Hailed as “Philadelphia’s most reliable and ambitious presenter of new jazz and improvised music” by The Wire, Ars Nova Workshop (ANW) has connected creative music’s most exploratory and forward-looking artists with adventurous audiences in the City of Brotherly Love for more than 20 years. A nomadic organization for most of its history, ANW finally established a permanent home in 2022 with Solar Myth, which has quickly become a vital hub for Philly’s jazz, experimental and contemporary classical music communities.

As part of Winter JazzFest’s 20th anniversary celebration, ANW will bring the spirit of Philadelphia to New York City’s most celebrated jazz event for the first time. Over the past two decades, Winter Jazzfest has cemented a reputation as a hotbed of cultural discovery, presenting new and exciting sounds and scenes throughout New York. Ars Nova Workshop could make the identical claim for the Philly scene, making a collaboration between the two a natural fit. For the 2024 Manhattan Marathon on Friday, January 12, the celebrated East Village club Nublu will host the Ars Nova Workshop Stage, transporting ANW’s curatorial vision and a stellar line-up of extraordinary Philly musicians to the jazz world’s most venerated and cutting-edge festival.

For this thrilling showcase event, ANW will present six acts featuring a host of Philly friends that represent the organization’s dizzying blend of innovative and wide-ranging music. The evening will kick off with the explosive trio Bark Culture, led by vibraphonist Victor Vieira-Branco and featuring bassist John Moran and drummer Joey Sullivan. Bassist Anthony Tidd and his genre-blurring band Sanity, a pioneering project in the fusion of avant-jazz and hip-hop, will be joined by the powerhouse poet Ursula Rucker. The remarkable, unstoppable Sun Ra Arkestra leader Marshall Allen has made a home at Solar Myth as he approaches his 100th anniversary on the planet; he’ll appear at the helm of his ever-shifting all-star band Ghost Horizons. The ground-breaking poet, singer and songwriter Saul Williams will offer one of his always-captivating performances. Black Buttafly, aka keyboardist/singer Kayla Childs, blends gospel, jazz, and R&B influences with her soulful band. The War on Drugs drummer Charlie Hall is a self-professed Miles Davis fanatic, and his ensemble Get Up With It pays exhilarating homage to the trumpet icon’s electric years with an unparalleled roster of improvisers.