A Relaxed Ellington Hour for Kids and New Jazz Listeners
A one-hour relaxed Saturday concert where a young big band walks families and new listeners through Duke Ellington's blues and orchestral writing.
🎺 The Saturday Concert
🎷 What the Band Plays
Jazz at Lincoln Center built this hour around one composer, pianist, and bandleader, and the Future of Jazz Orchestra plays it with a full big band of rising young musicians. Trombonist Vincent Gardner of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra hosts, talking between tunes about how Ellington wrote. The program moves from stomping blues to elegant melodies and larger orchestral forms, which gives kids a feel for how much ground one writer covered. Expect a concert first, with the explaining woven in between numbers.
👀 Inside Rose Theater
The show runs in Rose Theater, the main hall inside Frederick P. Rose Hall at Broadway and 60th Street, with orchestra, mezzanine, and balcony levels wrapped around the stage. Jazz at Lincoln Center lists it as a relaxed performance, which means adjusted lighting and sound, freedom to come and go during the show, and a Chill Out Space for a break before rejoining. Movement and sounds from the audience are welcome, so a restless kid or a first-time jazz listener can settle in without worrying about concert rules.
🎟️ Tickets, Timing, and Fit
The concert starts at 3:00 PM on Saturday, November 7, and runs about one hour. On October 23 the official ticket page listed balcony seats at $22, mezzanine at $32, and orchestra at $37, each total including fees. Designated accessible seating is available, and families who need it should confirm details with the box office before booking. It suits a first full jazz concert with kids or adults new to big band music. Anyone hoping for a hands-on music class will find a seated show instead. The nearest subway stop is 59 St–Columbus Circle on the A, B, C, D, and 1 trains. Rose Hall's entrance is on Broadway at 60th Street, and the theater sits upstairs, reached by elevator.
