In addition to giving performance opportunities to young artists, The Jazz Gallery also has a strong track record of nurturing compositional talent, having commissioned new work annually since 2002 which evolved into the Residency Commissions program, which grants talented composers and bandleaders the resources to work on large-scale projects that will have enduring and transformative effects on their creative development.

We encourage commissioned artists to think outside their usual box and deeply explore their creative ideas and take risks by removing financial and space constraints.

To this end, Residency Commission recipients receive a commissioning fee, as well as unrestricted access to our performance space for an entire season to compose, rehearse, and record during off-hours, culminating in the premiere of their new work later in the season.

Since 2002, our Commissions program has supported 52 artists’ creations of 55 new works, many of which have since been commercially released and several of which have been nominated for GRAMMY Awards; however, our focus for the program is not the end products. We are more concerned with providing the process for the artists, most of whom are receiving a commission for the first time in their careers.

The Jazz Gallery Residency Commissions are made possible in part by the grant from the Jerome Foundation with additional support from the New York State Council on the Arts, Department of Cultural Affairs of New York City, Howard Gilman, and the Cheswatyr Foundation.

The Jazz Gallery has long supported the youngest generation of jazz musicians through various programming initiatives and now seeks to address the relative scarcity of resources dedicated to established artists and advanced professionals, who often balance the professional demands of performing, touring, and teaching with additional obligations related to their families (e.g., parenting), which are less likely to affect younger or older artists.In our years of nurturing young, emerging artists, it has come to our attention that established artists and advanced professionals often struggle to sustain the momentum of their creative output and career trajectory. 

The Jazz Gallery Fellowship comprises of a cash award as well as a two-week residency at the Pocantico Center of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. Fellows also have access to The Jazz Gallery space during its off-hours for 12-month period. The Fellowship aims to provide the financial support and logistical freedom to its recipients to focus their energy for a brief but substantial period on new compositional projects. The Jazz Gallery will present formal premieres of completed works. We believe that this opportunity will enable the fellowship recipients to develop potentially career-transforming new works that would otherwise not be possible.

With the Fellowship program, we hope to strengthen our holistic approach to supporting artists and the art form. Many grant programs, competitions, contests, and journalistic awards explicitly feature "emerging" improvisers and composers, while high-visibility cultural awards are generally reserved for much older figures in jazz. The Jazz Gallery hopes to address a gap in allocating funds and resources for established artists and advanced professionals, who, unfortunately, are sometimes taken for granted by the jazz audience and press. Although this program would be a small step toward redressing the relative lack of opportunities for those who fit neither the profiles of rising star nor jazz legend, as favored in the jazz business, the Gallery hopes that such a program will draw attention to this deficiency, setting a precedent to inspire other organizations to devote greater resources for established artists and advanced professionals.

Mentorship has always been a key theme in jazz history. Most of today’s great jazz musicians were raised through informal channels and gained invaluable experience working alongside their heroes. Future generations of great jazz will depend on the continuation of this community-minded mentoring tradition that is, unfortunately, becoming less common as jazz education has become more formalized in conservatory and university settings.

The Jazz Gallery developed its Mentorship Program to cultivate a group of senior-level jazz musicians as mentors and to provide aspiring musicians with the opportunity to learn the music and business of jazz under the guidance of their contemporary heroes.

These young musicians will have the opportunity to learn by preparing for and performing in 4 concerts that are booked as a mini-tour, which will provide mentees with the opportunity to deepen their creative practice and performance skills. This will also teach mentees more practical skills of being working artists—skills set that are not taught in conservatory classrooms.

Mentors, along with their regular collaborators, will work with their mentees to prepare the young artists for four professional performances that will be presented at The Jazz Gallery and our partnering presenters in the NY, CT, and PA area. Mentees are thrown into unknown and high-level musical situations surrounded by senior-level artists. With guidance from their mentors, mentees will develop not only their musicianship, but also learn about managing their career in music and about professional conduct.

The core presenting program of The Jazz Gallery is our Debut Series, Directions in 21st Century Jazz, which features emerging jazz musicians alongside more established artists, providing opportunities for interaction, mentorship, and collaboration. Presenting over 300 performances every year, Directions in 21st Century Jazz is divided into the Début Series and our weekend headliner shows. The latter presents many of the leading artists on the scene today, while the former is dedicated exclusively to showcasing emerging artists who have not performed previously at the Gallery or even anywhere else in NYC as leaders. The Gallery has always made an effort to extend opportunities to promising young artists, and our Début Series has been the primary avenue for nurturing them.

