About
The Freedom Riders are an international jazz collective assembled as a project of NYC Winter Jazzfest and led by bassist Ben Williams. The ensemble features vocalists and instrumentalists including Sarah Elizabeth Charles, Joe Dyson, Carmen Staaf, Sasha Berliner, Alfredo Colón, Tomoki Sanders and Milena Casado, and has performed Winter Jazzfest shows (e.g., “My Country ’Tis of Thee” at Le Poisson Rouge) with guest artists such as Dee Dee Bridgewater and Arturo O’Farrill. Their sets interweave civil-rights-era repertoire and original compositions centered on social-justice themes while touring festival stages.
