The 22nd edition of NYC Winter Jazzfest will be held January 8-13, 2026, at numerous venues in New York City. This year’s Winter Jazzfest reaffirms a commitment to nurturing community and free expression through live music.
The theme centers on the joy and beauty of gathering together while celebrating the tradition and future of Black American music—especially urgent during a time when external forces threaten to erase Black culture and history.
“Winter Jazzfest has always been more than a music festival—it’s a nurturing community gathering, a platform for diverse voices, a space of joy and resilience. In 2026, we double down on the power of music to resist erasure and amplify the voices at the heart of Black American music traditions,” said the Winter Jazzfest team.
NYC Winter Jazzfest has become a creative home for pathbreaking artists from New York and around the world, a pivotal destination for arts leaders, hardcore fans, and new listeners alike. The festival has grown from its humble beginnings into a citywide event featuring as many as 150 groups and 600+ artists across 20 stages in Manhattan and Brooklyn.
Founded by New York concert impresario Brice Rosenbloom, Winter Jazzfest is the definitive all-inclusive jazz gathering, offering a “state of the union” of the music in all its forms—from avant-garde to post-bop, party bands to ambient electronics, jazz-funk to global fusions. Attendees regularly travel from across the U.S. and abroad, making it one of the most anticipated destination festivals on the international calendar—often referred to as jazz’s answer to SXSW.
NYC Winter Jazzfest began in 2005 at the Knitting Factory on Leonard St., with the inaugural mission of highlighting music that deserved wider attention while the APAP conference was in town. To a large degree, that mission remains. But over the years it has grown to focus on artists with meaningful messages—serving as a beacon for racial and gender justice, climate action, immigration, mass incarceration, and other urgent issues that affect so many of us.
The overarching goal is clear: to grow the audience for jazz through a broad programming vision that reflects the diversity of New York’s scene, presenting the widest spectrum of what jazz can be. That mission continues in January 2026, as Winter Jazzfest once again supports a host of fearless and creative musicians while pushing boundaries and imagining new possibilities for our music scene and our world.
The festival’s 2026 creative direction, led by Creative Director Maryam Shines, takes inspiration from Maya Angelou’s poem “Still I Rise.” The artwork created for this year’s festival is a visual anthem of resilience, power, and joy, drawing on the bold lines of political poster art, the brilliance of Afrofuturist visionaries, and the lush imagination of artists like Kerry James Marshall and Mati Klarwein.
At its center, two hands rise—cupped open, both offering and receiving—embodying the spirit of jazz itself: the magic of cross-cultural and socio-economic exchange occurring across time, the embrace of tradition and the human urge to innovate new musical forms of expression. Flowers, especially roses, bloom throughout the imagery: as sound bursting from instruments, as threads binding musicians together, as offerings of joy in defiance of silence. (“Still I Rise” by Dr. Maya Angelou is officially used here with permission of Caged Bird Legacy, LLC)
The 2026 festival once again brings together a kaleidoscope of voices spanning jazz, experimental, soul, electronic, and global traditions. Here are individual shows, venues and dates for the Manhattan and Brooklyn Marathons.
The NYC Winter Jazzfest 2026 lineup includes the following:
January 8, 2026 – Psychic Hotline at NYC Winter Jazzfest
Mei Semones & John Roseboro, Amy Gadiaga, Sam Gendel, Joe Westerlund, William Tyler & Yasmin Williams, Sylvan Esso (DJ set)
Venue: LPR ((Le) Poisson Rouge)
Time: 7:00 PM Doors
Winter Jazzfest partners with Durham-based record label Psychic Hotline for a label showcase that expands the conversation around jazz and its many intersections. Founded by Sylvan Esso’s Amelia Meath and Nick Sanborn with Martin Anderson, Psychic Hotline is an artist-run company built on radically artist-forward values: transparent deals, creative freedom, and an ever-growing community of voices. This showcase brings together adventurous music-makers across jazz, folk, and experimental traditions—Mei Semones & John Roseboro, Amy Gadiaga, Sam Gendel, Joe Westerlund, William Tyler & Yasmin Williams—plus a DJ set from Sylvan Esso. Winter Jazzfest has previously presented Psychic Hotline artists including Amaro Freitas, Sam Wilkes, and Gendel. This year’s showcase extends a warm genre-agnostic welcome to a label that celebrates our core values.
