Carnegie Hall

May 2, 1912

James Reese Europe and his Clef Club Orchestra brought jazz in its earliest form to Carnegie Hall with a “Concert of Negro Music.” This enormous all–African American orchestra included banjos, mandolins, and guitars, and exclusively performed music composed by African Americans.

April 27, 1928

W. C. Handy’s Carnegie Hall debut marked the first true jazz concert at the Hall, featuring J. Rosamond Johnson and Fats Waller. Handy—known as the “Father of the Blues”—presented music by African American composers, spirituals, and his own compositions, such as “St. Louis Blues.”

January 16, 1938

This landmark debut concert was one of the first times that a racially integrated group performed on a major concert stage in the US. It was also one of the first events for which people purchased tickets to listen—and not dance—to swing music. The brightest jazz luminaries of the day performed, including Count Basie in his Carnegie Hall debut, Lionel Hampton, Gene Krupa, Lester Young, and members of the Duke Ellington Orchestra (including Cootie Williams, Johnny Hodges, and Harry Carney). Eighty years later, the live recording of this performance continues to be one of the best-selling jazz albums of all time.

January 14, 1942

One of the greatest jazz pianists and organists of his time, the legendary Fats Waller composed more than 400 songs, including “Ain’t Misbehavin’” and “Honeysuckle Rose.” He appeared at Carnegie Hall three times before his early death at the age of 39.

January 23, 1943

The success of this debut performance led to Duke Ellington’s series of nearly annual Carnegie Hall concerts in the mid-1940s. He returned to the Hall almost 40 times within a 30-year period, giving premiere performances of “New World A-Comin’,” “The Liberian Suite,” “The Perfume Suite,” and “A Tonal Group.” Ellington’s symphonic work “Black, Brown and Beige” received its New York premiere at this performance.

May 27, 1946

This concert was the first of the many Jazz at the Philharmonic concerts produced by the legendary Norman Granz at Carnegie Hall. He presented 38 jazz concerts at the Hall between 1946 and 1967. Guest artists included Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Illinois Jacquet, Sarah Vaughan, and Gene Krupa.

February 8, 1947

Louis Armstrong had already appeared at Carnegie Hall twice (in 1938 and 1939), but this event marked his debut as a headliner with his orchestra. Armstrong’s program was structured as a retrospective, arranged into four sections that traced the geography of his music career: New Orleans, Chicago, New York, and Hollywood.

September 29, 1947

Bebop came to Carnegie Hall for the first time when Dizzy Gillespie made his headlining debut featuring Ella Fitzgerald. The event also marked the Carnegie Hall debut of Chano Pozo, a major influence in Latin jazz. Charlie Parker also joined Gillespie for a rare reunion of their groundbreaking quintet.

March 27, 1948

Vocalist Billie Holiday made a triumphant comeback with this concert after nearly a year without performing in public. A small notice in the New York Daily News—“One Night Stand. Carnegie Hall. Billie Holiday.”—caused an instant sellout, and several hundred additional seats were added.

November 29, 1957

Two events, the first at 8:30 PM and the second at midnight, marked one of the most historic jazz events in Carnegie Hall’s history. In addition to featuring Dizzy Gillespie, Billie Holiday, and Chet Baker, with Thelonious Monk and His Quartet performing with John Coltrane, the event billed Ray Charles as a “special attraction” and “introduced” Sonny Rollins. Blue Note Records released a portion of the concert in 2005; it was a hit and instant classic.

May 19, 1961

Miles Davis first appeared at Carnegie Hall in a 1949 concert billed as the “Stars of Modern Jazz.” Davis’s 1961 concert with Gil Evans, one of the greatest jazz orchestrators and arrangers, featured Davis’s quintet and a 21-piece orchestra conducted by Evans. The pairing of Davis and Evans produced some of the most cherished jazz albums of the 1950s and early 1960s, including a prized live recording of this famous concert.

March 21, 1964

Nina Simone made her Carnegie Hall debut with Miriam Makeba in 1961. Simone shocked the audience at her March 21, 1964 concert at the Hall when she sang “Mississippi Goddam,” which she had debuted two weeks earlier at the Village Gate in Greenwich Village.

