New York's JVC Jazz Fest Ready to Evolve

The summer jazz festival season is upon us, and as usual, the JVC Jazz Festival New York will be the most visible. Under new management this year, the festival will feature concerts in new theaters and clubs and some curious and challenging double bills, like the pairing of Cecil Taylor and George Cables, pianists representing very different parts of the jazz spectrum. These are potentially exciting developments for a festival that has seemed stolid at times. This year's offerings reflect changes in the festival's organization. Last year George Wein, the founder of the festival, sold his company, Festival Productions Inc. He and some of his employees signed on with the new owner, the Festival Network LLC. He was involved in this year's bookings but with a different staff, and there are differences.

For one, the festival's long-running series of concerts at Hunter College's Kaye Playhouse, featuring traditional jazz and swing and bringing in an older crowd, has ended. For another, there seems to be less emphasis on the big jamboree-homage shows: take a subject (living or dead), load up 25 musicians or so, and rotate them onto the stage along with a few unannounced surprises, to give the concertgoer a feeling of having seen something special. That's a model that has run its course. This year's festival seems more created for people with a longer concentration span and a greater interest in where jazz is today.

This year's edition of JVC New York, along with the double bills, will use some new theaters and clubs, including Le Poisson Rouge, the Concert Hall at the New York Society for Ethical Culture and the Brooklyn Masonic Temple. At the same time it is not unrecognizable: it still includes a few natural large-cast homages.

One, on Wednesday, is in honor of Jack Kleinsinger, the producer of Highlights in Jazz, the long-running New York jazz concert series. One, on June 23, is in honor of the pianist Dick Hyman, who was also a concert producer for 20 years (until 2004) when he ran the 92nd Street Y's Jazz in July festival. And one, on June 21, is built around Hank Jones, the extraordinary 89-year-old pianist who, as a rhythm-section sideman and as a leader, has played and recorded with hundreds -- maybe thousands -- of other musicians.

Two other festivals make this a special time for jazz fans in New York. They are the Vision Festival, now in its 13th year, which runs through Sunday, and the New Languages Festival, now in its fourth year (but its first as a contender during this stretch of the calendar), which runs through Saturday.

Here is a short list of recommended concerts across the two weeks of the JVC festival, which starts on Sunday and runs through June 28. Details can be found at festivalnetwork.com or jazz.jvc.com.