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TRICK OR TREAT: ROBTOBER -vs- RONTOBER

New York doesn’t do small rivalries. Even our jazz clubs compete like heavyweight champions. This October, while the rest of the city carved pumpkins, two institutions carved their names into the month’s musical history: Blue Note’s “Robtober” and Birdland’s “Rontober.”

Down in the Village, Robert Glasper has turned Blue Note into a living manifesto — a month-long collision of hip-hop rhythm and jazz improvisation that’s still going strong through November 2. Every night brings new guests, new grooves, and a new reminder that innovation doesn’t need permission. “Robtober” has been a laboratory of sound and community — proof that jazz’s next century is being built in real time, one collaboration at a time.

Uptown, Ron Carter’s “Rontober” at Birdland continues its final nights with equal mastery and momentum, also running through November 2. With his Great Big Band and Foursight Quartet, Carter transforms precision into poetry, balancing intellect with elegance. His music doesn’t shout — it commands.

Together, Glasper and Carter gave New York the perfect balance of Trick and Treat: two artists, two generations, two rooms, both redefining what it means to push the music forward. “Robtober” reminds us the future is fearless; “Rontober” proves the foundation still holds. For one more weekend, the city hums between them — the sound of jazz alive, urgent, and beautifully in conversation with itself. ~Chrys R.

🚀 Boundary-Pushers

Artists experimenting, innovating, and stretching jazz forward

This weekend’s trailblazers remind us that jazz is not a museum piece — it’s a living conversation with the unknown. Robert Glasper turns Blue Note into a laboratory of rhythm and rebellion, merging groove, truth, and digital soul. At Dizzy’s, Stephane Wrembel redefines Django’s gypsy swing with the sweep of a filmmaker’s imagination, while Joel Ross builds glowing harmonic constellations at The Jazz Gallery. Harlem’s own Patience Higgins stretches the jam session into a cultural ritual, and T.K. Blue channels diasporic spirit and saxophone fire at The Django. Even giants keep pushing the edge — Ron Carter reshapes big band tradition at Birdland as part of the month-long Ron-tober, and Jon Faddis lights Blues Alley with trumpet lines that still echo Dizzy’s fearless joy. Together, they remind us that evolution has always been the most radical form of respect.

🎷 Keepers of the Flame 

Masters and modern torchbearers carrying the jazz tradition forward

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✊ Voices of Resistance 

Artists channeling jazz’s spirit of resilience, protest, and community

From Harlem to Havana, this week’s lineup speaks to freedom in all its forms. At Mount Morris Ascension Presbyterian Church, bassist Melissa Slocum leads the Harlem Jazz Series with a performance rooted in strength, lineage, and liberation. At Zinc Bar, Paul Carr and Elew remind us that resistance also swings — each transforming intensity into purpose through sound. From there, the current flows south and outward: at the National Jazz Museum in Harlem, Charles Altura and Jonathan Paik bring intergenerational dialogue to life through the Jazz Gallery Mentoring Series; at NJPAC, Omar Sosa fuses Afro-Cuban rhythm with spiritual transcendence, and Stanley Clarke’s N•4EVER turns fusion into testimony — a celebration of legacy and liberation. In every setting, these artists channel the sacred lineage of sound that has always carried jazz beyond entertainment and into awakening.

💃🏽 HotSpot Other

Comedy, theater, youth, and interdisciplinary arts.

Baile Cangrejero (play) — Pregones Theater, Bronx (Nov 1 10 pm) 571-575 Walton Ave Bronx 718-585-1202 pregonesprtt.org

Jazz & Jokes — Comedy in Harlem (Oct 31 10:30 pm) 750A St Nicholas Ave NYC 347-766-3001 comedyinharlem.com

The Moth StorySLAM — The Bell House (Nov 3 8 pm preview) 149 7th St Brooklyn 718-643-6510 thebellhouseny.com

Fat Cats Youth Orchestra Workshop — ShapeShifter Lab (Nov 2 11 am) 837 Union St Brooklyn 646-820-9452 shapeshifterplus.org

🎉 FESTIVALS & SPECIALS

November’s big-stage celebrations.

Exit Zero Jazz Festival — Cape May NJ (Nov 7–9)

Multiple venues | exitzerojazzfestival.com From Cassandra Wilson’s New Moon Daughter anniversary to Endea Owens, Omar Sosa, Stanley Clarke, Gabrielle Cavassa & more—three days of ocean-front groove and heritage.

James Moody International Jazz Festival @ NJPAC (Newark NJ | Nov 8–23)

njpac.org Featuring Omar Sosa, Stanley Clarke, Arturo Sandoval, Christian McBride Big Band ft. Andra Day & José James, Represent! with Chuck D & Rakim, Stanley Jordan Plays Jimi, and the Sarah Vaughan Vocal Competition.

