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Capital One City Parks Foundation SummerStage 2022, New York City's annual concert series that takes over Central Park every summer, just released its official line-up with artists like Modest Mouse, The Barenaked Ladies, Trombone Shorty, Belle & Sebastian, The Decemberists, Andy Grammer, Fitz and The Tantrums, Sharon Van Etten, Lucy Dacus, Angel Olsen and Julien Baker.
This year, SummerStage will bring New Yorkers nearly 90 free and benefit shows to Central Park and 12 neighborhood parks across the five boroughs with genres including salsa, jazz, hip-hop, indie rock, reggae, Afrobeat, soul, pop, global, contemporary dance and more.
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"We are so happy to be back in local neighborhood parks after a two-year hiatus and to be able to once again build our newly refurbished flagship concert venue in Central Park," says Heather Lubov, th eCity Parks Foundation’s executive director. "Parks have always been neighborhood gathering spaces, but the pandemic brought to light just how absolutely critical parks are to our city’s health. We are thrilled to be able to bring neighbors together in their parks to enjoy a diverse, representative line-up that is reflective of our city’s rich cultural fabric."
Legendary jazz pianist and composer Herbie Hancock (with the Blue Note Jazz Festival) will open the season on June 11 at Central Park, with other free shows to follow from Aussie BBQ in Central Park (June 18), the Fête de la Musique with French hip hop icon MC SOLAAR in Central Park (June 21) in Central Park, Brazilian group Monobloco with Trinbagonian Nailah Blackman and Batalá in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park (June 26) and K-Pop from Brave Girls, Golden Child and AleXa (July 10). Ney Matogrosso will appear with Brazilian-Mexican folk-rock group Francisco El Hombre and queer duo Fado Bicha on July 17 in Central Park; the king of bachata "El Rey Supremo" Luis Vargas with Dominican artist El Gran Alcover and Latin pop group Grupo De Ahora will be there on August 7; and Ghanaian music star Shatta Wale will bring his incredible dancehall to Crotona Park on August 13.
And while the free shows are a good time, SummerStage's benefit shows, produced by The Bowery Presents, boast a solid line-up: Modest Mouse and The Cribs will play on June 8 and 9; Trombone Shorty’s Voodoo Threauxdown with funk, hip-hop group Tank and the Bangas, rapper Big Freedia, percussionist Cyril Neville and others are playing June 13; American musician and bandleader George Clinton & his collective Parliament Funkadelic with rock band Dopapod and soul music band Pimps of Joytime are on June 15; Scottish, indie rock band Belle & Sebastian with Los Bitchos are on June 16; pop singer-songwriter Andy Grammer and neo-soul band Fitz and The Tantrums are on August 4; The Wild Hearts Tour with indie rock vocalist Sharon Van Etten, indie-folk, singer-songwriter Angel Olsen, and singer and Julien Baker are set for August 20 and 21.
SummerStage will also highlight local talent, including Brooklyn-born singer/songwriter/pianist and former Snarky Puppy member Cory Henry on July 20 and one of NYC’s longest-running iconic underground dance parties Basement Bhangra by DJ Rekha, which will be back for its 25th-anniversary show on August 6. Freestyle king George Lamond and Salsa maestro Tony Vega are playing on August 11 in Crotona Park.
Additionally, SummerStage will pay tribute this season to cultural icons and pioneers with special performances by R&B legends Force MDs & Friends DJ S1 and Bugsy Buggs, who will come together to celebrate the life of founding member, Staten Island's very own Jessie Lee Daniels, on August 7 in Corporal Thompson Park and A Greg Tate Tribute Concert featuring Burnt Sugar Danz, Harriet Tubman, Resistance Revival Chorus on August 20 at Marcus Garvey Park.
In recent years, SummerStage has expanded to include other forms of entertainment. This year, there will be a free outdoor screening of the Oscar- and Grammy award-winning documentary Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) for its second year on June 17 for Juneteenth. The film, which also opens the season of shows in neighborhood parks citywide, will be shown in Marcus Garvey Park, where The Harlem Cultural Festival was originally situated more than 50 years ago.
There will also be numerous dance performances throughout the season from women- and BIPOC-led companies, including from New York-based street and Club dance company, Passionfruit Dance Company, Art Move Concept, Nai Ni Chen Dance Company, modern dance company Dallas Black Dance Theatre, Brooklyn based Maimouna Keita African Dance Company, Urban Bush Women, Lindy Hop, solo jazz and house scenes company LaTasha Barnes Dance, and Hubbard St Dance Chicago.
There will also be a free, six-show series at The Coney Island Amphitheater at the Coney Island Boardwalk in Brooklyn that includes R&B icons Stephanie Mills, Keni Burke and Ted Smooth on June 25 and Puerto Rican Power, Domingo Quinones with Lower East Salsa on July 10.
And as always, the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival will give a salute to the late saxophonist with its 30th three-day celebration of live jazz in the neighborhoods near where Parker worked and lived, including Harlem’s historic Marcus Garvey Park and Tompkins Square Park in the East Village. From August 26 to August 28, storied, veteran players and the next generation of jazz artists will take the stage, including Jazzmeia and Her Noble Force, Brooklyn-born tap dancer Calvin Booker, American trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard with the E-Collective and Turtle Island Quartet, NEA Jazz Master bassist Buster Williams and Something More, avant-garde jazz legendary saxophonist Archie Shepp with genre-bending pianist Jason Moran, multi-award winning saxophonist Melissa Aldana, world-renowned trumpeter Bria Skonberg, and leader in the field and mentor guitarist Pasquale Grasso with his nostalgic sound.
For the full schedule and tickets, check out cityparksfoundation.org/summerstage.