Ensemble Newsletter · July 20, 2026
Bravo! Vail at Geffen Hall, a trumpet legend's birthday, and a Vanguard summit
NYC picks, jazz and classical, updated weekly
Three picks for the week of July 20, from Lincoln Center to Columbus Circle and down to a Village basement. Classical and jazz, all inside a single subway swipe. Here is where we would be.
Bravo! Vail: Elim Chan and James Ehnes — David Geffen Hall
The Bravo! Vail residency lands at Geffen Hall with Elim Chan conducting and James Ehnes as soloist in the Korngold Violin Concerto, a score that wears its Hollywood lineage openly. Britten's Four Sea Interludes and Stravinsky's Firebird Suite bookend it, moving the evening from lush to briny to blazing. The six o'clock downbeat leaves the rest of the night to you.
Event details →Jon Faddis Quartet — Dizzy's Club
Trumpeter Jon Faddis turns 73 and marks it the only sensible way, on a bandstand overlooking Central Park. Expect stratospheric high-register lines, fast exchanges, and the loose, generous energy of a legend treating his own birthday as a reason to play hard. Dizzy's close quarters and city-light views make it the right room for the occasion.
Event details →Ben Wendel Quintet — Village Vanguard
Saxophonist Ben Wendel convenes a lineup that reads like a modern-jazz all-star ballot: Gilad Hekselman on guitar, Taylor Eigsti on piano, John Patitucci on bass, and Nate Wood on drums. The Vanguard's basement was built for exactly this kind of interplay, where five bandleaders agree to spend a night listening. Sunday is the slot to get there early.
Event details →