Innovation + Soul – Jazz at Lincoln Center Gala

Usually the gala for Jazz at Lincoln Center is a high-priced event held in person in New York. Like many other organizations, that wasn’t possible this year. And we’re all the beneficiaries. Innovation + Soul, the 2021 gala for Jazz at Lincoln Center, is now available online for viewing through April 25th.

Serving as the host for the event is one of my favorite singers and people, Dee Dee Bridgewater.

Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra will be welcoming a slew of guests including playwright and actress Anna Deavere Smith, dancer Charles “Lil Buck” Riley, vocalist Veronica Swift, conga player and vocalist Pedrito Martinez, trumpeter Michael Rodriguez and pianist Sean Mason.

The program calls for performances of songs by Willie Nelson, George and Ira Gershwin and Lou Donaldson and Gus Kahn. Compositions by Carlos Henriquez, Marsalis, Mason and Ted Nash (from his Presidential Suite) are also set to be performed.

Just as his wife Hillary made a special appearance at Classic Stage Company’s Tell the Story tribute to the musical Assassins last week, former President Bill Clinton is a special guest at Innovation + Soul.

There are two honorees being celebrated at this event. The first are Karen and Charles Phillips who are receiving the Ed Bradley Award for Leadership in Jazz.

Composer/songwriter and Oscar-nominee Jon Batiste (whose new album WE ARE is terrific) is the recipient of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Award for Artistic Excellence.

So how can you watch Innovation + Soul? Tickets are $30 to stream the performance. For $35 you get to stream the performance and an audio recording of the event. You’ll have to act quickly if you want to see this show as it will only be available through Sunday, April 25th. Tickets are available here.

As a side note, if you want to see more of what dancer Lil Buck can do, let me remind you that Metamorphosis, a collaboration between Movement Art Is (a dance company he founded with Jon Boogz) and Third Coast Percussion, becomes available today as part of Carnegie Hall’s Voices of Hope festival. You can find those details here.

Photo: Dee Dee Bridgewater in Innovation + Soul (Photo courtesy Jazz at Lincoln Center)