IN-PERSON

The Schomburg Center’s annual Women’s Jazz Festival (WJF) is celebrating 30 years of centering Black women in the field of jazz. The Women’s Jazz Festival was founded in 1992 by then Harlem resident and jazz vocalist, Melba Joyce. Year after year, the festival and its curators have brought together musicians, dancers and a melding of musical genres to deliver an exciting series of concerts featuring some of the best-known and emerging talent by women in jazz today. The 2022 festival will be held in person on March 7, 8, 14 and 21.

CURATORS SALON

Join us for a free public program with festival founder Melba Joyce and past festival curators Toshi Reagon, Brandee Younger, Aja Burrell Woods, discussing 30 years of curating the sound of the Schomburg’s annual Women’s Jazz Festival. The curators have have celebrated jazz legends Ella Fitzgerald, Abbey Lincoln, and Alice Coltrane and presented performances by The Spelman College Jazz Ensemble, Nona Hendryx, Terri Lyne Carrington, Gerri Allen, Jazzmeia Horn, Bernice Johnson Reagon, Courtney Bryan, Lakeica Benjamin, and Alicia Moran Hall to name a few. Robin Bell-Stevens, Director and Executive Producer of Jazzmobile Inc. will moderate the conversation.

Following the conversation there will be a musical performance presented by Jazzmobile, Inc.

Visitors must wear a mask the duration of the program, in accordance with the Library policy. Patrons not wearing a face covering will not be permitted to enter. In order to attend in-person programs at the Schomburg Center, patrons age 12 and older will be required to show proof of their full COVID-19 vaccination status, and patrons age 5-11 will be required to show proof of at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Melba Joyce (Festival Founder) | Melba Joyce’s career has spanned six decades of sharing top billing with such giants of the music world as Louis Armstrong, The Count Basie Orchestra, Miles Davis, Sarah Vaughan, Louis Jordan, Lionel Hampton, Tony Bennett, Joe Williams, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, and many others. She has performed on Broadway and on the world tour of Black and Blue, the Tony Award winning musical revue celebrating the black culture of dance and music in Paris between World War I and World War II. As part of UNESCO, she performed in Viet Nam, and was a Jazz Ambassador for the US Department of State. In addition to her singing career, Ms. Joyce taught jazz history at Old Westbury and Medgar Evers College; has been a wonderful advocate for women in jazz and she has served as a panelist for the Congressional Black Caucus of Women in Jazz Forum; and last year, she was inducted into the California Jazz and Blues Hall of Fame in Los Angeles California. Ms. Joyce founded and produced the first Women in Jazz Festival at Harlem’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

Toshi Reagon (Curator, 2011 – 2016) | Toshi Reagon has been described as “a talented, versatile singer, songwriter and musician with a profound ear for sonic Americana—from folk to funk, from blues to rock” by critic/blogger Eva Yaa Asantewaa (InfiniteBody). While her expansive career has landed her comfortably in residence at Carnegie Hall, the Paris Opera House and Madison Square Garden, you can just as easily find Toshi turning out a music festival, intimate venue or local club. Toshi finds home on any musical stage. Toshi has had the pleasure of working with Lenny Kravitz, Lizz Wright, Ani DiFranco, Carl Hancock Rux, Nona Hendryx, Pete Seeger, Chocolate Genius and many other amazing artists, including her favorite collaborator, her mom, Bernice Johnson Reagon. (Source: toshireagon.com)

Brandee Younger (Guest Curator 2017) | A leading voice of the harp today, performer, composer, educator, and concert curator Brandee Younger defies genres and labels. She has performed and recorded with artists including Pharoah Sanders, Ravi Coltrane, Jack DeJohnette, Charlie Haden, Common, John Legend, The Roots, Stevie Wonder, and Lauryn Hill. In 2019, she released her fourth solo album, Soul Awakening, and her original composition “Hortense” was featured in the Netflix Concert-Documentary, Beyoncé: Homecoming. This same year, Ms. Younger was selected to perform her original music as a featured performer for Quincy Jones and Steve McQueen’s’ “Soundtrack of America.” Ms. Younger’s ability to seamlessly inject the harp into arrangements and venues where it has historically been overlooked is a testament to her deep love for and exemplary command of the instrument. (Source: brandeeyounger.com)

