The Jazz Generations Initiative, an immersive new program designed to cultivate and grow the rich and vibrant jazz scenes in New York and New Orleans, has announced a diverse slate of programming, kicking off with events this week in both cities.
JGI’s programs will ultimately span major concerts in both cities, a residency program, a jam session series, an innovative publication and much more, all geared toward expanding jazz scholarship, performance opportunities, diverse listening audiences, and archival preservation.
Operating with support from the Jazz Foundation of America, the JGI is backed by a three-year, $5.8 million grant from the Mellon Foundation — part of a broader $35 million commitment by Mellon toward preserving America’s first original art form.
The JGI aims to preserve jazz legacies and spark new possibilities in improvised music and beyond through interdisciplinary and intergenerational performances and events, a multimedia publication, a comprehensive jazz listings calendar for both New York and New Orleans, innovative jazz studies scholarship, artist- and scholar-in-residence programs, educational initiatives and an oral history project. At every step, the initiative–dedicated to presenting “jazz in motion,” often through an interdisciplinary lens–will be entirely shaped and guided by the leadership of artists, writers, and scholars.
The Jazz Generations Initiative is led by Dr. Courtney Bryan, a composer, pianist, MacArthur fellow and professor of music at Tulane University, and Dr. Robert G. O’Meally, founder of the Center for Jazz Studies at Columbia University. The JGI will operate under the aegis of the Jazz Study Group — an interdisciplinary collective of scholars, artists and critics founded by O’Meally in 1995 — that has transformed jazz scholarship across three decades. That incubator of art and ideas will now engage the public more broadly.
“An outgrowth of the Jazz Study Group, our Jazz Generations Initiative celebrates the dynamic cultures and communities of New Orleans and New York while facilitating spaces for creativity and experimentation,” Dr. Bryan said. “Jazz teaches us values of listening, of community, and freedom, and with our interdisciplinary and intergenerational initiative, we aim to build upon the wisdom of our elders and perspectives of our youth as we collectively imagine new futures and bold possibilities.”
The JGI seeks to embrace the jazz tradition as a model for collaboration and improvisation across space and place. “Jazz has always been about connection—between disciplines, between generations, between communities,” said Dr. O’Meally. “With the Jazz Generations Initiative, we are creating a bridge between New York and New Orleans—a living network where artists and scholars can listen, learn, and carry forward the transformative stories and sounds of this music.”
While expanding the art form’s live and in-person footprint across both cities, and engaging wider audiences as well as student populations, the initiative will be complemented by a strong digital presence to broaden the JGI’s global reach. In the coming months, the JGI website (jazzgenerations.org) will grow to encompass a multimedia publication, a comprehensive live music listings resource for both New York and New Orleans, a podcast, and extensive video and social media content from both cities.
The JGI’s New York Community Initiative will host a series of free performances and jam sessions at Cafe Erzulie in Bushwick/Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, artist-curated residencies and quarterly major concerts around the city.
Starting in winter 2026, the JGI Continuum Fellowship will convene a rotating group of artists under 50 to curate intergenerational and interdisciplinary performance residencies at venues around New York. Inspired by the Jazz Legacies Fellowship, which honors jazz elders, the JGI Continuum Fellowship is a separate, independently administered program of the JGI, conceived as a next-generation counterpart.
The inaugural cohort of Continuum Fellows includes drummer Savannah Harris, multi-instrumentalist Morgan Guerin, tenor saxophonist James Brandon Lewis, cellist Tomeka Reid, alto saxophonist Godwin Louis, vocalist Tahira Clayton, visual artist Nate Lewis, pianist and vocalist Samora Pinderhughes and pianist David Virelles.
The JGI’s New York programs will also include SOUNDOFF SESSIONS every other week at Cafe Erzulie, and major concerts and satellite events at diverse spaces around the city throughout the year.
Jazz Generations Initiative Events
December 3 New Orleans, LA Historic St. Luke’s Episcopal Church D’Angelo’s Voodoo Listening Session
December 4 New York, NY Cafe Erzulie SOUNDOFF SESSIONS: Trap Music Orchestra
December 18 New York, NY Cafe Erzulie SOUNDOFF SESSIONS: Tyrone Allen II
January 14-16 New Orleans, LA The Music of Alice Coltrane New Marigny Theater
THE SOUNDOFF SESSIONS: Trap Music Orchestra
Thurs, December 4, 2025 @ 7:00pm Cafe Erzulie, 894 Broadway, Brooklyn
The Jazz Generations Initiative presents the Trap Music Orchestra to kick off THE SOUNDOFF SESSIONS, a new series of performances and open jams every other Thursday at Cafe Erzulie. The bandstand opens up after 10:00pm, so musicians, bring your axe. Poets, emcees, dancers, this night is for you too — so come ready to share. Vinyl selections curated by DJ Late4dinner; night hosted by New York native and versatile emcee JSWISS.