New in 2018-19, the Margaret Whitton Award is a scholarship program for mid-career female artists for one year of private study and mentorship with a senior artist of their choosing. This five-year program is presented in honor of American stage, film, and television actress, Margaret Whitton (Nov 30, 1949 – Dec 4, 2016).

The Jazz Composers Showcase features young composers conducting performances of their large ensemble works. The Jazz Gallery will present four showcases per year, with three composers featured at each showcase. Three composers share the same ensemble at each showcase, which allows them to overcome the financial hurdle of maintaining a large ensemble to perform their compositions. Curated by Miho Hazama.

The Woodshed provides free rehearsal space to our city’s jazz artists. It is open to all artists who have performed at The Jazz Gallery, whether as a leader or a sideman.

Nb. While the space and use of equipment is provided for free, we ask those using the space cover the cost of staff at $20hr (min. 3 hours).

Programs supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council.

The Jazz Gallery is supported by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

RESIDENCY COMMISSION ARTISTS

2024

Patricia Brennan
Nicola Caminiti
Emmanuel Michael

2022 - 2023

Vanisha Gould
Marquis Hill
Micah Thomas

2021 - 2022

Gabriel Chakarji
Arta Jekabsone
Wayne Tucker

2020 - 2021

Morgan Guerin

2019 - 2020

Miho Hazama
Tivon Pennicott
Immanuel Wilkins

2018 - 2019

Shai Maestro
Camila Meza
Kassa Overall

2017-2018

Charles Altura
Melissa Aldana
James Francies

2016-2017

Maria Grand
Adam O’Farrill
Joel Ross

2015-2016

Rafiq Bhatia
Mary Halvorson
Gilad Hekselman

2014-2015

Chris Morrissey
Becca Stevens
Jonathan Finlayson
Ingrid Laubrock

2013

Ben Wendel
Greg Ward
Ben van Gelder
Godwin Louis
Roman Filiu

2012

Fabian Almazan
Kris Davis
John Escreet
Sullivan Fortner
David Virelles

2011

Matt Brewer
Alexis Cuadrado
Linda Oh
Joe Sanders

2010

Amir ElSaffar
Sofia Rei Koutsvitis
Jen Shyu
Sachal Vasandani

2009

Ambrose Akinmusire
John Ellis
Miles Okazaki

2008

Darcy James Argue
Gregg August
David Binney
John Ellis
Pedro Giraudo
Jason Lindner
Sherisse Rogers
Josh Roseman
Yosvany Terry

2007

Gerald Clayton
John Ellis
Marcus Gilmore
Aaron Parks
Luis Perdomo
Yosvany Terry

2002

James Hurt
Vijay Iyer
Jason Lindner
Rudresh Mahanthappa
Jason Moran
Dafnis Prieto

FELLOWSHIP ARTISTS

2024

Dayna Stephens

2023

Angelica Sanchez
Ben Wendel

2022

Caroline Davis
Dezron Douglas

2020

Kendrick Scott

2019

Gretchen Parlato

2018

Jaleel Shaw
Lage Lund

2017

Johnathan Blake
Eric Revis

MENTOR SERIES

2023

Johnathan Blake & Dabin Ryu

2022

Nasheet Waits & Hannah Marks

2021

Dezron Douglas & Kweku Sumbry

2019

Kendrick Scott & Kanoa Mendenhall
Harish Raghavan & Savannah Harris

2018

Jonathan Finlayson & Immanuel Wilkins
Eric Revis & Julius Rodriguez
Kris Davis & David Leon

2017

Orrin Evans & Morgan Guerin
Steve Lehman & Maria Grand
Yosvany Terry & Daryl Johns

2016

Aaron Parks & Joel Ross
Miles Okazaki & Paul Cornish
Dayna Stephens & Patrick Bartley

2015

Claudia Acuña & Samora Pinderhughes
Johnathan Blake & Joe Dyson
Adam Rogers & Jimmy Macbride

2014

Miguel Zenon + Mario Castro
Jaleel Shaw + Elena Pinderhughes
Jason Lindner + James Francies
Taylor Eigsti + Jeremy Dutton

The Margaret Whitton Award

2022

Anna Webber
mentor: Roscoe Mitchell

2020

Linda May Han Oh
mentors: Maria Schneider & Roman Diaz

2019

Kris Davis
mentor: Henry Threadgill