July 1, 1972

The Stan Getz Quartet, Modern Jazz Quartet, and Pharoah Sanders Quintet performed the first in a series of Newport Jazz Festival concerts at Carnegie Hall. This concert also marked the first event produced at the Hall by famed jazz impresario George Wein, who would go on to present nearly 500 jazz concerts at the Hall.

April 6, 1974

The New York Jazz Repertory Company, an ensemble that aimed to emphasize the jazz canon (and was another brainchild of George Wein), held a tribute concert in honor of Thelonious Monk on April 6, 1974. While Monk was not expected to attend, he surprisingly made an appearance and performed throughout the entire program. This was one of Monk’s final public appearances.

April 17, 1977

Mary Lou Williams, one of the greatest jazz pianists and composers, teamed up with pianist Cecil Taylor to produce this rare pairing of traditional and avant-garde jazz. The concert was later released by Norman Granz’s Pablo Records.

June 28, 1978

Bandleader-pianist Chucho Valdés’s group Irakere made an unexpected appearance on this concert, featuring saxophonist Paquito D’Rivera, trumpeter Arturo Sandoval, and Valdés in their Carnegie Hall debuts, with Maynard Ferguson and Stan Getz joining in for a jam session. The live recording of the band’s performance, entitled Irakere, went on to win a Grammy Award for Best Latin Recording. This performance marked a pivotal moment for Latin music at Carnegie Hall, highlighting the genre’s dynamic energy and innovative spirit of Afro-Cuban jazz.

April 28, 1991

Led by trumpeter Jon Faddis, the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band made its Carnegie Hall debut as part of the Hall’s centennial festivities, featuring Dizzy Gillespie as guest soloist. From 1992 to 2002, the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band performed more than 40 concerts produced by George Wein, with over 70 guest artists who included Ron Carter, James Moody, Wynton Marsalis, Joshua Redman, and Diana Krall.

September 23, 2003

Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute used distance technology to live-stream simultaneous concerts for students in Johannesburg and New York City. The celebrated Hugh Masekela and his band performed in South Africa, collaborating with the Boys and Girls Choir of Harlem and special guests who performed in the newly opened Zankel Hall. Masekela has performed at the Hall many times, including a 2014 concert with singer-songwriter Vusi Mahlasela as part of the Hall’s citywide festival UBUNTU: Music and Arts of South Africa.

October 18, 2008

The all-star trio of pianist Keith Jarrett, bassist Gary Peacock, and drummer Jack DeJohnette celebrated its 25th anniversary with a US tour that included a stop at Carnegie Hall.

March 11, 2011

Brad Mehldau—the first jazz musician to hold Carnegie Hall’s Richard and Barbara Debs Composer’s Chair—concluded his season-long residency with Piano Power, featuring world premieres co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall.

April 9, 2015

Legendary jazz pianists Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock—two artists who share more than 40 years of professional and personal history—reunited at Carnegie Hall for a rare and intimate duo performance.

July 27, 2018

Carnegie Hall’s national youth jazz orchestra, NYO Jazz—featuring outstanding young American jazz musicians selected from across the US—made its Carnegie Hall debut led by Sean Jones with iconic jazz vocalist Dianne Reeves as special guest, followed by the ensemble’s historic first-ever international tour. NYO Jazz is one of the Weill Music Institute’s many programs that feature professional artists performing alongside young musicians.

March 30, 2019

Created by jazz pianist Jason Moran and mezzo-soprano Alicia Hall Moran, Two Wings explored their own family lore and the Great Migration, tracing the evolution of jazz alongside other genres as part of Carnegie Hall’s citywide festival Migrations: The Making of America.

December 7, 2019

Jazz supergroup Artemis made its Carnegie Hall debut in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage in 2019. The seven powerhouse musicians— Renee Rosnes, Cécile McLorin Salvant, Anat Cohen, Melissa Aldana, Noriko Ueda, Ingrid Jensen, and Allison Miller—are each renowned for their outstanding solo work. 

February 19, 2022

Oscar winner and 2021–2022 Carnegie Hall Perspectives artist Jon Batiste gave an entirely improvised solo recital that showcased his artistic philosophy of “social music,” bringing music back to its roots within community, defying genre constructs, and performing live as a spiritual practice.