Watch sessions from Jazz Congress 2O19

Jazz, Swing, Race and Culture
Considering swing as a rhythm or swing as a feeling or a verb, what are the social, cultural, and racial factors that affect individuals’ perception, acceptance or rejection of the concept? Player and thinkers ponder what swing means in 2019.
Moderator: Andre Guess (Guessworks)
Panelists: Terri Lyne Carrington, Wynton Marsalis, Christian McBride, Myra Melford, Nicholas Payton

Strategic Partnership in Practice: Jazz Night in America
What does an effective strategic partnership look like? How is it created and what does it take to maintain it? What value does each individual partner see in such a relationship and what can the jazz community learn from this unique partnership between NPR Music, WBGO, and Jazz at Lincoln Center.
Moderator: Neal Shapiro (WNET)
Panelists: Gabrielle Armand (Jazz at Lincoln Center), Anya Grundmann (NPR), Amy Niles (WBGO)

State of Jazz Record Labels
With label relaunches, increased release schedules, aggressive new signings and a seemingly increased investment from labels in jazz over the last year, what are these businesses’ visions for the future of recorded jazz?
Moderator: Lauren Onkey (NPR Music)
Panelists: Jana Herzen (Motema Music), Willie Jones III (WJ3 Records), Denny Stilwell (Mack Avenue Records)

KEYNOTE: Lundvall Visionary Award & Art Blakey Centennial Celebration
The Jazz Congress is honored to present the 2019 Bruce Lundvall Visionary Award to Darlene Chan, a tireless, behind the scenes advocate for so many artists and the music at large. 
Immediately following the presentation of the award, members of the Jazz Messengers will reconvene onstage for a once in a lifetime reunion, hosted by Celine Peterson.
Panelists: Terence Blanchard, Randy Brecker, Cameron Brown, Donald Brown, Steve Davis, Leon Lee Dorsey, Essiet Essiet, Kevin Eubanks, Jon Faddis, Benny Green, Billy Harper, Donald Harrison, Eddie Henderson, Vincent Herring, Harold Mabern, Branford Marsalis, Wynton Marsalis, Ralph Peterson Jr., Bill Pierce, Lonnie Plaxico, Wallace Roney, Melissa Slocum, Charles Tolliver, Steve Turre, Bobby Watson

Funding for Jazz
Revenue sources for jazz are as broad as other art forms and can vary from public funding, foundations, corporations, individuals and earned income support. Funders and organizations talk about effective tactics, tools and practices that organizations have utilized to raise money for jazz.
Introduction: Pamela Butler (Jazz at Lincoln Center)
Moderator: Sunny Sumter (DC Jazz Festival)
Panelists: Ella Baff, Sara Donnelly (South Arts), Maurine Knighton (Doris Duke Charitable Foundation)

Electric Miles Revisited Presented by the Miles Davis Estate
Members of Miles Davis’ ‘70s electric bands talk about the music of that often-overlooked period.
Introduction by Vince Wilburn, Jr. (Miles Davis Estate)
Moderator: Mark Ruffin (Sirius/XM)
Panelists: Gary Bartz, Michael Henderson, Dave Liebman, Mtume, Wallace Roney, Lenny White

Institutions in Transition: Newport Jazz Festival
George Wein produced his first Newport Jazz Festival in 1954 at age 28. Today, as part of the non-profit Newport Festivals Foundation, the jazz festival continues in stride alongside its folk counterpart, under the leadership of Jay Sweet and Artistic Director Christian McBride. George has said his motivation in his ninth decade of life is to see the festivals flourish beyond him. In this conversation, he’ll share the stage with Jay and Christian and discuss leadership transitions, succession planning, and how the brand he established 65 years ago not only endures, but flourishes.  
Moderator: Jason Olaine (Jazz at Lincoln Center)
Panelists: Christian McBride, Jay Sweet (Newport Festivals), George Wein (Newport Festivals)

Jazz in Troubled Times
How does jazz speak to the tumult of today? Can a song change a mind? Is improvisation a political act? A frank discussion about what musicians can communicate in the face of social and political unrest, and how these times affect the course of and context for our culture.
Moderator: Larry Blumenfeld (Wall Street Journal)
Panelists: Vijay Iyer, Rene Marie, Arturo O'Farrill

Making Space in Jazz for Transgender Voices
Join transgender and gender fluid artists and an ally for an open conversation about acceptance, support, and challenges to diverse voices. Transgender artists have been present in jazz for decades; has the jazz community evolved in its openness to transgender and gender fluid artists? We will listen to and honor voices and stories often suppressed in this and other communities and explore the concept of being allies. 
Moderator: Katie Simon (WBGO/Jazz Night in America)
Panelists: Jennifer Leitham, Riley Mulherkar, Chloe Rowlands

