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New York Latin Jazz

New York Latin Jazz is traditional in Harlem and Greenwich Village.

Jazz at Lincoln Center and the Afro Latin Jazz Alliance are New York’s leading jazz and Latin jazz institutions.

Birdland and the Blue Note are famous jazz clubs. The Village Vanguard is NYC’s oldest. Minton’s is where bebop was born. Terraza 7 is Latin.

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🇮🇹 🇫🇷 🇪🇸

Latin jazz artists, clubs, festivals

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New York Latin Jazz Features

New York Latin jazz Archive

New York Latin Jazz News

January 2023

The Annette A Aguilar Trio, featuring Uruguayan guitar hero Bele Beledo, plays late night jazz on New Year’s Eve morning at the Uptown Garrison in Hudson Heights, Manhattan on Sunday, January 1, 2023 from 1:30-4:30am. No cover. 🇧🇷🇳🇮🇺🇾

Vince Giordano and The Nighthawks play vintage hot jazz at the Birdland Theater in Hell’s Kitchen; Tuesday, January 3, 2023 at 8:30pm. From $36.

Vocalist Vanessa Rubin and her Trio play jazz originals and interprets classics at Dizzy’s Club in Jazz at Lincoln Center on Wednesday, January 4, 2023 at 7:30 & 9:30pm. 🇹🇹

French Tunisian saxophonist and composer Yacine Boularès plays a “Night in Tunisia;” a Tunis Opera commission that blends Tunisian traditions into Dizzy Gillespie’s classic jazz anthem with rapper Mehdi WMD and singer Nessrine Jabeur; at Lincoln Center’s David Rubenstein Atrium; Wednesday, January 11, 2023 at 7:30pm. FREE! 🇫🇷🇹🇳🇺🇸

Emmy, Grammy, and Golden Globe-nominated, New York Jamaican bassist Russell Hall; celebrates Dr. Reverend Martin Luther King Jr with a jazz concert for the World Music Institute; in the BAMcafé at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) on Friday, January 13, 2023 at 9pm. FREE! 🇺🇸

The Winter Jazzfest 2023 festival of jazz showcases is one week Thursday-Wednesday, January 12-18, 2023. The Manhattan Jazz Marathon is Friday, January 13. The Brooklyn Jazz Marathon is Saturday, January 14. From $65. 🇧🇷🇨🇺🇩🇴🇫🇷🇭🇹🇵🇦🇵🇹🇪🇸

Pianist Dayramir Gonzalez plays Cuban jazz at the Winter Jazzfest Brooklyn Marathon at National Sawdust in Williamsburg on Saturday, January 14, 2023 at 7pm. $65. 🇨🇺

Musical collective Harriet Tubman (Brandon Ross, Melvin Gibbs and JT Lewis) celebrates Dr. Reverend Martin Luther King Jr for the World Music Institute with a jazz rock concert in the BAMcafé at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) on Saturday, January 14, 2023 at 9pm. FREE! 🇺🇸

Gregorio Uribe celebrates the release of his third cumbia, vallenato, jazz album “Hombre absurdo” (Absurd man); in the David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center; on Thursday, January 19, 2023 at 7:30pm. FREE! 🇨🇴

Vince Giordano and The Nighthawks play vintage hot jazz at the Birdland Theater in Hell’s Kitchen; Friday-Sunday, January 27-29, 2023 at 7 & 9:30pm. From $36.

February 2023

South African pianist Nduduzo Makhatini and Brazilian mandolin virtuoso Hamilton de Holanda show how we, the African Diaspora, turn the colonial mess into something wonderful at Jazz at Lincoln Center in the Appel Room on Friday-Saturday, February 24-25, 2023. From $81. 🇿🇦🇧🇷

Miguel Zenón & La Prueba del Ritmo play Afro-Latin jazz in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr; in Teatro LATEA at The Clemente Center in the Lower East Side; on Saturday, February 25, 2023 at 8pm (7:30pm doors). From $25. 🇵🇷

March 2023

The 31st Women’s Jazz Festival at the Schomburg Center in Harlem is usually in March. 🇺🇸

April 2023

Paquito D’Rivera joins the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis for Tres Aguas & Music of Colombia, premieres of Elio Villafranca’s “Tres Aguas” and Edmar Castaneda’s “Music of Colombia;” at Jazz at Lincoln Center on Columbus Circle; on Friday, April 14, 2023 at 8pm. From $41. 🇨🇺🇨🇴

June 2023

The Blue Note Jazz Festival runs all June.

July 2023

Jazz in July at the 92nd Street Y, curated by jazz piano legend Bill Charlap, is a showcase for hot Jewish jazz with a groovy European vibe.

August 2023

TRAVEL
The Newport Jazz Festival is in Newport, Rhode Island, Friday-Sunday, August 4-6, 2023. newportjazz.org

There is jazz at Harlem Week and the Harlem Music Festival (August 12-21, 2022). harlemweek.com

The 31st Charlie Parker Jazz Festival is part of August SummerStage, (Friday-Sunday, August 26-28, 2022).

September 2023

JazzFest White Plains is in September (September 14-18, 2022). artswestchester.org

October 2023

The Nublu Jazz Festival is at Nublu 151 in Manhattan’s East Village. (October 1-31, 2022).

December 2023

Chris Botti plays his 19th Holiday Residency at the Blue Note in Greenwich Village, nightly including Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Year’s Eve, and New Year’s Day. (December 5, 2022 – January 1, 2023). 🇮🇹

Hostos Center does a Puerto Rican parranda concert in December (Saturday, December 10, 2022).

