Celebrate “Mother Africa” themed concerts for Jazz Appreciation Month in April at Lincoln Center 

NEW YORK, NY – Throughout April, in celebration of Jazz Appreciation Month, Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Mother Africa season programming explores how ancestral rhythms and storytelling traditions continue to deepen the enduring ties between jazz, the African continent, and its diaspora. Through concerts, family programming, and education programs, audiences will encounter music that honors lineage while embracing innovation, illuminating jazz not only as an American art form, but as a constantly evolving conversation rooted in African musical traditions.

At the center of this exploration is the remarkable Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. Composed of 15 virtuoso instrumentalists, renowned soloists, composers, arrangers, and educators, the orchestra will perform in concerts that respectively highlight the works of John Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie, Charles Mingus, and Max Roach, and also celebrate the music of W.C. Handy, the “Father of the Blues.”

Performances in April spotlight artists expanding the music’s boundaries while remaining deeply connected to its origins. Highlights include the education program WeBop Family Jazz Party: Jazz & Africa, Diaspora Connections (April 4) and Journey Through Jazz: Overtures to Africa with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra under the music direction of drummerDomo Branch (April 10-11). The Jazz at Lincoln Center Gala Concert Rhythms That Move the World features special guests Wynton Marsalis, Rubén Blades, Aymeé Nuviola, Shenel Johns, Ekep Nkwelle, Cyro Baptista, Herlin Riley, Jeremy Bosch, and the premiere of new choreography by Samantha Figginsperformed by members of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (April 15). Birth of the Blues with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestraunder the musical direction of JLCO saxophonistSherman Irby, features vocalists Kenny Washington and Ekep Nkwelle, and special guest James Zito on banjo and guitar (April 17–18).

Sets at Dizzy’s Club feature the Ted Nash Big Band: Portrait in Seven Shades, the multi-nightRandy Weston Centennial Celebration, Mariel Bildstein Septet: Bangers and Ballads andSteven Kroon Latin Jazz Septet with Carla Cook, among other nightly sets. For the full schedule, visit jazz.org/dizzys.

On April 30, International Jazz Day, Jazz at Lincoln Center welcomes the country’s best high school jazz musicians to compete in theEssentially Ellington International High School Jazz Band Competition & Festival. The competition, held on April 30–May 2, 2026, will feature educational activities and big band competitions, culminating in a final concert and awards ceremony that celebrates the next generation of jazz artists.

Jazz at Lincoln Center’s 38th season, Mother Africa, delves into the creative spirit that unites African and American musical traditions, and runs through June 20, 2026. The organization’s 2025-26 season includes 19 unique weekends of Jazz at Lincoln Center concerts in the 1233-seat Rose Theater, nine concerts in the 467-seat Appel Room, and more than 350 nights of music at Dizzy’s Club, in addition to webcast performances and in-person and virtual education programs. The 2025-26 season also features tour dates worldwide by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, an ensemble of 15 virtuoso instrumentalists, unique soloists, composers, arrangers, and educators whose mandate is to coalesce and animate an unprecedented variety of styles and genres, in collaboration with noted guest artists and appearances by major figures in jazz and its related genres.

Performances take place in Rose Theater, the Appel Room, and Dizzy’s Club, located at Frederick P. Rose Hall, home of Jazz at Lincoln Center, located at Broadway at 60th St. in New York, NY.