Welcome to the 2021 Spring virtual season
Jazz at Lincoln Center’s spring 2021 virtual concert season is a joyous and unifying celebration of freedom. We look forward to presenting a shorter, curated spring concert season anchored by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis.
$20 Virtual Ticket per Show
- Subscriber Price: $15 per show
- Member Price: $0–$15 per show
The season highlights the incredible artistic, social, and civil liberties made possible by jazz pioneers. Performances will feature celebrations of Betty Carter, Billie Holiday, Abbey Lincoln, Nina Simone, and John Coltrane, as well as world premiere collaborations with acclaimed activist Bryan Stevenson.
Whether you’re into never-before-heard debuts, time-tested classics, the blues or mind-bending solos, there’s something here for you in the House of Swing.
Read on to learn what else you can experience during Jazz at Lincoln Center’s upcoming virtual concert season!
Jump to:
Premieres Jun 10 7:30PM • On-Demand Thru June 16
What to Expect
• A rare all-Coltrane JLCO performance featuring one of the most powerful pieces of music ever created.
• Timeless Coltrane classics related to the theme of freedom, reinterpreted by the JLCO.
In the final Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis concert of the season, the JLCO will perform a big-band rendition of John Coltrane’s immortal album, A Love Supreme, followed by a number of other Coltrane classics.
Directed by saxophonist Sherman Irby with special guest saxophonist and vocalist Camille Thurman, the band will re-introduce listeners to one of the most powerful pieces of music ever created. Universally hailed as a masterpiece upon its release in 1965, A Love Supreme is a perfectly paced suite of music and a musical embodiment of Coltrane’s complex spirituality.
Beyond this most-famous example, Coltrane’s songbook is a rich and diverse body of work. The band will reinterpret a number of his timeless pieces, with an emphasis on the concept of “freedom,” for this rare all-Coltrane JLCO performance.
Lead Sponsorship Support provided by
- Subscriber Price: $15 per show
- Member Price: $0–$15 per show
- Full Season Access: $40
PREMIERES May 21 7:30pm • On-Demand Thru May 26
What to Expect
• A creative collaboration with founder of the Equal Justice Initiative and social justice advocate Bryan Stevenson.
• New music by Endea Owens on the life and work of Ida B. Wells and Josh Evans inspired by the terrible events of 1919's Red Summer.
Witness the world premiere of new music by emerging composer/trumpeter Josh Evans as well as guest performer and bassist Endea Owens (Jon Batiste’s Stay Human). In collaboration with Bryan Stevenson—a globally acclaimed activist, public interest lawyer, and founder of the Equal Justice Initiative—the band will perform works that address freedom, justice, and hope.
Though the program asks the composers to consider some enormous questions, the musical outcome will be as compelling and personal as anything in the Jazz at Lincoln Center's Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis’s oeuvre. Witness this important new body of work come to life, as Stevenson recounts the historical significance of these new pieces of music. Join us in the ongoing search for truth and unity through art.
Leadership support provided by Gregory Annenberg Weingarten,
GRoW @ Annenberg
- Subscriber Price: $15 per show
- Member Price: $0–$15 per show
- Full Season Access: $40
Recent performances
PREMIERES Mar 26 7:30pm et • On-Demand Thru Mar 31
What to Expect
• Essential works by the most powerful female performers and songwriters of the 20th century, performed by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis and special guests.
• A repertoire spanning decades featuring songs written and made famous by some of jazz’s greatest vocalists, including “Tight,” “Strange Fruit,” and “Freedom Day.”
The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis and a roster of special guest vocalists will perform songs by some of the most powerful performers and songwriters of the 20th century. Under the music direction of JLCO trombonist and vocalist Chris Crenshaw, this brand-new program looks back at four great singers whose unapologetically honest art has stood the test of time in its meaning and musicality.
A group of rising star vocalists adept in jazz, blues, folk, and beyond—including Melanie Charles, Shenel Johns, and Ashley Pezzotti—will lend their unique voices to impassioned new big band charts arranged by Crenshaw and members of the JLCO. The repertoire will span decades and include songs written and/or made famous by Betty Carter, Billie Holiday, Abbey Lincoln, and Nina Simone.
Enjoy our curated playlist in preparation for the concert.
- Subscriber Price: $15 per show
- Member Price: $0–$15 per show
- Full Season Access: $40
Premieres Feb 20 6pm et • On-Demand thru Feb 24
Vocalist Catherine Russell hosts an extraordinary ensemble of jazz musicians in this concert for families and student audiences. The contributions of iconic jazz artists such as Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald will be explored in a performance demonstrating their lasting legacies.
Performance Lineup:
Catherine Russell, host/vocals
Sean Mason, piano
Russell Hall, bass
Rob Garcia, drums
Bruce Harris, trumpet/music director
Camille Thurman, saxophone/vocals
Mariel Bildsten, trombone
What to Expect
• Grammy Award-winning vocalist Catherine Russell interprets exemplary jazz repertoire for all ages to enjoy.
• This program supports Jazz at Lincoln Center's Let Freedom Swing education initiative, which reaches over 85,000 students in over 550 concerts annually.
- Subscriber Price: $15 per show
- Member Price: $0–$15 per show
- Full Season Access: $40
Love Jazz?
Support Our Work
The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra is presented by the Arnhold Family.
Leadership support for Jazz at Lincoln Center is provided by Jody and John Arnhold, Helen and Robert Appel, Diana and Joe DiMenna, and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Major support made possible through America's Cultural Treasures, a sponsored project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.
Generous Support for Jazz at Lincoln Center’s virtual concert season is provided in part by New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council, New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Support for Jazz at Lincoln Center’s webcasting is provided by
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and Louise and Leonard Riggio.
Operating Support for Jazz at Lincoln Center is provided in part by The Ford Foundation, Howard Gilman Foundation, Ambrose Monell Foundation, The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, Abrams Foundation, Seedlings Foundation, and The William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust.
Jazz at Lincoln Center acknowledges the following supporters of Legacies of Excellence:
This program is funded through the generosity of Mica and Ahmet Ertegun.
Leadership support provided in part by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation, Jacqueline L. Bradley and Clarence Otis, The Boulé Foundation, and Rockefeller Foundation.
Major support provided by the Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, Manitou Fund, and Susan and J. Alan Kahn.
Additional support provided by SJS Charitable Trust and Robert and Mercedes Eichholz Foundation.