🌟 Special: Celebrating Sheila Jordan

Dizzy’s Club @ Jazz at Lincoln Center — Nov 5, 7:00pm 10 Columbus Cir, 5th Fl, New York, NY 10019 • 212-258-9595 • jazz.org

This week, Dizzy’s Club becomes hallowed ground as the jazz community gathers to celebrate the life and spirit of Sheila Jordan (1928–2025) — a singular voice who transformed bebop into storytelling. Once a protégée of Charlie Parker, Sheila carried the music’s emotional language into new generations, her phrasing as honest as a heartbeat and as daring as flight.

Originally planned as a tribute, the concert now stands as a farewell — a final chorus for the NEA Jazz Master whose artistry redefined what it means to sing jazz. In every note, she taught that courage and vulnerability share the same key. Tonight, those lessons echo across Dizzy’s stage — not as an elegy, but as a thank you.

🔔 Must See Next Week (Nov 3 – 10)

The week ahead carries momentum and memory — a city alive with masters, innovators, and tributes that remind us why jazz never stands still.

New York City & Metro

Charles McPherson Quintet — Smoke Jazz Club (Nov 5 – 10) Bebop royalty in full command — six nights of swing, melody, and grace.

Vijay Iyer Quartet — Village Vanguard (Nov 4 – 5) Pianistic intellect meets rhythmic daring; a study in modern interplay.

The Hot Sardines — Birdland (Nov 4 – 5) Vintage swing with downtown sparkle; a joyful revival of pre-war energy.

Frank Vignola’s Guitar Night w/ Mark Whitfield & Ted Rosenthal — Birdland Theater (Nov 5) Three virtuosos trading choruses in Birdland’s most beloved weekly jam.

Michael Feinstein “Standard Time” — Carnegie Hall (Nov 5) A big-band salute to the Great American Songbook led by its foremost interpreter.

Boney James — Sony Hall (Nov 4) Smooth-jazz polish and R&B heartbeat from a crossover favorite.

Preservation Hall Jazz Band & Friends — City Winery NYC (Nov 4) New Orleans heritage and joy take over the Hudson River stage.

Paul Carr — Zinc Bar (Nov 3) | Elew Trio — Zinc Bar (Nov 4) DC swing meets piano pyrotechnics in back-to-back club sets.

Richard Cortez — Arthur’s Tavern (Nov 3) Late-night croon and charm in the Village’s most historic room.

Hot Toddies Jazz Band — C @ Renaissance Chelsea Hotel (Nov 5) Prohibition-era sass returns for Gotham Jazz Wednesdays.

Lezlie Harrison feat. Wine & Jazz Trio — 333 Lounge, Brooklyn (Nov 5) Soulful vocals and candle-lit groove; Brooklyn’s warmest night out.

Sylvie Courvoisier Trio — Roulette, Brooklyn (Nov 4) Avant-garde piano, fearless rhythm, and sound sculpture in motion.

David Collins Quartet Plays Horace Silver — Dada Bar, Queens (Nov 5) Hard-bop revival with deep Queens energy.

The Jazz Gallery Mentoring Series ft. Charles Altura & Jonathan Paik — National Jazz Museum in Harlem (Nov 4) Cross-generational artistry and improvisational dialogue in motion.

Ollice Spaulding — Da Milio’s NYC (Nov 6) A rising voice bridging the American songbook and new-soul storytelling.

Beyond NYC

George Cables Trio — Jazz Vespers @ Bethany Baptist Church, Newark (Nov 8) Hard-bop mastery meets sacred intensity.

Houston Person — Jazz Forum, Tarrytown (Nov 7 – 8) Soul-tenor warmth and storytelling tone from a living legend.

Omar Sosa Quarteto Americanos — NJPAC (Nov 8) Afro-Cuban fusion and spiritual uplift at the James Moody Festival.

Stanley Clarke N•4EVER — NJPAC (Nov 8 – 9) Fusion’s founding bassist leads his new ensemble with electrifying force.

Jacob Collier — McCarter Theatre, Princeton (Nov 6) Genre-defying virtuoso orchestrating harmony on a cosmic scale.

West Coast Pulse

Robert Glasper — Blue Note LA (through Nov 3) A masterclass in groove and genre-blending — the close of his LA residency.

Ghost Note — Blue Note California (Nov 4 – 5) Funk-fusion fireworks from Snarky Puppy alumni.

Tank and the Bangas — Blue Note California (Nov 6 – 9) New Orleans energy, poetry, and playfulness in technicolor motion.

MORE SPOTLIGHTS

DIRECTORY OF JAZZ BRUNCHES AROUND TOWN