Aja Burrell Woods (Guest Curator 2017, 2018) | Aja Burrell Wood is the managing director for Berklee’s Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice. Originally from Detroit, Michigan, Wood is an ethnomusicologist, educator, and curator with a background in development and violin performance. She has taught courses on music, history, and culture at the City University of New York (CUNY), City College, and Brooklyn College Conservatory of Music. Her work includes research on musical community among black classical musicians, women in jazz, jazz in the digital era, music and civic engagement in Harlem, and other related genres of the African diaspora such as blues, hip-hop, soul, and West African traditions. (Source: berklee.edu)

Robin Bell-Stevens, Director of Jazzmobile, Inc. | Robin Bell-Stevens currently serves as Director, and Executive Producer of Jazzmobile, Inc. Prior to joining Jazzmobile, Bell-Stevens served as Director of Marketing and Creative Services, Jazz at Lincoln Center, and was the Executive Producer of the Jackie Robinson Foundation “An afternoon of Jazz.” Some of the governing boards she serves on are: The Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation (Vice President), The Women’s Committee Board of the Central Park Conservancy, The Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce (Co-Chair, Arts & Culture Committee); and she is a former president of The New York Coalition of 100 Black Women—the founding chapter of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women.

#WJF2022 #SchomburgLive

PUBLIC NOTICE AND DISCLAIMER By registering for this event, you are acknowledging that an inherent risk of exposure to COVID-19 exists in any public place where people are present. By attending an in-person program at The New York Public Library’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, you voluntarily assume all risks related to exposure to COVID-19 and agree not to hold The New York Public Library, its Trustees, officers, agent and employees liable for any illness or injury.

Women’s Jazz Festival 2022 Schedule

• March 7 – Celebrating Her Voice with Alicia Waller & The Excursion

• March 8 –  Curators Salon with festival founder Melba Joyce and past festival curators Toshi Reagon, Aja Burrell Wood, Brandee Younger, and moderator Robin Bell-Stevens, Jazzmobile Inc.

• March 14 – An Evening of Flow and Flight with vocalists Renée Neufville and Laurin Talese

• March 21 – Salute to Black Women Composers with bassist and band leader Endea Owens

OPEN SEATING Registered guests will begin seating 30 minutes before start time. After the event starts all registered seats are released regardless of registration, so we recommend that you arrive early.

GUESTS Please note that holding seats in the Langston Hughes Auditorium is strictly prohibited and there is no food or drinks allowed anywhere in the Schomburg Center.

AUDIO/VIDEO RECORDING Programs are photographed and recorded by the Schomburg Center. Attending this event indicates your consent to being filmed/photographed and your consent to the use of your recorded image for any all purposes of the New York Public Library.

PRESS Please send all press inquiries (photo, video, interviews, audio-recording, etc) at least 24-hours before the day of the program to Leah Drayton at leahdrayton@nypl.org.

Please note that professional video recordings are prohibited without expressed consent.

PUBLIC NOTICE AND DISCLAIMER

By registering for this event, you are acknowledging that an inherent risk of exposure to COVID-19 exists in any public place where people are present. By attending an in-person program by The New York Public Library’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, you voluntarily assume all risks related to exposure to COVID-19 and agree not to hold The New York Public Library, its Trustees, officers, agent and employees liable for any illness or injury.

COVID PROTOCOLS FOR IN-PERSON SCHOMBURG CENTER PROGRAMS

We are excited to welcome you back to the Schomburg Center in person. As we gather together, your health and safety is of the utmost importance.

As of July 6, at all our open locations, visitors must wear a mask the duration of the program, in accordance with the Library policy. Patrons not wearing a face covering will not be permitted to enter.

In order to attend in-person programs at the Schomburg Center, patrons age 12 and older will be required to show proof of their full COVID-19 vaccination status, and patrons age 5-11 will be required to show proof of at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Proof of a negative COVID-19 test will not be accepted as an alternative to vaccination. Masks covering one’s nose and mouth are required in order to enter the Library, and must stay on for the duration of one’s time in the building.

Proof of vaccination may include:

• NYC COVID Safe App NYS Excelsior Pass
• CDC Vaccination Card (or photo)
• NYC Vaccination Record
• An official immunization record from outside NYC or the U.S

If you received the vaccine outside of the U.S., please be sure to visit the link with more information below.

If you have symptoms consistent with COVID-19 or suspect you have been in close contact with someone who has tested positive, please stay home.