Dave Chappelle To Host Tonight's Jazz At Lincoln Center Annual Gala
NAPA, CALIFORNIA - JULY 29: Dave Chappelle speaks on the Black Radio stage at the Blue Note Jazz Festival at Silverado Resort and Spa on July 29, 2023 in Napa, California. (Photo by)
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Tickets to the gala—which will include a concert, dinner, dancing and an after-party at Dizzy's Club—are still available. The concert also is being streamed at Jazz Live.
Chappelle, an alumnus of Washington, D.C.'s Duke Ellington School of the Arts, has a long connection to this music, Jazz at Lincoln Center said. It called him 'a jazz fan who cites Thelonious Monk as one of his favorite musicians,' It also said he 'is an amateur jazz pianist (who) has appeared at jazz festivals and clubs throughout the years.'
Mercedes Ellington, Duke's granddaughter, is the gala's honorary co-chair.
Performing at the concert, 'Duke at 125,' will be Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis; members of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater; drummer Jeff Hamilton; flautist Baqir Abbas; vocalist Kate Kortum; alumni of Jazz at Lincoln Center's signature education program, Essentially Ellington; plus rising stars in its youth programs.
Awards also will be bestowed at the gala. The 2025 Ed Bradley Award for Leadership in Jazz will be awarded to H. E. Huda Alkhamis-Kanoo, founder of Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Foundation and founder and artistic director of Abu Dhabi Festival. The 2025 Artistic Achievement Award will be awarded to Toshiko Akiyoshi, pianist and jazz composer
New this year will be international awards honoring individuals who have built organizations that have had a great impact on their jazz communities. The inaugural recipients will be Greg Quigley of the Jazz Music Institute (JMI) in Brisbane, Australia; and Maribel Torre and Eugenio Elias of De Quinta Producciones in Mexico City, Mexico.
Quigly's award will be presented by JLCO trombonist and Jazz Houston founder Vincent Gardner, while Torre and Elias' award will be presented by by JLCO saxophonist Alexa Tarantino and bassist Russell Hall.
According to Jazz at Lincoln Center, In 1996, 'Quigley founded JMI, a private higher education provider based in Brisbane, Australia that delivers a range of courses in jazz performance, and also hosts Essentially Ellington Down Under.
It also said Maribel Torre and Eugenio Elias of De Quinta Producciones in Mexico City, Mexico have been dedicated jazz presenters for many years. For over a decade, they have hosted the JALC-curated New York Jazz All Stars series and bring nine bands to tour the country each year. In addition to producing visiting artists' performances, De Quinta Producciones's work offers educational programs and master classes that impact thousands of students while engaging new audiences.'
Chappelle, it added, 'is the 2019 recipient of the Kennedy Center's Mark Twain Prize for American Humor and the 2025 NAACP President's Award. Chappelle's work in television and film includes his groundbreaking sketch comedy series "Chappelle's Show," which became the best-selling TV show in DVD history, multiple Netflix comedy specials, and memorable guest appearances on "Saturday Night Live." He has earned five Emmy Awards, including three for his Netflix specials and two for hosting "Saturday Night Live" (2017, 2021), where his most recent 17-minute monologue stands as the longest in the show's 50-year history. Chappelle has won six Grammy Awards for Best Comedy Album, including his most recent for "The Dreamer" (2025).'
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The best comedy punches up − it challenges power, exposes hypocrisy and speaks truth. But when it punches down, it can legitimize cruelty and reinforce systems of exclusion. A friend recently invited me to a Dave Chappelle performance in Yellow Springs, about an hour north of Cincinnati. I passed. I didn't know what his routine would be, but I knew what I didn't want to hear. Chappelle is a masterful storyteller and one of the most talented comedians of our time. But his comedy increasingly leaves me uneasy − not because it's edgy, but because it too often reinforces the very prejudices it claims to poke fun at. I first felt this discomfort when Chappelle made a name for himself joking about Black people in ways that gave license to racists. I watched White audience members laugh a little too hard at sketches that, while brilliantly crafted, seemed to permit them to enjoy stereotypes they weren't supposed to say out loud. Chappelle himself later acknowledged this dynamic, and even walked away from a $50 million deal and his hit show on Comedy Central, "Chappelle's Show," when he saw people laughing with the characters instead of at the racism. But in his recent stand-up, Chappelle has shifted his focus toward the LGBTQ+ community, especially transgender people, and I feel that same uneasiness again. Once more, I see people who likely hold deep biases laughing with a sense of vindication. "If Dave Chappelle can say it," they think, "so can I." Opinion: Don't take Dave Chappelle down. Lift transgender voices up. When the joke punches down, the harm hits hard This isn't about being offended. It's about what comedy does. The best comedy punches up − it challenges power, exposes hypocrisy and speaks truth. But when it punches down, it can legitimize cruelty and reinforce systems of exclusion. Opinion: Pride reminded me capitalism can't save us from Trump. Only we can do that. Chappelle insists he's just telling the truth. But truth without compassion can sound a lot like contempt. When that contempt is aimed at groups already struggling to be seen and heard, it becomes more than a joke. It becomes part of the problem. So no, I won't attend the show. I admire Chappelle's genius. But I can't pretend not to see the cost of his notoriety, especially when it's borne by the people who are already fighting to be treated with dignity. We should all ask ourselves: When we laugh, who's hurting? Dennis Doyle lives in Anderson Township and is a member of the Board of Contributors at the Cincinnati Enquirer, where this column originally appeared.
