One of the most celebrated jazz impresarios in the country is starting over, booking a new series of concerts at Iridium in Midtown Manhattan after stepping down from his longtime post at Jazz at Lincoln Center.
The promoter, Todd Barkan, first rose to prominence in the 1970s as the club owner who built Keystone Korner in San Francisco into one of the country's best jazz stages, a psychedelic club where historic recordings were made by artists like Miles Davis, McCoy Tyner and Bill Evans. In 2000 Wynton Marsalis recruited Mr. Barkan to oversee programming at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola, one of three performance spaces in Jazz at Lincoln Center.
But Mr. Barkan, 66, resigned in October after Mr. Marsalis reorganized Jazz at Lincoln Center and brought in two young programmers to help book Dizzy's.
Now he has entered a partnership with Ron Sturm, the owner of Iridium, to present about 10 0 shows in 2013, on Wednesday and Sunday nights.
“This is a chance to broaden my artistic horizons,†Mr. Barkan said. “Even though I've been booking shows in New York for 30 years this is the first time there's ever been a ‘Todd Barkan Presents' series.â€
The series starts Jan. 2 with a Wes Montgomery tribute, featuring the drummer Jimmy Cobb, the guitarist Peter Bernstein, the pianist Harold Mabern, the bassist John Weber and the saxophonist Eric Alexander. Later in the month Mr. Barken intends to present the pianist Cedar Walton on a bill with the saxophonist and flautist Frank Wess. Nicholas Payton, the trumpet player, will also play in late February.
Mr. Barkan said he hoped over time to present more multi-genre programs - mixing jazz, blues and world music - than he had been able to put together at Dizzy's, where mainstream jazz was the rule. “This allows me to bring in a few more elements and more genres of music,†he said. “I'm exc ited about the series.â€