About the Trap Music Orchestra: Synchronizing the aural lineage of Black music around the centerpiece of Trap Music, the group is equal parts a time capsule, a mosaic, a lecture, and a party. With a global, multigenerational catalog to recontextualize and refurbish, the Orchestra finds no obstacles when it comes to feeling like a true celebration. Composed of 18-22 Black musicians at any given time, the energy remains enthralling, the improvised moments bring both the element of gleeful surprise and thoughtful reflection, and the on-stage comradery permeates through the crowd.
THE SOUNDOFF SESSIONS: Tyrone Allen II
Thurs, December 18, 2025 @ 7:00pm Cafe Erzulie, 894 Broadway, Brooklyn
Tyrone Allen II is an exceptional bass player who has played with some of the top contemporaries of his time, including Nicole Glover, Sullivan Fortner, Miki Yamanaka, Kazemde George and myriad others. This SOUNDOFF SESSIONS show becomes an open bandstand after 10:00pm. Vinyl will be spun by DJ Late4dinner; night hosted by New York native and vocal artist Faith Quashie.
JGI Residencies in New Orleans
Led by Dr. Courtney Bryan, Bamboula: Jazz Studies in Motion is an innovative, interdisciplinary residency, fellowship and creative hub based in New Orleans, Louisiana.
While New Orleans, often referred to as the northernmost Caribbean city, is known for its rich history of music and culture — with people travelling to the city regularly to hear live music and experience the unique culture — there is a desire among artists for more spaces for experimentation away from the pressures of commerce and tourism. Bamboula: Jazz Studies in Motion offers opportunities for gatherings based on experimentation, creativity and interdisciplinary explorations, while drawing inspiration from the city of New Orleans and its connections with the African diaspora, the Global South, and the Gulf South region.
The Bamboula Residency program will offer short- and long-term residencies for artists, scholars, and writers at The New Quorum, a creative residence situated in an early 20th century mansion along the Esplanade Ridge National Historic District, hosted by Bamboula and The New Quorum director Gianna Chachere. The Bamboula creative hub, housed at Historic St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, will make space available for local artists and members of the community to stage creative inquiries, workshops, rehearsals and gatherings.
The program will partner with local universities and schools, including Tulane University, Dillard University and Xavier University, and the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts (NOCCA), as well as community centers, religious institutions, book shops, performance venues, and institutes whose work overlaps with themes of the creative hub and its visiting guest artists and scholars.
Short-Term Residents
Brandee Younger, harpist, composer, scholar, and bandleader
Allan Mednard, drummer and bandleader
Rashaan Carter, bassist and bandleader
Maxine Gordon, oral historian and archivist
Cory Diane, multimedia artist and scholar
Long-Term Residents
Dr. Tim Mangin, ethnomusicologist, composer, Senegalese popular music
Dr. Erna Brodber, Jamaican writer, scholar and social activist
JGI Events in New Orleans
Deep Dish Listening: D’Angelo’s Voodoo, Featuring Papa Titos Sompa in conversation with Chrishana Simon
Wed, December 3, 2025, 5:30pm-7:00pm Historic St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 1222 N. Dorgenois St, Gaudet Hall, Cisco Room
Creative Response: Trinity Smith, NOCCA
Deep Dish Listening is a community initiative program supported by Bamboula Creative Hub, a part of the Jazz Generations Initiative. The program features renowned musician Papa Titos Sompa, Posse graduate Chrishana Simon, and a visual artist and student from the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, a public regional, pre-professional arts training center that offers students intensive instruction in the creative arts.
This series provides an intimate setting for audiences to engage in deep listening for an entire album. After listening is over, there will be a dialogue about the album, its connection with the Gulf and Global South, and jazz studies.
Light refreshments provided. Free and open to the public. RSVP HERE
January 14-16, 2026
The Music of Alice Coltrane: Michelle Coltrane, Brandee Younger Trio & the Ashram Singers
Jan. 14: Oral History Presentation, Dixon Annex Recital Hall, Tulane University, Uptown Campus, Newcomb Circle
Jan. 15 – Workshop, New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts, 2800 Chartres Street
Jan. 16 – Concert, New Marigny Theater at Church of Arts and Sciences 2301 Marais Street New Orleans
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