Winter Jazzfest celebrates the music as a living entity, wherein history collides with the future in every note. Creative improvisation in the digital age continues to stimulate thought and emotion of its listeners, embracing innovation, defying instrumental boundaries and the old cliches of “What is Jazz?”
Winter Jazzfest is the annual New York home to the exciting and forward-thinking contemporary jazz music being made today. It attacts a unique, deeply engaged, discerning audience, a diverse range of cultural enthusiasts and music fans from across North America and over 20 countries. The festival also plays host to attendees of the annual Association of Performing Arts Professionals (APAP), who attend Winter Jazzfest in order to discover new talents.
Since its founding in 2005, Winter Jazzfest has cemented a reputation as a hotbed of cultural discovery, presenting new and exciting sounds and scenes throughout New York.
Praised by New York Times, The New Yorker, NPR and others, the festival continues to grow as a dynamic rate, from its original one-day single-location program, to a 2017 itinerary that spanned 14 stages over six nights, in Downtown Manhattan and beyond, featuring over 700 artists, and more than 150 groups. In 2015, the festival was voted “#1 Jazz Festival in North America” by JazzTimes magazine, and has become a pivotal destination for any arts leaders and cultural cognoscenti who visit the city early in the year.
The music marathon that takes place during the festival’s Friday and Saturday nights has, in particular, become recognized as a crucial, unique New York nightlife offering, giving audiences full access to all participating venues from early evening, deep into the wee wee hours. Winter Jazzfest is an unparalleled experience for educated consumers of jazz, experimental sound and global creative impulses. In 2018, that meant welcoming over 13,000 deeply engaged audience members, and expecting to grow to an estimated 15,000 in 2019.