Intergenerational Jazz Power Jam Festival 2022

Intergenerational Jazz Power Jam Festival 2022 is a 4-part music series of family-friendly concerts in Northern Manhattan during June 2022, celebrating and highlighting the creative connections between the African American and Latin American roots of jazz. The Intergenerational Jazz Power Jam Festival 2022 is produced by Jazz Power Initiative, an Inwood-based non-profit organization founded in 2003, and presented in collaboration with the P.S. 4 Duke Ellington, Jazzmobile and the Hispanic Society Museum and Library.

Our Intergenerational Jazz Power Jam Festival is being offered for free, for general audiences of all kinds. Our Festival is being launched with new partners, at public venues including the newly re-opened Hispanic Society Museum and Library in Washington Heights, and the Interchurch Center in West Harlem with Jazzmobile.

Our Festival concert series will feature a cross-cultural, multidisciplinary and intergenerational array of professional jazz music and acclaimed performing artists presenting both classics and original, contemporary works. These include a premiere of a new music commission, based on the poem “Black Notes” by Sandra Maria Estevez, and selected highlights from our original Jazz Power musicals for K-12 students, with songs addressing socially relevant themes such as facing climate change, embracing diversity, navigating young adulthood, standing up for voting rights, and sharing the healing power of the blues. Our complete schedule for our 2022 Intergenerational Jazz Power Jam Festival is:

June 10, 2022, 5:00 PM – Why We Matter, a musical story presented by students of Jazz Power Prep at the Duke Ellington School, written and directed by PS4 music teacher Jose Cantu, in collaboration with Mickey Davidson (co-director/choreographer), and Annette A. Aguilar, (music director). Location: Duke Ellington Elementary School, Washington Heights.

June 11, 2022, 3:00 PM – Listen To The People, a premiere presentation by Eli Yamin and the Jazz Power Community Singers featuring Jazz Power Emerging Artist in Residence, Joie St. Hubert and Hear My Voice, highlights of jazz musicals by Eli Yamin and Clifford Carlson, directed by Mickey Davidson, Antoinette Montague and Eli Yamin and featuring students from Jazz Power Youth Performance Workshop. Location: Hispanic Society Museum and Library, in Washington Heights.

June 15, 2022, 7:00 PM – Swinging Into Summer with Mickey Davidson and Friends, and a Jazz Power Swingtet in collaboration with Jazzmobile. Location: Interchurch Center, West Harlem.

June 25, 3:00 PM – Steven Oquendo Latin Jazz Orchestra (SOLJO) and “Celebrating Sam and Cedar” with Jason Clotter, with Steven Oquendo and his 19-piece Latin Jazz orchestra, and Jazz Power Emerging Artist-in-Residence, Jason Clotter, “Celebrating Sam Jones and Cedar Walton” with his quintet. Location: Hispanic Society Museum and Library.

This program is made possible by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council; the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature; the West Harlem Development Corporation; the Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation; the New York-Presbyterian Hospital; the Hyde and Watson Foundation, and our individual donors.