New York City's Winter Jazz Fest turns 12 this year, and it's shaping up to be the best one yet. The easiest way to understand the festival is by thinking about it as "CMJ for Jazz."

There will be dozens of shows across lower Manhattan between January 13th to 17th featuring a myriad of jazz's best performers today.

We were especially excited for virtuoso saxophonist Kamasi Washington. He's best known for his arrangements on Kendrick Lamar's, To Pimp a Butterfly, as well as his solo record, The Epic. 

Washington was due to play Webster Hall on the 14th, but after breaking his ankle on tour in Europe, doctors have advised against air travel. 

Washington's set has been postponed to February 24th, and all original tickets/passes will be honored. 

There are two "marathon days," where instead of one, two, or a handful of major shows per day, the whole of the Village will erupt with jazz.

This year, the event is produced in partnership with The New School's School of Jazz, ECM Records, and other jazz tastemakers and educators-- not to mention perhaps the best piano manufacturer in the world, Steinway & Sons. 

So if you're not a "jazz person," and you suspect the marathons might be full of little more than elevator music, remember that the headliners and a multitude of supporting acts are as interesting and avant garde as they get.

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Take for example, Kaki King. She's a solo act playing meta-modern, acoustic-electric guitar accompanied by an insanely vivid light show that's projected not just on the screen behind her, but also onto her guitar. It looks and sounds stunning. 

Check out the lineup preview video below, and scoot over to the Winter Jazz Fest site for all the details on tickets, venues, set times, and all that other swingin' information you need.  

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Check out Here's What We're Listening to This Weekend. 

[via Winter Jazz Fest] [Feature Image Courtesy Instagram]