Carnegie Hall

Each summer, NYO Jazz—led by Artistic Director Sean Jones—shines a spotlight on the depth of talent found among teen jazz players across the United States. The program offers talented young musicians ages 16–19 the opportunity to perform as cultural ambassadors for their country, sharing a uniquely American musical genre with people around the world. The members of NYO Jazz have been recognized by Carnegie Hall as among the finest jazz musicians in the country following a rigorous and highly competitive audition process.

Since its debut in 2018, NYO Jazz has performed at Carnegie Hall and embarked on acclaimed tours across Europe, Asia, and the United States. Guest artists in past seasons have included vocalists Dianne Reeves, Kurt Elling, and Jazzmeia Horn. In summer 2023, Dee Dee Bridgewater joins the band as a special guest at Carnegie Hall and on tour to some of Europe’s prestigious concert halls and leading festivals. As part of their travel schedule, NYO Jazz musicians also have opportunities to meet and collaborate with young local musicians and experience the richness of different cultures and music.

In 2021—during NYO Jazz’s annual training residency at Purchase College, State University of New York—the band recorded its first full-length studio album under Mr. Jones’s direction with special guest saxophonist Melissa Aldana. It includes Carnegie Hall–commissioned works for the ensemble from each year of the program, exploring themes that include social justice, resilience, and the power of music to spark joy. The album, entitled We’re Still Here, was released in 2022.

NYO Jazz builds on the success of the acclaimed National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America (NYO-USA) and its sister ensemble for younger musicians, NYO2—programs created by Carnegie Hall in 2013 and 2016, respectively—to bring together the finest young classical musicians from across the country each summer for training, performances, and international touring. Each of these prestigious national programs—free to all participants—is dedicated to the proposition that talented young musicians thrive when given the opportunity to expand their musical, social, and cultural horizons and share their artistry with audiences around the globe. During the last decade, more than a thousand young musicians have performed in the Hall’s three national youth ensembles, creating a unique musical community, spotlighting musical excellence found across the United States, and transforming countless lives.

To learn more about NYO Jazz, visit carnegiehall.org/NYOJazz.

Music and spirituality have always been intertwined in the artistic vision of trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator, and activist Sean Jones. Singing and performing as a child with the church choir in his hometown of Warren, Ohio, he switched from drums to trumpet at the age of 10.

Mr. Jones is a musical chameleon, comfortable in any setting or genre. After a six-month stint with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Wynton Marsalis offered him a permanent position as lead trumpeter of the ensemble, a post he held from 2004 until 2010. In 2015, Mr. Jones was tapped to become a member of the SFJAZZ Collective. During this time, he kept a core group of talented musicians together under his leadership, forming the foundation for groups that have produced and released eight recordings on Mack Avenue Records, the latest being Sean Jones: Live from Jazz at the Bistro in 2017.

Mr. Jones has been prominently featured in recordings and performances with many major figures in jazz, including Illinois Jacquet, Jimmy Heath, Frank Foster, Nancy Wilson, Dianne Reeves, Gerald Wilson, and Marcus Miller. He was selected by Mr. Miller, Herbie Hancock, and Wayne Shorter for their Tribute to Miles tour in 2011. He has also performed with The Cleveland Orchestra and the Pittsburgh and Youngstown symphony orchestras, as well as Soulful Symphony in Baltimore and a chamber group at the Salt Bay Chamberfest.

Mr. Jones is an internationally recognized educator. In addition to serving as artistic director of NYO Jazz, he is president of the Jazz Education Network, and holds the Richard and Elizabeth Case Chair in Jazz Studies at Johns Hopkins University’s Peabody Institute in Baltimore. Previously, he served as chair of the brass department at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.

Over the course of a multifaceted career that spans four decades, Dee Dee Bridgewater has ascended to the upper echelon of vocalists, putting her unique spin on standards and taking intrepid leaps of faith in re-envisioning jazz classics. Ever the fearless voyager, explorer, pioneer, and keeper of tradition, the three-time Grammy Award winner most recently won a Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Album for Eleanora Fagan (1915–1959): To Billie With Love From Dee Dee Bridgewater.

Ms. Bridgewater’s career has always bridged musical genres. She earned her first professional experience as a member of the legendary Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Orchestra, and throughout the 1970s performed with such jazz notables as Max Roach, Sonny Rollins, Dexter Gordon, and Dizzy Gillespie. After a foray into the pop world during the 1980s, she relocated to Paris and turned her attention back to jazz. Ms. Bridgewater self-produced her 1993 album Keeping Tradition and created DDB Records in 2006 when she signed with Universal Music Group as a producer. All but one in her series of critically acclaimed albums—including her double Grammy Award–winning tribute to Ella Fitzgerald, Dear Ella—have received Grammy nominations.

Ms. Bridgewater also pursued a parallel career in musical theater, winning a Tony Award for her role as Glinda in The Wiz in 1975. Her other theatrical credits include Sophisticated Ladies, Black Ballad, Carmen, Cabaret, and the off-Broadway and West End productions of Lady Day, for which she received a Laurence Olivier nomination for Best Actress in a Musical.

As a Goodwill Ambassador to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Ms. Bridgewater continues to appeal for international solidarity to finance global grassroots projects in the fight against world hunger. In 2017, she received an NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship with honors bestowed at the Kennedy Center. She won an ASCAP Foundation Champion Award in 2017, was named a Doris Duke Artist in 2018, and was inducted into the Memphis Music Hall of Fame in 2019.