Iconic drummer, bandleader and Berklee professor Ralph Peterson is proud to celebrate Art Blakey’s centennial with four separate appearances across 2019’s Winter Jazz Fest, Jazz Congress and Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola
at Jazz at Lincoln Center
- Sat. Jan. 5th, 6:30pm: Messenger Legacy @ (Le) Poisson Rouge (Winter Jazz Fest)
- Mon. Jan. 7th, 4:15pm: Ralph Peterson @ Jazz Congress Keynote Session: Art Blakey Centennial Celebration
- Thurs. Jan. 10th, 7:30pm and 9:30pm: Ralph Peterson Aggregate Prime @ Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola
- Sat, Jan. 12th @ 2:00pm: Ralph Peterson @ Conjure, Conjecture: The Art of Evocation with Nate Chinen (Winter Jazz Fest)
On Saturday, January 5th, Ralph Peterson will bring his Messenger Legacy ensemble to (Le) Poisson Rouge, located at 158 Bleecker St, New York at 6:30pm. Due to release a new album in May 2019 on Peterson’s Onyx Productions, The Messenger Legacy band, featuring Bobby Watson, Essiet Essiet, Geoff Keezer, Brian Lynch and Bill Pierce, is excited to kick off their restless touring schedule set to run through 2019 and 2020 with this Winter Jazz Fest appearance. It’s worth noting that the band is also thrilled to coincide the release of their new album later in the year with a special performance at the Kennedy Center on May 31st.
Jazz Congress, scheduled to be held at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall, located at 10 Columbus Circle on Mon. January 7th & Tues. January 8th, is proud to announce that this year’s Keynote Session will be devoted to Art Blakey’s continued centennial celebrations. To mark this momentous occasion, a whole host of Jazz Messenger members will reconvene onstage for a once-in-a-lifetime reunion to discuss Blakey’s leadership, mentorship, and contribution to music. Peterson, a prominent Jazz Messenger alum and known advocate for Blakeys legacy, will join Joanne Brackeen, Randy Brecker, Donald Brown, Steve Davis, Leon Lee Dorsey, Essiet Essiet, Kevin Eubanks, Jon Faddis, Benny Green, Billy Harper, Donald Harrison, Eddie Henderson, Vincent Herring, Harold Mabern, Wynton Marsalis, Bill Pierce, Lonnie Plaxico, Wallace Roney and Bobby Watson in The Appel Room at 4:15pm on Monday, January 7th. The session will be hosted by Céline Peterson.
On Thursday, January 10th, Ralph Peterson’s Aggregate Prime will perform for two sets at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola at Jazz at Lincoln Center. Aggregate Prime is an all-star group made up of guitarist Mark Whitfield, bassist Kenny Davis, saxophonist Gary Thomas, and pianist Davis Whitfield. The group just released their most recent album Inward Venture: Alive Vol. 5 @ the Side Door, this past October.
On Saturday, January 12th, Peterson will continue these celebrations by returning to Winter Jazz Fest. Conjure, Conjecture: The Art of Evocationwill see Peterson join Meshell Ndegeocello and Theo Bleckmann for a very special jazz talk, moderated by WBGO’s Nate Chinen. This panel, set to gather at The Assemblage, located at 17 John Street, New York at 2:00pm, will tackle the tricky perils and deep rewards of evoking a touchstone artist, especially in live performance.
With the October 2018 release of I Remember Bu: Alive Vol. 4 from The Gen-Next Big Band and his upcoming release with the Messenger legacy ensemble, Peterson has truly gone above and beyond to make a significant and personal contribution to both Art Blakey’s 99th and centennial celebrations.