Performance

Works by W. C. Handy

2 upcoming performances in New York

“Works by W. C. Handy” points to the blues repertoire shaped by composer and publisher W. C. Handy, whose songs helped carry Southern blues into national circulation in the early 20th century. At Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra frames this material as repertory, with Wynton Marsalis, Sherman Irby, and vocalist Kenny Washington among the featured performers. In New York, Handy’s blues moved early through Tin Pan Alley and Harlem bandstands, becoming part of the city’s working jazz language. The program treats the blues less as a mood than as structure, which is where its durability shows.