January 8, 2026 – NYC Winter Jazzfest at Nublu
Early: Brazil Music Club with Hamilton de Holanda, Flávio Silva, Jamile & Vinicius Gomes Time: 6:30 PM Doors, 7:00 PM Show
Late: Late: William Parker Pocket Watch Orchestra, Tomoki Sanders Time: 9:30 PM Doors, 10:00 PM Show
Early:
6:30 PM Doors Open
7:00 PM Jamile & Vinicius Gomes
7:45 PM Flávio Silva
8:30 PM Hamilton de Holanda
Late:
9:30 PM Advertised Doors
10:00 PM William Parker Pocket Watch Orchestra
11:30 PM Tomoki Sanders
Manhattan Marathon
January 9, 2026 – Winter Jazzfest Manhattan Marathon
Venues: LPR, City Winery, City Winery Loft, Nublu, Drom, Bitter End, Zinc Bar Time: 5:00 PM – 3:00 AM
On January 9, 2026, Winter Jazzfest’s legendary Manhattan Marathon once again transforms Lower Manhattan into a living map of sound, with music coursing through LPR, City Winery, City Winery Loft, Nublu, DROM, The Bitter End, and Zinc Bar. Audiences will be able to wander
between venues and encounter strikingly different musical worlds that nevertheless speak to one another in surprising ways.
At LPR, experience lush, orchestrated textures alongside vibraphone and trumpet-driven ensembles exploring the percussive and electronic edges of contemporary improvisation. At City Winery, hear socially conscious bandleaders embodying jazz’s activist spirit, alongside a fiery tribute to John Coltrane. At Nublu, genre-benders join forces, creating exchanges where so-called “jazz” collides with ambient and electronic textures. At DROM, experience global currents flowing into contemporary jazz and the avant-garde. Late-night settings like Zinc Bar and The Bitter End keep the energy alive with cross-genre sparks originating from NYC to Paris, the Middle East and beyond. Our marathons are a kaleidoscope of rhythm, harmony, and expression—an open invitation to journey across the many shades of jazz in 2026 and beyond.
MANHATTAN MARATHON:
Venue: LPR
5:30 PM Doors
6:00 PM Nels Cline: songs from LOVERS conducted by Michael Leonhart 7:15 PM Patricia Brennan Tentet
8:30 PM Takuya Kuroda
9:45 PM Lakecia Benjamin
11:00 PM Braxton Cook
12:15 AM Obed Calvaire: 150 Million Gold Francs
1:30 AM Fonville x Fribush ft Morgan Burrs w/ Toribio
Venue: City Winery
5:00 PM Doors
6:30 PM James Carter Quintet – Trane: A Centennial Supreme
7:45 PM Endea Owens & The Cookout
9:00 PM Tyreek McDole
10:15 PM Lady Blackbird
11:30 PM Louis Cato
Venue: City Winery Loft
6:00 PM Doors
6:15 PM Civil Disobedience
7:30 PM Sarah Elizabeth Charles
8:45 PM Tia Fuller & Shamie Fuller-Royston
10:00 PM Veronica Swift
11:15 PM Brandon Woody’s Upendo
Venue: DROM
5:30 PM Doors
6:00 PM Arun Ramamurthy Trio
7:15 PM Amir ElSaffar New Quartet
8:30 PM New Jazz Underground
9:45 PM Ekep Nkwelle
11:00 PM David Murray Quartet
12:15 AM James Brandon Lewis Trio
Venue: Zinc Bar
6:00 PM Doors
6:45 PM Mingus Dynasty
8:00 PM Gabrielle Cavassa
9:15 PM The Hemphill Stringtet
10:30 PM Laura Anglade
11:45 PM Lex Korten & Canopy
1:00 AM William Hill Trio
Venue: Nublu
6:30 PM Doors
7:00 PM Alfredo Colon Sextet
8:15 PM Merope with Shahzad Ismaily
9:30 PM Sam Gendel & Nate Mercereau
10:45 PM Tomas Fujiwara: Dream Up
12:00 AM Shahzad Ismaily, Maria Chavez and Greg Saunier 1:15 AM Hanging Hearts
Venue: The Bitter End (French Quarter)
6:00 PM Doors
6:30 PM AMG
7:30 PM Mario Canonge Trio
8:30 PM Célia Kameni
9:30 PM GILDAA
10:30 PM The Getdown
11:30 PM Daoud
Venue: Close Up
6:00 PM Doors
6:30 PM John Hébert
8:00 PM John Hébert
10:00 PM David Virelles
11:30 PM David Virelles
Brooklyn Marathon
January 10, 2026 – Winter Jazzfest Brooklyn Marathon
Venues: Brooklyn Bowl, Music Hall of Williamsburg, Superior Ingredients, National Sawdust, Baby’s All Right, Union Pool, Loove Annex
Time: 5:00 PM – 3:00 AM
