This year, the organizers of the Midsummer Night Swing concert series at Damrosch Park in Lincoln Center are taking few chances with the program: they have announced a lineup heavy with New York’s established big bands, including the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks and Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro-Jazz Orchestra.
The concert series, now in its 25th year, will run for 15 nights from June 25 through July 13, with shows and dance lessons every night of the week except Sunday and Monday. Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra will start off the series.
As in past years, the performances will include some nights devoted to soca, salsa, tango, R&B and even disco, with one night being set aside for a Loser’s Lounge tribute to Donna Summer on July 11.
Other bands performing this year include the salsa dura group Spanish Harlem Orchestra, the jump-blues band Mitch Woods & His Rocket 88s, the soul band Urban Guerilla Orchestra and the Tobago-born calypso singer Calypso Rose. A full schedule can be found at the Midsummer Night Swing Web site.
