his first major performance with Art Blakey in New York City. He is widely regarded as one of today’s leading voices on the trombone with his lyrical, hard-swinging style first gaining him broad recognition. Davis’s original composition “Optimism” appears on the McBride Big Band’s Grammy Award-winning release “Bringin’ It” (2018). Davis also received a Grammy for playing on Chick Corea’s Spanish Heart Band release “Antidote” (2019).
Koomson-Davis is a performer, educator, and wordsmith. She played the role of Fela’s mother in the Off-Broadway musical FELA! and reprised her role in the Broadway production, which earned three Tony awards. For more than 15 years, she has been the lead vocalist of the funk rock band Van Davis and is the musical director for the Resistance Revival Chorus. She currently serves as Ethics Chair of the middle school division at Ethical Culture Fieldston School, where she teaches ethics and social justice to middle & upper school students.
August 5: Jason Marshall: Baritone Saxophone Extraordinaire!
Marshall has built a wide-reaching career as a performer, composer, arranger, educator, and cultural voice. His work honors the joy, complexity, and legacy of Black American Music, spanning styles and generations with integrity and soul. Over the past two decades, he has brought his artistry to stages around the world, performing and recording with his own ensemble as well as with artists including Roy Hargrove, Aretha Franklin, Deedee Bridgewater, Chaka Khan, Abdullah Ibrahim, Kurt Elling, The Roots, The Temptations and more.
August 12: Eric Person: A Centennial Tribute to Miles and Coltrane
Saxophonist and composer Eric Person returns to the Dante Park stage to celebrate the release of his thirteenth CD Extra Pressure. For this performance he and his band celebrate the Centennial birthdays of two of jazz’s greatest innovators: Miles Davis and John Coltrane. Eric Person’s body of work as a leader and sideman are stylistically diverse and intrepid. He has performed and recorded with leaders within the vanguard of the jazz world namely McCoy Tyner, Dave Holland, Houston Person, Wallace Roney, Chico Hamilton, and World Saxophone Quartet. And others outside of jazz such as Bootsy Collins, Ben Harper, Vernon Reid and Living Colour. Critics have long taken note of Eric’s signature sound on alto and soprano saxophone. John Chacona of Signal to Noise writes “Eric cultivates a sheer beauty of sound that’s often breathtaking.” Bill Milkowski called Person “a risk-taking improviser, accomplished composer, and inveterate swinger.”
August 19: Nancy Kelly
A renowned jazz vocalist, Kelly commands a global fan base with her timeless swinging style, transporting audiences back to an era where jazz was an asthenic expression of raw emotion. Over her illustrious five-decade career, Kelly has perfected her trademark swing/bop style on stages across the United States and beyond. A classically trained pianist turned jazz sensation, Kelly was inducted into the Rochester Music Hall of Fame in 2022.
August 26: Leonieke Scheuble and Midnight Special
Scheuble got her start thanks to Dr. Lonnie Smith at age 10. By age 11, she would win an award from the International Women in Jazz, and win a second International Women in Jazz award, the New Jersey Governor’s award and her most prestigious award to date, the Hot House Fan Decision Award for “Best Up and Coming Young Artist. She leads “The 3 Generations of Jazz Trio” with world-renowned bassist, Bill Crow.
September 2: Pucci Amanda Jhones
Jhones captures your attention in the style of which she tells a story through song. Standing 6’1, she’s a former model that once strutted her stuff internationally on the catwalks. She is a graduate from the New School University of New York and holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in classical and contemporary music. As a well-respected vocalist, Jhones has performed internationally for years in major venues throughout the world.
Sanabria’s versatility as both a drummer and percussionist from small group to big band has become legendary. He’s performed and recorded with every major figure in the history of Latin jazz, jazz, and salsa, with such legends as Dizzy Gillespie, Tito Puente, Mongo Santamaria, Eddie Palmieri, Paquito D’Rivera, Candido, Charles McPherson, Larry Harlow, Ruben Blades, Celia Cruz, and the Father of Afro-Cuban jazz, Mario Bauzá where he was his drummer for nine years touring and recording on his major Grammy nominated albums. Bobby is the leader of Quarteto Aché, Sexteto Ibiano, Ascensión, and his Multiverse Big Band. His big band albums have been nominated for Grammys nine times. Bobby has been named one of the top ten percussionists in the world by the readers and critics of Downbeat magazine for the last 12 years. Among his numerous awards are induction into the 2006 Bronx Walk of Fame, the 2018 Jazz Education Network’s LeJENS of Latin Jazz Award, and Bobby’s name being read into the U.S. Congressional Record by Congressman Dennis Kucinich of Ohio in 2008. In 2019, he was named Godfather/Padrino of the National Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York City. He was recently bestowed an Honorary Doctorate by Lehman College in New York. His current CD, Arsenio and Beyond, was recently released and was recorded live at the Bronx Music Hall with his Multiverse Big Band. Arsenio and Beyond honors the most important musician in the history of Cuban-based dance music and the true Father of Mambo, Arsenio Rodriguez.
September 16: Lou Watson
“Lou’s got class and an intoxicating vocal style.” That’s what audiences are saying about Jazz vocalist and pianist/composer Lou Watson. He projects a deep, resonant baritone. Singing originals, alongside timeless classics. Lou was educated at Livingston College of Rutgers University. There, he was exposed to jazz greats Kenny Barron, Larry Ridley, and Ted Dunbar. He would leave to tour with the classic R&B group “The Manhattans” as well as “The Drifters Review.” He enjoyed life on the road as he toured the concert circuit. Lou states, “It was great to bask in the rewards of a hit record, and to be treated like a world-class artist.” With his jazz trio, Lou performs in nightclubs in the New York City area, serving up stylish renditions of traditional jazz standards. Lou has also performed on countless concert tours and road productions. Lou’s R&B heritage blends jazz, funk, pop, and gospel. Watson’s consummate artistry is on full display on his CDs, It Doesn’t Matter and Taking a Chance on Love. A singer of standards and ballads, Lou’s voice warms the body and soothes the soul.
For more information on the Lincoln Square BID, up-to-date information on the lineup and date changes, neighborhood activities, openings, and offerings, please visit www.lincolnsquarebid.org.
About the Lincoln Square BID:
The Lincoln Square BID is a not-for-profit tax-exempt organization whose mission is to make Lincoln Square cleaner, safer, and more beautiful, and to undertake various improvement projects. Efforts are focused on supplemental sanitation and security services; the beautification of public spaces, malls, and parks; and the promotion and marketing of the area’s diverse business and cultural offerings. The Lincoln Square BID acts as a catalyst working with business, community, and City partners to promote positive change in Lincoln Square. The BID’s programs and initiatives are designed to foster tourism and to showcase the rich and varied resources of this vibrant Upper West Side neighborhood. For more information, please call (212) 581-3774 or visit www.lincolnsquarebid.org.
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