For the fourth year in a row, on January 10, Winter Jazzfest’s signature Marathon heads to Brooklyn for its second night; a night of expansive sounds spread across Music Hall of Williamsburg, Brooklyn Bowl, Superior Ingredients, Loove Labs Annex, Baby’s All Right, National Sawdust, and Union Pool. Like our Manhattan Marathon, our Brooklyn Marathon highlights artists who blur genre lines while staying rooted in jazz’s spirit of invention. At Music Hall of Williamsburg, rising stars of jazz vibraphone dovetail with folk-rooted fingerstyle guitarists and singer-songwriters whose instrumental and vocal storytelling intersect folk traditions with jazz. Brooklyn Bowl offers a global pulse, summoning trance-inducing diasporic traditions from Ethiopian jazz to Gnawa to Afrobeat and contemporary Afro-Cuban music. At Loove Labs Annex, we present a Fully Altered Artists showcase connecting multiple generations of forward-thinking jazz with radical reimaginings of improvised music. The avant-garde thrives at Baby’s All Right, with a cornucopia of cutting-edge improvisers lik. National Sawdust features exploratory voices in the Black Music continuum, while Union Pool’s Dada Strain showcase, now in its third year, offers genre-agnostic and boundary-breaking collaborations. The Brooklyn Marathon is a meeting ground for tradition, experimentation, and the global resonance of jazz today.
BROOKLYN MARATHON:
Venue: Music Hall of Williamsburg
6:00 PM Doors
6:45 PM Quantum Blues Quartet w/ Tisziji Muñoz, Will Calhoun, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Paul Shaffer
8:00 PM William Tyler & Yasmin Williams
9:15 PM Silk Road Ensemble
10:30 PM Mei Semones
11:45 PM Kahil ElZabar & Isaiah Collier
Venue: Brooklyn Bowl
6:00 PM Doors
6:00 PM The Either/Orchestra plays éthiopiques
7:15 PM Saha Gnawa
8:30 PM Annie & The Caldwells
9:45 PM Mádé Kuti
11:00 PM Pedrito Martinez
12:15 AM TBA
Venue: Superior Ingredients
6:30 PM Doors
7:30 PM Sasha Berliner
8:45 PM David Binney Action Trio w/ Louis Cole & Pera Krstajic 10:00 PM Joel Ross
11:15 PM Luke Titus
12:30 AM Anthony Tidd’s Quite Sane
Venue: National Sawdust
6:00 PM Doors
6:15 PM Nicole Mitchell’s Black Earth SWAY
7:30 PM Samora & Elena Pinderhughes
8:45 PM Brandon Ross Phantom Station
10:00 PM Dawn of Midi
11:15 PM Marcus Gilmore’s Journey to the New
Venue: Loove Annex (Fully Altered Showcase)
6:00 PM Doors
6:30 PM Ohad Talmor Back To The Land
7:45 PM Alden Hellmuth
9:00 PM Carmen Staaf and Sounding Line
10:15 PM DoYeon Kim Quintet
11:30 PM Adam O’Farrill Elephant
Venue: Baby’s All Right
6:00 PM Doors
7:00 PM Cole Pulice
8:15 PM LOJO Watts w/ Logan Richardson, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Joe Sanders 9:30 PM Luke Stewart Silt Trio
10:45 PM Tomeka Reid Quartet
12:00 AM Instant Alter
1:15 AM Immanuel Wilkins
Venue: Union Pool (Dada Strain Showcase)
6:00 PM Doors
6:30 PM Joy Guidry
7:45 PM Xenia Rubinos
9:00 PM Bex Burch
10:15 PM Amirtha Kidambi’s Elder Ones
Keynote speakers, and panel programming will be announced in the coming weeks. January 11, 2026 – Giant Step 35.5 Years Celebration at WInter Jazzfest Gilles Peterson, Ron Trent, Kassa Overall, plus guests TBA
Venue: Elsewhere
Time: 6:00 PM
Giant Step and Winter Jazz present an unforgettable night celebrating 35.5 years of Giant Step, featuring exclusive New York DJ sets from Gilles Peterson, Ron Trent, and a live performance from Kassa Overall. Both Gilles and Ron have deep roots in Giant Step’s history; from Gilles’ many iconic DJ sets over the years to Nuyorican Soul, and Ron’s influential DJ residency and production work during Giant Step Records golden era in the late ’90s and early 2000s. Expect a special musical journey only these legends can deliver, plus a live set from Kassa Overall and special guests. Kassa’s new album Cream is earning rave reviews for its bold fusion of jazz and hip-hop. This one will sell out so grab your ticket early.
