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Jazz & Colors Comes to Central Park

New York’s Central Park will host the free music event Jazz & Colors on November 10. Envisioned by Relix publisher and Brooklyn Bowl/Capitol Theatre proprietor Peter Shapiro, Jazz & Colors will be a free, public concert featuring 30 jazz ensembles performing against the stunning backdrop of Central Park’s fall foliage. The performances will take place across Central Park and visitors will be able to go on a self-guided musical tour. Performances will take place in a number of iconic spots, including Naumberg Bandshell and Duke Ellington Circle. Shaprio created the event in partnership with the City of New York and the Central Park Conservancy.

Jazz & Colors is the first park-wide public arts program since Christo & Jeanne-Claude’s The Gates in 2005. The festival will feature a communal set-list of jazz standards that will be performed simultaneously at venues from midtown to Harlem. The musical line-up will feature established and emerging musicians ranging from small combos to big band sessions and will be announced in the coming months, along with the Jazz & Colors set-list.

“Central Park in the fall is the perfect backdrop for jazz, a musical style as vibrant and diverse as the Park itself,” Shapiro says. “With countless interpretations of the music at 30 treasured sites around Central Park, no two visitors will experience Jazz & Colors in exactly the same way. I’m proud to partner with the Parks Department and the Central Park Conservancy on what I hope will become an annual tradition for New Yorkers, music lovers and tourists alike.”

“Central Park has a rich history of public cultural projects – from permanent statues and monuments, to temporary public artwork and site-specific performances,” says Parks & Recreation Commissioner Veronica White. “With Jazz & Colors, we look forward to welcoming visitors with live jazz music at every turn, whether they are entering at Columbus Circle, strolling the footpaths along the Harlem Meer, or exploring the Belvedere Castle.”

“In the Conservancy’s ongoing efforts to encourage visitors to experience Central Park in new and exciting ways, we are thrilled to partner with Jazz & Colors to introduce extraordinary music to the Park’s extraordinary landscapes,” said Doug Blonsky, President and CEO of the Central Park Conservancy. “The perfect complement to the art of Central Park’s restored woodlands, rolling meadows, and cultivated gardens will be the art of music. Inspiration is what Central Park is all about, and we’re proud to help inspire more than 40 million visitors every year.”

Visitors can pick up a Jazz & Colors guide, including a map of the venues, band bios and a full schedule, on November 10 as they enter Central Park at Columbus Circle, 6th Avenue, 72nd Street and Central Park West, 72nd Street and Pilgrim Hill, 79th Street and 5th Avenue, 85th Street near West Drive, 90th and Central Park West, or the Engineer’s Gate at 90th and 5th Avenue, as well as at the Great Hill and the Charles A. Dana Discovery Center. Guides will also be available in the November 7th issue of Time Out New York. The event is free and open to the public. In the event of inclement weather, Jazz & Colors will be held on November 11.

Featured sites include:

100th Street Pool
103rd Street and East Drive
106th Street and Central Park West
59th Street Pond
69th Street and West Drive
6th Avenue entrance
77th Street and West Drive
84th Street and East Drive
90th Street and Central Park West
Adjacent to the Abraham and Joseph Spector Playground
Charles A. Dana Discovery Center
Cherry Hill Fountain
Maine Monument
Delacorte Theater
Duke Ellington Circle
Adjacent to the East 96th Street Playground
East Meadow
Engineer’s Gate at 90th and 5th Avenue
Frederick Douglass Circle entrance
Glade Arch
Great Hill
Harlem Meer
Naumburg Bandshell
Olmsted Flower Bed
Pinebank Arch
Summit Rock
Adjacent to the Tarr Family Playground
The Arsenal
The Dairy
Adjacent to the Wild West Playground