About

FAQS

SPACE RENTAL

PRESS

NEWS

WHERE THE FUTURE IS PRESENT

Mission

The Jazz Gallery is America’s premier performance venue for emerging artists who challenge convention, take creative risks and lead their field as performers, composers and thinkers. Through residencies, commissions, performances, and exhibitions, we provide a platform for artists to discover their unique voice and a home for established musicians to continue to experiment and grow while being committed to removing barriers to participation and to advancing a diverse representation of cultural backgrounds. At The Jazz Gallery, artists and audiences come together from around the world to explore new creative ideas, collaborate and celebrate jazz as a dynamic art form that reflects our ever-changing world.

Who We Are

The Jazz Gallery serves as an international cultural center where the youngest generation of emerging professional jazz musicians are nurtured with opportunities to collaborate with their peers, discover and refine their creativity, and perform in front of eager audiences. We take pride in our world-renowned reputation as a key player in the NYC jazz community by sustaining a tradition of artistic excellence in jazz and fostering artistic growth, presenting both major and established figures in jazz alongside a younger generation of artists. Since 2002, The Gallery has also been actively engaged in commissioning new work by emerging composers, many of whom have gone on to be recognized with MacArthur Foundation “genius” grants, Doris Duke Performing Artist Awards, Grammy Awards and more. Twelve Thelonious Monk Competition winners got their start on our stage.

Winner of the 2016, 2014 & 2010 CMA/ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming, The Jazz Gallery has garnered a reputation as “the most imaginatively booked jazz club in New York” (NY Times).

Values
Where The Future Is Present

We believe that our purpose at The Jazz Gallery is to celebrate creativity, build community, and raise awareness around Jazz, a powerful and life changing medium; an art form that was born out of slavery and forged by the sheer strength of human spirit, incredible resilience, and inner beauty that all human beings possess.  This Black American Folk Music we now call jazz is so generous in its spirit that it allows room for everyone to join in. It welcomes dissonance and finds resolutions in most unexpected ways. Practitioners of this art form must learn to listen well and serve something bigger than themselves: the music.

The Jazz Gallery is dedicated to fostering the artistic growth and voices of musicians in the world of Jazz, a distinctly American art form which grew out of the African-American experience. With this principle guiding our mission, the values of diversity, racial equity, and inclusion are integrally woven into the heart of what we do. However, we recognize there is always more work to be done. The Jazz Gallery continually seeks to reimagine policies and business practices through these values while also staying deeply rooted in our community and our commitment to Jazz and improvised creative music in New York City. We are committed to removing barriers to participation and to advancing a diverse representation of cultural backgrounds. We strive to fulfill these commitments through a process of examination, self-interrogation, learning, and visioning, while accepting the work will never be finished.

Jazz has been a generous and nurturing guiding force for everyone involved in The Jazz Gallery, and we wholeheartedly believe in its ability to foster understanding, encourage unity, and deepen our humanity. We always want to be in service of this music, and not to use it as a tool. Arts, particularly music by nature, is a powerful thing and all of us who deal with it have a great responsibility. Regardless of race, socio-economic status, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, nationality, gender, or marital status, we are an organization that celebrates the richness of our community and of our work within it.

History

The Jazz Gallery was founded in 1995 by Dale Fitzgerald, vocalist Lezlie Harrison, and renowned jazz trumpeter Roy Hargrove who envisioned a hub and home for the jazz musicians and composers from around the world who come to New York to take part and enhance the city’s vibrant cultural scene. The original space that The Jazz Gallery occupied at 290 Hudson Street was the place where Roy could rehearse with his big band, and where exhibitions curated by Dale with music in mind, were hung.

Today

Besides over 400 shows each year, 4+ nights a week over 48 weeks of the year, The Jazz Gallery reaches an annual audience of over 17,000 people. That, plus our streaming capabilities help the music to reach 40 countries throughout the world.

We offer programs such as our Debut Series, featuring artists who are performing at TJG, and often NYC, for the first time; 21st Century Jazz, which showcases both emerging and established artists; Residency & Fellowship Commissions, which support the creation of new works by exciting young composers & mid-career artists respectively; our Mentoring Program, which pairs young musicians with seasoned veterans to gain valuable creative and professional experience; and The Woodshed, which provides free rehearsal space to our city’s jazz artists.

Board of Directors

Hank O’Neal, Chairman
James Errol Browne
Jonathan Chimene
Matthew Coeny
Miranda Danusugondo
Samuel Hagler
Lezlie Harrison
Ken Kimerling
Dan Levy
Peter Low
John McCormick
Dianne McKeever
Ron Scott
Donald Shire
Noel Silverman
Pavani Thagirisa
Janet Luhrs, Executive Director
Rio Sakairi, Artistic Director