Program

Next Jazz Legacy

Next Jazz Legacy is a new national apprenticeship program for women and non-binary improvisers in jazz, with the intersection of gender and race as a guiding principle.

Programs
Program

Next Jazz Legacy

Next Jazz Legacy is a new national apprenticeship program for women and non-binary improvisers in jazz, with the intersection of gender and race as a guiding principle.

Funders

Next Jazz Legacy is a partnership between New Music USA and the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice with support from the Mellon Foundation. Next Jazz Legacy extends their gratitude to Joseph A. and Nancy Meli Walker for their generosity.

Next Jazz Legacy Gradient

Focused on increasing opportunities for musicians most underrepresented in the art form, the three-year, national program launched by New Music USA and the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice – with major funding from the Mellon Foundation – invests in awardees through personalized apprenticeships, financial support, and a mission to inspire waves of lasting change.

Combining individual and group learning opportunities with a comprehensive support package designed to deliver deep impacts on every candidate’s career, awardees receive $10,000, performance opportunities with master bandleaders, two-way mentorship, a learning cohort, and professional promotional support.

Next Jazz Legacy champions those whose access to resources has been limited. With gender and racial justice as guiding principles, the inaugural group of Next Jazz Legacy awardees was chosen through an open call process and a meticulous, months-long review process by a distinguished and diverse panel of jazz trailblazers, chaired by NEA Jazz Master and Next Jazz Legacy’s Artistic Director, Terri Lyne Carrington. Once the seven awardees were selected, Carrington and the Next Jazz Legacy team worked closely with each of the seven musicians to match them with a pair of master bandleaders for a year-long performance apprenticeship, as well as an additional creative mentorship, both aligned with the awardees’ unique interests.

The second cycle will include seven artists chosen by an esteemed panel of musicians, chaired by Carrington, and continuing to use gender and racial justice as guiding principles. Candidates must be U.S. residents, fully vaccinated, and not currently enrolled in an academic institution program or contracted with a third party recording company. Selected artists will be announced in March 2023.

See the full list of the inaugural Next Jazz Legacy artists, their respective instruments and bandleader pairings below. Any questions should be addressed to our Program Manager Lolivone de la Rosa at [email protected]

 


 

 

2021-2022 Awardees

Ivanna Cuesta Gonzalez

Drummer & Composer Apprenticeship: esperanza spalding | Creative Mentor: Wayne Shorter

Lexi Hamner

Singer/songwriter, Trombonist & Multi-instrumentalist | Apprenticeship: Tia Fuller | Creative Mentor: Bobby McFerrin

Keyanna Hutchinson

Musician, Composer & Producer | Apprenticeship: Lizz Wright | Creative Mentor: Brandon Ross

Alexis Lombre

Pianist, Vocalist & Composer | Apprenticeship: Marcus Miller | Creative Mentor: Georgia Ann Muldrow

Anastassiya Petrova

Pianist & Organist | Apprenticeship: Chris Potter | Creative Mentor: Kris Davis

Loke Risberg

Guitarist & Composer | Bandleader: Linda May Han Oh | Creative Mentor & Recording: Bill Stewart

Kalia Vandever

Trombonist, Composer & Educator | Apprenticeship: Mary Halvorson | Creative Mentor: Jen Shyu

Why This Program Is Needed

According to an analysis of NPR’s 2019 Jazz Critics poll…

Core band album personnel were women
0%
Jazz albums with no women musicians
0%
The top 50 new jazz releases in the US featured acts led or co-led by women artists
0%
The top 50 albums had no women among core personnel
0%
The critics contributing to this poll were women
0%

Program Highlights

Next Jazz Legacy Advisory Board

Terri Lyne Carrington Photo by Tracy Love

Terri Lyne Carrington (Chair)

Artistic Director, BIJGJ

Gabrielle Armand

VP Brand, Sales, Marketing, Jazz at Lincoln Center

Darlene Chan

Darlene Chan

FestivalWest, Inc., Los Angeles, New Orleans

Sarah Elizabeth Charles Photo Shervin Lainez

Sarah Elizabeth Charles

Vocalist & educator

Kris Davis

Kris Davis

Pianist & Composer/Associate Director of Creative Development, BIJGJ

Simone Eccleston

Simone Ecclestone

Director of Hip Hop Culture & Contemporary Music, The Kennedy Center

Monica Haslip

Monica Haslip

Executive Director, Little Black Pearl Art and Design Academy

Sean Jones

Sean Jones

Trumpeter, bandleader, composer and educator

Suraya Mohamed Photo: Mike Morgan

Suraya Mohamed

Producer at NPR

Vanessa Reed

President & CEO, New Music USA

Brice Rosenbloom

Brice Rosenbloom

New York Winter Jazz Festival

Angelica Sanchez

Angelica Sanchez

Jazz pianist & composer

Gerald Clayton

Pianist & composer

Daniel Seeff

Songwriter, bassist, guitarist & West Coast Dir. of the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz

Aja Burrell Wood

Aja Burrell Wood 

Managing Director, Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice

Press & Media Links

Funders

Next Jazz Legacy is a partnership between New Music USA and the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice with support from the Mellon Foundation. Next Jazz Legacy extends their gratitude to Joseph A. and Nancy Meli Walker for their generosity.

Next Jazz Legacy Gradient