January 11, 2026 – NYC Winter Jazzfest at Nublu
7:00 PM Next Jazz Legacy
8:00 PM Ruly Herrera
9:00 PM MAE.SUN
10:00 PM Cochemea
11:00 PM Melvin Gibbs
January 12, 2026 — LPR – My Country ’Tis of Thee: Freedom Riders & Guests Arturo O’Farrill, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Kurt Elling, Samora Pinderhughes, Mádé Kuti, Adegoke Steve Colson + more
Doors: 7:00 PM
Winter Jazzfest presents ‘My Country ’Tis of Thee’ — a powerful night of music, resistance, and hope. At the heart of the evening are the Freedom Riders, an all-star ensemble of youngish voices in creative music, dedicated to amplifying messages of social justice through sound including Tomoki Sanders, Sarah Elizabeth Charles, Alfredo Colón, Milena Casado, Sasha Berliner, Carmen Staaf, Joe Dyson and co-leaders Luke Stewart and Ben Williams (both bassists with deep roots in our nation’s capital).
This one-of-a-kind performance takes the shape of a truly improvised round robin, interweaving spontaneous creation with standard repertoire linked to the civil rights movement. Alongside these echoes of history, the Freedom Riders and their invited guests—visionary artists Arturo O’Farrill, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Adegoke Steve Colson, Samora Pinderhughes, Mádé Kuti plus other special guests soon to be announced — will share current songs born from their own activist practice, underscoring the ongoing struggle for equality and freedom.
January 13, 2026 – Gilles Peterson Presents: Liner Notes
An Evening of Music, Stories and More presented by NYC Winter Jazzfest & Giant Step Venue: Roulette
Internationally renowned broadcaster, DJ label owner, festival curator and record collector, Gilles Peterson has played a pivotal role in supporting and promoting underground music globally over the past four decades. Please join us for a unique evening where Gilles enters into a conversation with his records. Accompanied by a series of special guests, he will join the musical dots, playing and chatting about his favorite sounds past, present and future – think of it as a live radio show you can see.
Take Two: Dave Harrington’s Pranksters East Reimagine “Bitches Brew”
January 13, 2026 – Take Two: Dave Harrington’s Pranksters East Reimagine “Bitches Brew”
Venue: LPR
co-presented with Pique-nique
Lineup:
Dave Harrington – guitar
Nels Cline – guitar
Yuka Honda – keys/electronics
Shahzad Ismaily – percussion/synth
Anna Abondolo – bass
Kenny wollesen – drums/percussion
Tcheser Holmes – drums
Stuart Bogie – bass clarinet/keys
Ilhan Ersahin – sax
Alfredo Colón – sax/ewi
Phil Weinrobe – live dub mix/electronics
Pique-nique and Winter Jazzfest present guitarist and producer Dave Harrington and his Pranksters East, reinterpreting Miles Davis’ groundbreaking album “Bitches Brew” in his centennial year.
Part of the Take Two deep-listening series, the evening pairs an uninterrupted playback of the 1970 classic followed by a live reimagining by Harrington and his ensemble. Known for his work with Darkside, Taper’s Choice and exploratory solo projects, Harrington has assembled all-star Pranksters in cities across the country. Always a “behemoth grooving machine”, they drew inspiration from many substrates of free improvisation, asking what lies between “Bitches Brew” and “Blues for Allah”.
For this special performance, Harrington leads an ensemble of longtime friends and new collaborators, taking cues from Miles’ legendary 1970 Fillmore shows when he opened for the Dead. Honoring both the energy of those live sets and Teo Macero’s groundbreaking studio craft, the group will explore the space between composition, improvisation and production.
January 13, 2026 – NYC Winter Jazzfest at Nublu
8:00 PM Milena Casado
9:00 PM BIG YUKI
10:00 PM Made Kuti
11:00 PM Isaiah Collier
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