Wynton Marsalis prepares a leadership transition for Jazz at Lincoln Center

When Wynton Marsalis and his Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra return to Chicago for concerts in early June, he will still be the artistic and administrative leader of the ensemble that he founded nearly 40 years ago.

Starting in the 26/27 season, however, Marsalis and Jazz at Lincoln Center, the group overseeing JALCO and its related projects, will begin a 2.5-year leadership transition. As part of this plan, Marsalis will continue as artistic director during the 2026/27 season, anchored at its New York City home at 10 Columbus Circle. Beginning in July 2027, he will continue to serve in an advisory capacity as founder until his contract ends in June 2028. Then Marsalis will serve on the JALC’s board as founder in perpetuity.

“When we established Jazz at Lincoln Center in 1987, our goal was to build an enduring jazz institution that would both entertain and educate by exposing multi-generational audiences to an often-overlooked aspect of American culture, and I am proud of the tremendous progress we’ve made,” said Marsalis, now 64, in a statement. “JALC and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra have always been my main artistic priority as a musician and a citizen. As JALC approaches its 40th anniversary, there couldn’t be a better time for this transition.

"Performing and nurturing the future of jazz and its musicians through JALC has been the honor of a lifetime, and I am very grateful to my fellow artists, the board, leadership and staff of Jazz at Lincoln Center, and must acknowledge the incredible desire and dedication of the JALCO. Together, we have covered a lot of ground. [But] it is time for new leadership to take the institution to even higher ground. We are rich in emerging, extremely talented, capable, and inspired musicians and advocates. I’m very confident about the future.”

For the transition, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Board has appointed two committees: one to collaborate with Marsalis in identifying the next generation of JALC’s artistic leadership, and the second to lead the search for JALC’s next executive director, replacing Greg Scholl, who will step down in June.

The two committees hope to appoint a new executive director by late spring to overlap with Scholl’s tenure and to name a new artistic director by this fall. In this new leadership structure, the executive director and artistic director will serve as equal partners, reporting to the board of directors.

In Chicago at Symphony Center, Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra will perform in an SCP Jazz concert June 2. Then he and JALCO will join the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, under Marin Alsop, in concerts June 4-6 featuring Marsalis’ Liberty (Symphony No. 5), which was co-commissioned by the CSO. The program, which is part of the CSO’s America 250 series, includes works by John Adams and Aaron Copland.