Jack DeJohnette, Jon Batiste in Kingston

On December 15 at UPAC, legendary jazz drummer and Hudson Valley resident Jack DeJohnette will wrap a three-date run of local benefit concerts celebrating his 80th birthday with a performance that pairs him with former “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” pianist Jon Batiste and bassist Matthew Garrison and features special guest Roy Wood, Jr.

“Playing with Jon Batiste is a really special opportunity,” DeJohnette, who rose to prominence in the 1960s and ’70s playing with Miles Davis, Sun Ra, Bill Evans, and Charles Lloyd, told me when I interviewed him for Chronogram at the start of the concert series in September. “He’s the real deal—besides his incredible musicianship, it’s just amazing, the way he just lifts up everyone’s spirits when he walks into the room.”


The concert will benefit ShapeShifter Plus, a non-profit arts organization that was founded in 2014 by Matthew Garrison (the son of John Coltrane Quartet bassist Jimmy Garrison) and grew out the Brooklyn creative space ShapeShifter Lab. “Our focus is on the advancement of inventive artistic voices, and our mission is to provide opportunities for artists and organizations to creatively and freely realize their visions,” reads ShapeShifter Plus’s mission statement. Special guest comedian Roy Wood, Jr. is well known for his roles on TV’s “Better Call Saul” and “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.”

Jack DeJohnette will perform with Jon Batiste and Matthew Garrison with special guest Roy Wood, Jr. at UPAC (Ulster Performing Arts Center) in Kingston on December 15 at 8pm. Tickets start at $65.