First Annual Jazz Congress Schedule Announced

The Jazz Congress, a new annual conference organized by JazzTimes magazine and Jazz at Lincoln Center, will bring together artists, media and industry leaders from the global jazz community to exchange ideas and resources. The 2018 Jazz Congress, featuring a series of panels, workshops, meetings and performances, will be held on January 11-12, 2018 at Frederick P. Rose Hall, home of Jazz at Lincoln Center, located at Broadway at 60th Street, New York, New York. The 2018 Jazz Congress schedule of events has just been announced and can be found at www.jazzcongress.org.

Among the panel topics are “Jazz and Race,” “The Power of Crowdfunding,” “Gender and Jazz,” “Digital Marketing,” and “Storytelling with Audio and Video,” “The Artist-Manager Relationship” and many more. Panelists, moderators and speakers include artists such as Terence Blanchard, Aaron Goldberg, Ingrid Jensen, Rene Marie, Wynton Marsalis, Catherine Russell, Mehmet Ali Sanlikol, Nate Smith and Matt Wilson, as well as various industry professionals.

The Jazz Congress will present drummer/bandleader/producer/advocate/educator Terri Lyne Carrington with the Bruce Lundvall Visionary Award.  Lee Mergner, Peter Gordon and Don Lucoff, working with the Jazz Connect Conference which preceded the Jazz Congress for several years, created the Bruce Lundvall Visionary Award in 2014 in honor of the esteemed jazz record executive who was a champion and advocate for so many jazz artists over the last four decades.  The annual award recognizes an individual who has demonstrated extraordinary leadership and vision in expanding the audience for jazz and who has made a real difference for the artists, the music and the audience. Previous recipients are: Randall Kline, SFJAZZ founder and executive director; Brice Rosenbloom, founder of the BOOM Collective and organizer of Winter Jazzfest, the Undead Music Festival, the BRIC Jazz Festival and other innovative live events; and bassist and NPR radio host Christian McBride.