Wednesday June 23 7:00 PM
Central Park SummerStage
New York, NY
An astonishing roster of luminaries and emerging lions on the jazz scene will unite their talents in a spectacular collaborative performance.
McCoy Tyner’s blues-based piano style, replete with sophisticated chords and an explosively percussive left hand, has transcended conventional styles to become one of the most identifiable sounds in improvised music. Tyner’s work with John Coltrane in the 1960s produced some of most canonical albums in the history of jazz. Many of Tyner’s musical compositions have long since become standards; his harmonic contributions and dramatic rhythmic devices form the vocabulary of a plurality of jazz pianists.
Born the second son of luminaries John and Alice Coltrane in 1965 in Long Island, critically acclaimed bandleader Ravi Coltrane has fronted a variety of jazz lineups, recorded critically-hailed albums as leader, produced recordings by artists, overseen important reissues and founded his own independent label. Ravi performs on the tenor and soprano sax both with his own group and in guest appearances with McCoy Tyner, Pharoah Sanders, Carlos Santana, Wayne Shorter, Stanley Clarke, Branford Marsalis and many others.
The twenty-five year old Esperanza Spalding is one of the freshest and hottest new voices in American jazz. Her two solo albums have won her universal critical acclaim, with no less than The New York Times praising Spalding as having “a light, fizzy, optimistic drive that’s in her melodic bass playing and her elastic, small-voiced singing.” Spalding recently had the honor of being hand-picked by President Barack Obama to play in Oslo Hall at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony.
Afro-Cuban jazz composer and bandleader Francisco Mela has been hailed as “one of the most important Cuban drummers in jazz” by Jazz Times. Since his debut release Melao, Mela has fast become one of the most talked about and in-demand drummers in New York and beyond.