Celebrating Randy Weston
The Appel Room
With his September 1, 2018 passing the jazz world lost a truly singular pianist-composer-bandleader and endless seeker of the African essence of music and spirituality. This panel will discuss the unprecedented African Rhythms legacy of this NEA Jazz Master, who in his own words came to be a storyteller, a quest he achieved through a vast sphere of influences ranging from his Brooklyn homeboy Max Roach, to Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk, to mystical Sufi masters and global scholars.
Moderator: Willard Jenkins (DC Jazz Festival)
Panelists: T.K. Blue, Gail Boyd, Jacques Muyal, Min Xiao-Fen

Watch sessions from Jazz Congress 2O18

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Jazz and Race: A Conversation

We’ve all heard commentators and pundits through the years claim that what the United States needs is “an honest conversation about race.” Racial identity and issues, including segregation, integration, and appropriation, pervade the history of jazz.  As a metaphor for democracy, and given the music’s core values of swing, improvisation, and the blues, what is the role of jazz in this important discussion?  
Moderator: Andre Guess
Speakers: Ethan Iverson, Wynton Marsalis

Gender and Jazz

With sexism, harassment and gender bias in the news, it’s time for the jazz community to face and reconcile its own performance and history in that area and come up with realistic solutions for the music and the business.
Moderator: Michele Mercer (NPR)
Panelists:  Terri Lyne Carrington (Berklee College of Music), Ingrid Jensen, John Murph, Ellen Seeling (Montclair Big Band)

In this video:
Keynote
Welcome: Wynton Marsalis
Remarks: Adam Rose
Introduction: Mario Garcia Durham (APAP)
Keynote Presentation: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Bruce Lundvall Visionary Award introduction: Peter Gordon
Bruce Lundvall Visionary Award presented to Terri Lyne Carrington
In Memoriam presentation with music by Ike Sturm (Saint Peter’s Church)

Learning from Large Jazz Organizations
Leaders from a few of the major jazz organizations talk about what smaller organizations and even artists can learn from their programs and experiences.
Moderator: Debora Spar (Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts)
Panelists: Gene Dobbs Bradford (Jazz St. Louis), Randall Kline (SFJAZZ), Amy Niles (WBGO), Greg Scholl (Jazz at Lincoln Center)

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Jazz Vocalists and Repertoire
Singers share their insight on the fine art of developing repertoire—from balancing the GASB with contemporary material to doing covers vs. originals.
Moderator: Deborah Grace Winer
Panelists: Ann Hampton Callaway, Jazzmeia Horn, John Pizzarelli, Ted Rosenthal, Catherine Russell

What Does New Orleans Mean Today?
The storied music culture of New Orleans has long defined the city's identity and represented essential jazz history. As New Orleans marks its tricentennial, how does this culture resonate in its quickly changing hometown and for the wider jazz community? 
Moderator: Larry Blumenfeld (Wall Street Journal)
Panelists: Terence Blanchard, Evan Christopher, Sasha Masakowski

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Jazz, Politics, and Activism: Tying the Theoretical to the Practical
Artists, industry professionals and social activists talk about how jazz can affect political awareness and action in the current political climate and culture. 
Moderator: Karen Kennedy (24 Seven Artist Management)
Panelists: Terri Lyne Carrington, Aaron Goldberg, Wesley Watkins (Jazz and Democracy Project), Wayne Winborne (Rutgers University)

Building Partnerships in Secondary Markets
A discussion of how presenters can work together in their respective markets to create effective partnership and increase the audience and present for jazz.
Moderator: Tim Jackson (Monterey Jazz Festival)
Panelists: John Gilbreath (Earshot Jazz), Fritz Thom (Vienna Jazz Festival/IJFO), Shannon Wallace (JazzHubs)

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Legends of Piano Round Table
A lively conversation with a few masters of jazz piano.
Moderator: Ethan Iverson
Panelists: Kenny Barron, Joanne Brackeen, Harold Mabern

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Why Performance Matters: Stagecraft Masterclass
Why is putting on a good show important?  Your artistic skills and musical technique are vital to making it onto the stage and building your audiences, however, a successful artist also cultivates the emotional intelligence inherent in the skill of stagecraft. Bandleaders, vocalists, and their sidemen will offer advice, best practices, and guidance on building a setlist, developing banter, and considering the ever-shortening attention span of the modern audience.
Moderator: Jason Olaine (Jazz at Lincoln Center)
Panelists: Darlene Chan, Tedd Firth, Paquito D’Rivera, Marilyn Maye, Riley Mulherkar

Cultural Considerations in Presenting Jazz
An exploration of the manner in which presenters engage with communities and organizations
that are not traditionally part of the jazz audience.
Moderator: Gail Boyd (Gail Boyd Artist Management)
Panelists: Sheila Evans (Allentown Symphony), Kaisha Johnson (Women of Color in the Arts), Michael Kline (Exit Zero Jazz Festival), Randy Vogel (Mesa Arts Center)