New Music USA and Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice Announce 2025 Next Jazz Legacy Cohort

Next Jazz Legacy (NJL) is excited to announce the eight emerging improvisers in jazz that make up its 2025 cohort. The trailblazing program, created by New Music USA(Opens in a new window) and the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice, aims to tackle gender and racial inequities by offering intergenerational apprenticeship, mentorship, and professional development opportunities to people who have been historically underrepresented in jazz. The program is funded by the Mellon Foundation.

The 2025 Next Jazz Legacy Cohort

Alexandra Ridout (she/her): Trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator

• Bandleader: Melissa Aldana; Creative Mentor: Marquis Hill

April May Webb (she/her): Vocalist, composer, educator

• Bandleader: Danilo Pérez; Creative Mentor: Ledisi

Brenda Navarrete Guzman (she/her): Afro-Cuban percussionist, singer, composer

• Bandleader: Kassa Overall; Creative Mentor: Terri Lyne Carrington

Carmen Quill (she/her): Upright bass, composer, songwriter

• Bandleader: Billy Hart; Creative Mentor: Becca Stevens

Chanelle Ignant (she/her): Guitarist, educator, composer

• Bandleader: Meshell Ndegeocello; Creative Mentor: Matthew Stevens

DoYeon Kim (she/her): Gayageum performer

• Bandleader: Kris Davis; Creative Mentor: Mark Dresser

Melissa Almaguer (she/her): Tap dance/feet percussion, multidisciplinary artist, educator

• Bandleader: David Virelles; Creative Mentor: Susie Ibarra

Nora Stanley (she/her): Saxophonist, composer

• Bandleader: Tyshawn Sorey; Creative Mentor: Ellen Arkbro

For full bios on each cohort member, read New Music USA's announcement(Opens in a new window). 

With gender and racial justice as guiding principles, this group of Next Jazz Legacy awardees was chosen through an open application call followed by a meticulous review process by a distinguished panel of jazz luminaries, chaired by Terri Lyne Carrington, NEA Jazz Master and Next Jazz Legacy’s artistic director. Once the awardees were selected, Carrington and the Next Jazz Legacy team worked closely with each musician to pair them with a master bandleader for a yearlong performance apprenticeship and a creative mentor, both aligned with the artist’s unique interests.

The selection committee for the 2025 Next Jazz Legacy cohort also included Aja Burrell Wood, Angelica Sanchez, Caroline Davis, Liberty Ellman, Matthew Stevens, and Neal Smith.

This new cohort of Next Jazz Legacy artists represents a dynamic fusion of backgrounds, talents, and perspectives, embodying a commitment to innovation and artistic excellence within the jazz community. As a genre that has long embraced cultural diversity and creative exploration, jazz continues to evolve through the voices of musicians from all traditions. This year’s cohort highlights that evolution, featuring artists who push boundaries, from the use of unconventional instruments such as the traditional Korean gayageum to Afro-Cuban percussion influences to a multidisciplinary tap artist. Beyond their musical achievements, these artists have overcome challenges including sexism, socio-economic barriers, and limited access to opportunities, further reinforcing the program’s mission to foster equity and inclusion in jazz. 

Cofounded by New Music USA and the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice, Next Jazz Legacy (NJL) has made a remarkable impact by providing invaluable experiences to its two cohorts of awardees and aiding in their artistic development:

• 100 percent of the NJL awardees state they have grown as an artist both as a side-person and as a performer.

• 100 percent state they have achieved their goals and have increased confidence.

• 86 percent are continuing their relationship with their assigned bandleader beyond the NJL program.

• 71 percent will continue their relationship with their NJL mentor.

• 100 percent of NJL awardees feel more connected to and have a stronger sense of belonging in the jazz community after participating in the program.

Awardees have performed at some of the most prestigious jazz events across the country, including Winter Jazzfest (New York City), Mary Lou Williams Festival (Washington, DC) and DC Jazz Festival, and Angel City Jazz Festival (Los Angeles). Next Jazz Legacy awardees have also had the chance to work and perform with some of the most acclaimed names in jazz including Makaya McCraven, esperanza spalding BM ’05, Tia Fuller, Nasheet Waits, Moor Mother, Brandee Younger, Patrice Rushen, Craig Taborn, Nicole Mitchell, Marcus Miller, Regina Carter, Christian McBride, Nicholas Payton, Helen Sung, Bobby McFerrin, the late Wayne Shorter, and two recent Grammy winners, Meshell Ndegeocello and Miguel Zenón BM ’98. Next Jazz Legacy has gained national recognition from top media outlets like the PBS NewsHour, Billboard, Grammy.com, AllArts, and more. 

