92NY’s “Jazz In July” Festival—Featuring Five Live And Streamed Concerts—Kicks Off Tonight

The 92^nd Street Y, New York’s signature Jazz in July festival begins tonight, with live and streamed concerts under the direction of the festival’s artistic director, renowned pianist Bill Charlap.

The first concert, at 7:30 p.m. ET tonight, will feature Charlap’s trio with vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater and pianist Nicholas Payton. The second concert, at 7:30 p.m. ET on July 20, will feature Charlap, pianist/composer Aaron Diehl and rising piano stars of the next generation, Isaiah J. Thompson, winner of the 2023 American Pianists Awards, and Caelan Cardello, recipient of the 2021 BMI Foundation’s Future Jazz Master Award. The third concert, on July 25 at 7:30 p.m. ET, will feature guitar legend John Scofield, Charlap, bassist Scott Colley and drummer Bill Stewart. 

On July 26 at 7:30 p.m. ET, Charlap will perform a solo concert. According to 92NY, “Bill Charlap has collaborated with countless giants of jazz on our stage since his first Jazz in July appearance more than 35 years ago. This solo piano concert is Charlap’s first at 92NY, and a rarity even among his jazz club appearances. The New York Times wrote, ‘Bill Charlap is masterful. His stylistic range encompasses rollicking stride piano, bebop virtuosity, and harmonically opulent modernism.’ Performing jazz and songbook standards, this one-night-only concert is a rare chance to experience Charlap’s artistry up close and personal.”

The final concert of the festival with be a “Jazz in July All-Star Jazz Party” on July 27 at 7:30 p.m. ET, featuring Charlap, John Pizzarelli, Renee Rosnes, Steve Wilson, Ken Peplowski, Jeremy Pelt, Nicole Glover, David Wong and Dennis Mackrel.

The 2023 festival is Charlap’s last as its artistic director, a role he assumed in 2005 from founding artistic director Dick Hyman. 

“My nearly two decades guiding and shaping Jazz in July have been inexpressively wonderful,” said Charlap. “When I told my longtime friends at The 92nd Street Y at the start of 2023 that I had decided to move on after this season, it was emotional for me. I have loved running this festival, but it’s time for me – time for new collaborations, for teaching and mentoring the next generation of talent, and for the many other aspects of my life in music. I’ll forever be grateful for my years leading Jazz in July, to 92NY for their trust in me, and to the profoundly gifted artists who have joined me in all of the magical musicmaking on that very special stage. I expect to return often, just wearing one hat now: Bill Charlap, piano player.” 

Succeeding Charlap as the festival’s artistic director will be pianist/composer Diehl, who will assume this role in summer 2024. According to 92NY, “Diehl – an American Pianist Association’s 2011 Cole Porter Fellow – has been hailed as ‘a composer worth watching’ by The New York Times, worked with such artists as Wynton Marsalis, Jimmy Heath, Cécile McLorin Salvant, performed at such celebrated venues as the Village Vanguard, Jazz at Lincoln Center and the Newport Jazz Festival, and released three critically acclaimed albums on Mack Avenue.”

Commenting on his new appointment, Diehl said, “I’m deeply honored to be the next artistic director of Jazz in July at 92NY, and to build off of the extraordinary blueprint that both Dick Hyman and Bill Charlap have developed over the decades. Working off of these foundational visions, I intend to continue to expand the collaborative possibilities of this series, with an intimate, reflective and nuanced experience around each concert. To me, Jazz in July is all about creating a communal space where musicians and concertgoers can come together to experiment with artistic honesty and vulnerability, drawing open-minded, open-hearted audiences into their worlds and taking them on a journey.”

According to 92NY, “Jazz at The 92nd Street Y traces back over a century. It was first mentioned in the 92NY Bulletin in 1918, when the Jumuly Jazz Band entertained Sergeant Milton Weill and a host of others on Thanksgiving eve and, later, supplied music at the Chanukah festival. Through the 1920s, 92NY housed a boy’s glee club and hosted evenings of parlor jazz and, a couple of decades on, notable dance figures including Martha Graham, Pearl Primus and Alvin Ailey collaborated with numerous jazz musicians right on the 92NY stage.

“In 1955,” it continued, “92NY established jazz as a pillar of its programming by hosting a modern jazz festival featuring jazz giants like Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, Art Farmer, as well as a host of others. The sixties welcomed the likes of John Coltrane, Betty Carter, Sonny Rollins, Sarah Vaughan and more. In 1985, jazz piano legend Dick Hyman founded Jazz in July, and the modern era of jazz programming at 92NY was born.”