Intergenerational Jazz Jam in the holiday spirit with Swing Dance Party with Mickey D and Friends!

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Jazz Power to the People with Eli Yamin.

Join us Sunday, December 16 from 2-5 PM at National Jazz Museum in Harlem for the final Intergenerational Jazz Jam of 2018. This series has been hot this season with 80-100 people attending each month. We are thrilled to continue the collaboration with National Jazz Museum in Harlem with support from Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone (UMEZ). On December 16, choreographer Mickey Davidson will co-lead the session with Artistic Director Eli Yamin. Mickey D and Friends will perform the first set with the Jazz Power Band featuring Antoinette Montague, voice, Benny Rubin Jr., saxophone, Jennifer Vincent, bass, Dwayne “Cook” Broadnax, drums and Eli Yamin, piano. The second set will feature a performance by Jazz Power Youth followed by an open jam session.

Choreographer/educator Mickey Davidson won an Audelco award for choreography of “For Colored Girls Who Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf” directed by Ntozake Shange. She joined Dianne McIntyre’s ground breaking “Sounds In Motion” in 1975 and danced with the company for eight years. She has worked closely with jazz artists Sun Ra, Cecil Taylor, the World Saxophone Quartet and was mentored by original Savoy Ballroom dancers Frankie Manning and Norma Miller. A beloved New York veteran of arts education, Ms. Davidson has an extensive background in African American dance styles and led the African American Dance program at Wesleyan University for 17 years. In addition to teaching with Jazz Power Initiative, she teaches at the Louis Armstrong Jazz Camp in New Orleans and is a passionate advocate for making the authentic jazz dance traditions available to the next generation.

Jazz Power Initiative Artistic Director and Co-Founder Eli Yamin is a pianist, composer, singer, producer and educator who has been spreading the joy of jazz through his work for 30 years including 10 years as founding director of Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Middle School Jazz Academy. Eli tours with his blues band and jazz quartet, has released eight CD’s featuring his compositions and has performed at The White House, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and over 20 countries as a cultural ambassador for the U.S. Department of State. Eli sincerely believes learning about jazz should feel as creative as playing jazz and consistently shares this experience with students of all ages. He has written a book, So You Want to Sing the Blues, published by Rowman and Littlefield in partnership with the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS).