JAZZ EVENT - NYC

Update for August & September, 2015 During the months of August and September  The National Jazz Museum in Harlem's Visitors Center  will closed for renovation. It will reopen in October, 2015.   The location of our public programs during these months is to be decided.  Independence Day Hours The National Jazz Museum in Harlem will be closed on Friday, July 3rd and Saturday, July 4th  in observance of Independence Day. We apologize for any inconvenience to our visitors. July 2015 Events Schedule Tuesday, July 14th South African Jazz: Roots of South African Jazz 7:00-8:30 pm Location: Maysles Cinema 343 Malcolm X Blvd. Host: Seton Hawkins with guests $10.00 Admission South Africa's Jazz history is nearly as long as America's own. From its early origins in marabi culture in the burgeoning townships to its 1950s "Golden Age," to present day, the great South African Jazz artists have found ways to perform music that is recognizably Jazz, but also uniquely South African. How did they do it? What should you listen for? And who are some of the great masters of South African Jazz? Join us for a Listening Series as we walk you through the history of this beautiful music, and introduce you to some incredible recordings, old and new.   As the first Jazz 78s made their way across the Atlantic to South Africa, they met up with South Africa's own marabi culture, and a new musical styles was born. Join us as we listen to some of the earliest South African Jazz records, and music that would come to inspire and inform masters like Hugh Masekela, Miriam Makeba, and Abdullah Ibrahim.   Join the Facebook event here.  Tuesday, July 21st South African Jazz: South African Underground 7:00-8:30pm Location: The National Jazz Museum in Harlem Host: Seton Hawkins with Bret Sjerven of Sunnyside Records FREE TO THE PUBLIC South Africa's Jazz history is nearly as long as America's own. From its early origins in marabi culture in the burgeoning townships to its 1950s "Golden Age," to present day, the great South African Jazz artists have found ways to perform music that is recognizably Jazz, but also uniquely South African. How did they do it? What should you listen for? And who are some of the great masters of South African Jazz? Join us for a Listening Series as we walk you through the history of this beautiful music, and introduce you to some incredible recordings, old and new. You may know Hugh Masekela, Miriam Makeba, Abdullah Ibrahim, maybe even Chris McGregor. But what about Kippie Moeketsi, Pat Matshikiza, Almon Memela, or Winston Mankunku Ngozi? While many master artists from South Africa never got the recognition they were due, but that didn't stop them from making some of the most beautiful, swinging Jazz albums in the world. Join us as we spin for you some rarities and classics.   Join the Facebook event here.  Current Exhibit  Bebo Valdés: Giant of Cuban Music    Pianist, arranger, bandleader, and composer Bebo Valdés had two splendid careers separated by more than thirty years of obscurity. Mambo, filin, batanga, descarga - he was a great innovator in Cuba music. For ten years he was music director of the famed Tropicana orchestra. His big band backed Cuba's greatest stars. He was the pianist on Nat "King" Cole's famed Havana recordings. Then everything changed. He left Cuba in 1960 and settled in Sweden. While his music was largely forgotten by the world, his son Chucho Valdés became a dominant musical figure in post-revolutionary Cuba, and one of the world's great pianists. Then, beginning in 1994, Bebo Valdés began a dramatic career resurgence via a brilliant series of concerts, recordings, and movies that brought his knowledge, skills, and inimitable style into the twenty-first century, making him a bigger star than every before and culminating in an electrifying series of collaborations with Chucho. We'll tell the story and play the music....