New York City Jazz Hero
Music curator, concert promoter and president of concert promotion/production company BOOM Collective, Brice Rosenbloom continues both to supply stages for musicians to perform and provide a symbolic beacon of hope for musicians and the jazz community at large, particularly for those in and around New York City. Dedicated to presenting music that looks to the future while respecting its past, Brice demonstrates admirable dedication to the issues of social and racial justice, gender equality and music industry-related topics.
From his past tenures at Central Park Summerstage, The Knitting Factory, Makor, Jazz at Lincoln Center, and Le Poisson Rouge, Brice has developed into a music curator nonpareil, currently as artistic director at the World Music Institute and curator for BRIC Jazzfest. His other most recent efforts include forging the return of Winter Jazzfest after two shuttered years and spearheading the Jazz Coalition organization through the pandemic has immeasurably helped unite us here.
The Jazz Coalition, a collective of industry professionals, musicians, fans and supporters, initiated a commission program encouraging musicians to never stop being creative even through the heights of lockdown, increasing musicians’ morale and that of those around them. A list of artists who benefited from these commissions is too long to cite, or even begin. As for Winter Jazzfest: Brice founded it in 2005. Celebrating its 19th season last January, it roared back from its two-year suspension. attracting massive crowds to hear almost 100 acts at 14 venues centered in downtown Manhattan and Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The conglomeration of acts was enthralling, and would be found nowhere else.
NYC’s jazz scene is stronger, more vibrant and healthier in no small part due to Brice’s presence. A recipient of the Bruce Lundvall Visionary Award conferred by the Jazz Congress (affiliated with Jazz at Lincoln Center) in 2016, Brice Rosenbloom is now also hailed by the Jazz Journalists Association as a Jazz Hero.
By Laurence Donohue-Greene