Building on this success, the 2025 Next Jazz Legacy cohort will take the stage for the first time together in NYC on Wednesday, May 14, at the Jazz Gallery, with sets at 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.

By the end of this fourth year of the program, Next Jazz Legacy’s impact will have grown to encompass the direct support of 29 emerging artists; the engagement of 87 bandleaders and mentors; 348 creative and business mentorship sessions; 1,174 apprenticeship sessions; 24 cohort learning sessions; and 14 showcase performances.  

“I’m very excited about Next Jazz Legacy moving into its fourth year,” said Carrington. “We have been working with some amazingly diverse improvisers in jazz, as well as seasoned veterans, toward a more inclusive jazz future. I have always felt that onstage apprenticeship was highly beneficial in my own development and am so happy that we can assist these incredible emerging musicians with apprenticeship and mentorship in their artistic journey.” 

“I’m thrilled to welcome our latest cohort of Next Jazz Legacy awardees to the fourth year of this pioneering program, which lays the foundation for a more inclusive jazz future,” said New Music USA President and CEO Vanessa Reed. “Thanks to the Mellon Foundation’s renewed support of our program until 2027, vital funding, collaborative learning, and performance opportunities will now benefit many more awardees, bandleaders and mentors from the jazz community. I look forward to staying in touch with the growing community of Next Jazz Legacy alumni when I move to my new role at the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic in the UK in May.”  

“I am so excited to be part of the 2025 Next Jazz Legacy cohort,” shared 2025 Next Jazz Legacy awardee Melissa Almaguer. “As a woman tap dancer in this industry, to be acknowledged and accepted as a musician in this program is reassuring and an honor. I’m looking forward to learning from all the resources that NJL provides and to receive guidance from some of my biggest inspirations. I’m grateful for programs like this that are community-oriented; in this chaotic world it’s important to have a safe space where you are supported and guided.”

Next Jazz Legacy(Opens in a new window)

Next Jazz Legacy is a national apprenticeship program for diverse improvisers in jazz with the intersection of gender and race as a guiding principle. The mission of Next Jazz Legacy is to increase opportunities for musicians most underrepresented in the art form and to create waves of lasting change that benefit the whole community. Next Jazz Legacy invests in its awardees through a comprehensive support package that includes intergenerational apprenticeships and mentorship, showcases, cohort learning, and a grant that contributes to awardees’ creative and professional development. Next Jazz Legacy is a partnership between New Music USA and the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice, with funding from the Mellon Foundation. Grammy-winning artist and NEA Jazz Master Terri Lyne Carrington is the program’s artistic director. Next Jazz Legacy welcomes applications from musicians of all gender and sexual identities to achieve the goal of true gender diversity in the field. (Opens in a new window)

New Music USA(Opens in a new window)

New Music USA is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing new music in all its forms. Our mission is to nurture a vibrant and inclusive community for artists and listeners by supporting the creation, performance, and appreciation of new music throughout the United States. Through responsive grant-making; skill-building; mentorship and convenings for creators from all backgrounds; and platforms designed to connect music-makers with organizations and their audiences, New Music USA works to ensure a thriving, connected, and equitable ecosystem for the music of our time. (Opens in a new window)

Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice

The Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice’s mission is to recruit, teach, mentor, and advocate for young musicians desiring to study jazz in a safe, egalitarian, and nurturing environment, with gender justice and racial justice as guiding principles. We share in the collective work to challenge systemic forms of oppression embedded in the art form. We believe a cultural transformation is needed and that the music itself will not reach its full potential until these issues are meaningfully addressed. 

Andrew W. Mellon Foundation(Opens in a new window)

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is the nation’s largest supporter of the arts and humanities. Since 1969, the foundation has been guided by its core belief that the humanities and arts are essential to human understanding. The foundation believes that the arts and humanities are where we express our complex humanity and that everyone deserves the beauty, transcendence, and freedom that can be found there. Through our grants, we seek to build just communities enriched by meaning and empowered by critical thinking, where ideas and imagination can thrive.