The Blue Note Jazz Festival is an annual

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

festival that takes place in June in various venues across

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Hosted by the

Blue Note Jazz Club Blue Note Jazz Club is a jazz club and restaurant located at 131 West 3rd Street in Greenwich Village, New York City. The club was opened on September 30, 1981, by owner and founder Danny Bensusan, with the Nat Adderley Quintet being the featured ...

, the festival features performances by renowned jazz artists who have been integral to the Blue Note Jazz Club or to jazz music in general. The inaugural festival took place on June 1, 2011, to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Blue Note Jazz Club in New York City. In the course of one month, the festival featured over 80 performances in 15 different venues.

Venues

The Blue Note Jazz Festival is held in some of the most prominent music venues in New York City. The festival is primarily held in the venues operated by the Blue Note Entertainment Group, the

and Sony Hall, and formerly the

Highline Ballroom The Highline Ballroom was a music venue and nightclub located at 431 West 16th Street in Manhattan in New York City. Description Primarily featuring musical acts, its capacity was approximately 700 people hosting diverse concert programming fr ...

and

B.B. King's Blues Club Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, shimm ...

. However, performances have also been held in other notable establishments including Le Poisson Rouge, Mercury Lounge, the

Katonah Museum of Art The Katonah Museum of Art is a non-collecting institution geared towards visual arts, located in Katonah, New York, Katonah, New York (state), New York. It does not have a permanent collection, but holds temporary exhibitions. The museum was foun ...

, the Beacon Theatre, the

Town Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

, Terminal 5, and Central Park SummerStage.

Performers

As in the jazz club’s history, the Blue Note Jazz Festival offers an undeniably comprehensive look into the "who’s who" of jazz culture. A list of noteworthy performers is provided below.{{cn, date=September 2022

2011

Chris Botti, McCoy Tyner,

Dave Brubeck David Warren Brubeck (; December 6, 1920 – December 5, 2012) was an American jazz pianist and composer. Often regarded as a foremost exponent of cool jazz, Brubeck's work is characterized by unusual time signatures and superimposing contrasti ...

Brian Wilson Brian Douglas Wilson (born June 20, 1942) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer who co-founded the Beach Boys. Often called a genius for his novel approaches to pop composition, extraordinary musical aptitude, and m ...

, Bobby McFerrin,

Chaka Khan Yvette Marie Stevens (born March 23, 1953), better known by her stage name Chaka Khan (), is an American singer. Her career has spanned more than five decades, beginning in the 1970s as the lead vocalist of the funk band Rufus. Known as the " Qu ...

Lee Konitz Leon Konitz (October 13, 1927 – April 15, 2020) was an American composer and alto saxophonist. He performed successfully in a wide range of jazz styles, including bebop, cool jazz, and avant-garde jazz. Konitz's association with the cool jazz ...

, Bill Frisell, Dave Holland, Chris Potter,

Gary Peacock Gary George Peacock (May 12, 1935September 4, 2020) was an American jazz double bassist. He recorded a dozen albums under his own name, and also performed and recorded with major jazz figures such as avant garde saxophonist Albert Ayler, pianist ...

2012

McCoy Tyner,

Charles Tolliver Charles Tolliver (born 1942) is an American jazz trumpeter, composer, and co-founder of Strata East Records. Biography Tolliver was born in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1942 and moved with his family to New York City when he was 10. During his chi ...

, Lou Donaldson, Arturo Sandoval, Béla Fleck, Cassandra Wilson,

Jerry Douglas Gerald Calvin "Jerry" Douglas (born May 28, 1956) is an American Dobro and lap steel guitar player and record producer. Career In addition to his fourteen solo recordings, Douglas has played on more than 1,600 albums. As a sideman, he has ...

, the

James Carter Organ Trio James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

, Michel Camilo, Stanley Clarke, and

George Duke George M. Duke (January 12, 1946 – August 5, 2013) was an American keyboardist, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer. He worked with numerous artists as arranger, music director, writer and co-writer, record producer and as a pr ...

2013

Buffy Sainte-Marie,

Chris Rob Chris Rob, born Christopher Robinson, is an American musician, originally from Chicago, Illinois, who currently resides in Brooklyn, New York. Rob, the younger brother of actor, comedian, and musician Craig Robinson, attended Roosevelt Univer ...

The Hot Sardines The Hot Sardines is an American jazz band formed in New York City in 2007 by artistic director, singer, and writer Elizabeth Bougerol and artistic director, actor and pianist Evan Palazzo. The Sardines emphasize both authenticity and irreverence ...

, Dave Liebman,

The Manhattan Transfer The Manhattan Transfer is a Grammy award–winning vocal group founded in 1969 that has explored a cappella, vocalese, swing, standards, Brazilian jazz, rhythm and blues, and pop music. There have been two editions of the Manhattan Transfer, ...

2015

Buika, Natalie Cole, Buddy Guy, Abdullah Ibrahim

References

https://web.archive.org/web/20160207115550/http://www.bluenotejazzfestival.com/

External links

Blue Note Jazz ClubBlue Note Jazz Festival Website
Jazz festivals in New York City Jazz clubs in New York City