Big Band Holidays with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis is a family concert at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater (Wednesday-Sunday, December 14-18, 2022). 🇺🇸

The Carlos Henriquez Nonet plays jazz at Dizzy’s Club in Jazz at Lincoln Center through New Year’s Eve (Monday-Friday, December 26-31, 2022). 🇵🇷

New York Latin Jazz Artists

  • Machito & his Afro-Cubans Latin jazz 🇨🇺
  • Magos Herrera 🇲🇽
  • Miguel Zenón 🇵🇷
  • Myriam Phiro
  • Nella Rojas flamenco jazz
  • Omara Portuondo son jazz 🇨🇺
  • Omar Sosa & Seckou Keita global jazz
  • Papo Vázquez 🇵🇷
  • Paquito D’Rivera classical & jazz 🇨🇺
  • Pedrito Martinez rumba jazz 🇨🇺
  • Pedro Giraudo tango jazz 🇦🇷
  • Rosa Passos 🇧🇷
  • Rubén Blades salsa jazz 🇵🇦
  • Spanish Harlem Orchestra salsa jazz 🇵🇷
  • Tito Puente salsa jazz 🇵🇷
  • Tito Rodríguez mambo jazz 🇵🇷
  • Vince Giordano & the Nighthawks hot jazz 🇮🇹
  • Xiomara Laugart 🇨🇺
  • Zaccai Curtis 🇵🇷

New York Latin Jazz Clubs

Manhattan: Upper | Uptown | Midtown | Downtown
Boroughs: Bronx | Brooklyn | Queens

Upper Manhattan Jazz Clubs

West Side above 110th | East Side above 96th

Harlem is one of the spiritual homes for jazz. Minton’s is one of the original rooms where bebop modern jazz was born.

Jazzmobile produces pop-up jazz events. jazzmobile.org

Duke Ellington (1899-1974) was America’s most prolific composer. He lived in Washington Heights at 935 St Nicholas Ave. “Take the “A” Train,” literally.

Uptown Manhattan Jazz Clubs

59th St to 110th St West Side | 96th St East Side

Jazz at Lincoln Center is the world’s leading jazz organization. Dizzy’s Club is Jazz at Lincoln Center’s jazz supper club.

Midtown Manhattan Jazz Clubs

14th St to 59th St

  • The Flatiron Room is a “2021 Best Whisky Bar in America.” theflatironroom.com
  • Swing 46 is a dance club on Restaurant Row with live swing music nightly. swing46.nyc

Downtown Manhattan Jazz Clubs

Below 14th St

Greenwich Village is one of the spiritual homes of jazz.

Le Poisson Rouge was the old Village Gate where jazz and Latin mixed together. The old sign is still up on the corner.

Smalls is a tiny, busy, non-profit jazz club. They often run 4 bands a night. smallslive.com

The Village Vanguard is New York’s oldest operating jazz club.

Zinc Bar was the old Cinderella Club. 🇦🇷

Brooklyn Jazz Clubs

Bronx Jazz Clubs

Queens Jazz Clubs

Terraza 7 is one of New York’s only Latin jazz clubs. 🇨🇴

Louis Armstrong (1901-1971) changed jazz and popular music forever. There is music before Louis and after Louis. Louis Armstrong House Museum is in Corona, Queens. louisarmstronghouse.org

New York Jazz Festivals

Origins of Latin Jazz

Jazz is Creole music from New Orleans that was separated at birth from its Caribbean origins. Dizzy Gillespie reunited the Caribbean hero twins by bringing Caribbean percussion back into jazz in 1940s New York.

While Dizzy Gillespie and friends were creating bebop modern jazz, Machito and His Afro-Cubans directed by Mario Bauzá was creating Cubop Latin jazz. We stayed together ever since.

Jazz dances include broadway, swing and tap.

NYC’s jazz radio is WBGO 88.3 and WKCR 89.9.

Jazz is the sound of freedom. It developed in New Orleans, Louisiana out of the blues, ragtime, gospel and marches after the American Civil War (1865) made all Americans free. Characters like Buddy Bolden (1877-1931) and Jelly Roll Morton (1890-1941) were among the originators.

New Orleans is a Caribbean city. The ferry used to run twice a day between New Orleans and Havana, Cuba. Our point of view is that the Haitian Diaspora is the taproot of jazz. The Haitian Revolution (1791-1804) seeded African Diaspora culture across the Caribbean, including to New Orleans. By 1810, half of New Orleans was Haitian Diaspora. Jazz and carnival are two sides of the same coin. Caribbean carnival (New Orleans Mardi Gras) is another core expression of freedom.

Jazz and Latin jazz are Caribbean hero twins separated at birth in New Orleans when they took away the drum. Latin jazz has clave in it (the five-beat African bell pattern). Jazz doesn’t.

Latin Jazz is a New York City native. Cubop (Latin Jazz) was created at the same time as Bebop (Modern Jazz), by some of the same musicians. Mario Bauzá, Machito and his Afro-Cubans’ Music Director, defined the form in NYC with the song “Tanga” in 1942.

Dizzy Gillespie reunited the Caribbean hero twins when he asked Bauzá for a conga player. Bauza introduced Chano Pozo. He and Dizzy cowrote Jazz classics “Manteca” and “Tin Tin Deo” and the rest is history.

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