LINCOLN CENTER

Rose Theater
Birth of the American Orchestra - Wynton Marsalis

We have never en entered Rose Theater an d we were shocked upon entering.  It is a remarkable space.  It is a large oval with the stage on the floor at one end.  The side of the oval are all boxes for about three levels up.

The music, as always, was spectacular.  Wynton Marsalis narrated and played.

This was the final piece. LISTEN!

Yes, they did this live.  It was amazing.  The musicians you see are the same ones we heard.

JALC to Present “The Birth of the American Orchestra” Concerts

Wynton Marsalis and Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra will perform

By Jeff Tamarkin

Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra will present a pair of concerts exploring “The Birth of the American Orchestra” on Jan. 9 and 10. Partly inspired by Marsalis’ Sept. 2013 Harvard University lecture, “Setting the Communal Table: The Evolution of the Jazz Orchestra,” the concerts, according t a press release, will explore “the development of the American orchestra through the syncopated dance beats of New Orleans, innovative ensemble virtuosity, and the monumentality of swing and the blues.”

The JLCO is expected to perform the music of Don Redman, Fletcher Henderson, Bill Challis, Duke Ellington, Benny Carter, Eddie Durham, Chico O’Farrill and Gil Fuller. 

The Birth of the American Orchestra concerts will take place in Frederick P. Rose Hall, home of Jazz at Lincoln Center, located at Broadway at 60th Street, New York, New York. The concerts will also stream live in high-definition audio and video for free to a global audience via jazz.org/live.

Tickets can be purchased through jazz.org 24 hours a day or CenterCharge at 212-721-6500, open daily from 10am to 9pm. Tickets can also be purchased at the Jazz at Lincoln Center Box Office, located on Broadway at 60th Street, ground floor.

"Bebop pioneer Dizzy Gillespie once told JALC’s Managing & Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis something that would forever change his perception of big bands: "One should not consider it an achievement to lose one's orchestral tradition." Even as the structure of jazz ensembles continues to evolve, the American jazz orchestra still thrives today, and its development is the substructure of all jazz incarnations to follow. The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis delves into this American phenomenon through the syncopated dance beats of New Orleans, innovative ensemble virtuosity, and the monumentality of swing and the blues. They will also explore the roles of orchestral instrumentation and the expansion of harmonic prospects, the evolution of the rhythm section, and the distinctiveness of the master composers and arrangers involved. At the forefront of this celebration are Don Redman, Fletcher Henderson, Bill Challis, Duke Ellington, Benny Carter, Eddie Durham, Chico O’Farrill, and Gil Fuller. These jazz architects, along with Gillespie’s profound mantra, are the foundation of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra - an orchestra with an astonishing concentration of immensely talented musicians and a collective regarded as the “finest big band in the world today.”