Jazz grew up in bawdy houses, dance halls and on the streets of New Orleans. So what does it mean for that great American music when—a century after Buddy Bolden and Jelly Roll Morton—it sidles up to opera, ballet and European classical music, sharing space with the “high arts” at New York City’s palace of culture, Lincoln Center.
Milwaukee got some answers to that question Monday night, when Wynton Marsalis brought the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra to the Marcus Center for a special Christmas program.
When Marsalis helped initiate the Jazz at Lincoln Center program in 1987, he was already established as a jazz ambassador, educator and musician, and the orchestra reflects that role and his taste. Marsalis introduced all the tunes Monday night with a short historical description—sometimes pedantically, sometimes with a wry wit. So over the course of the evening, we got tidbits of information about everything from The Fisk Jubilee Singers to the first performances of The Nutcracker.
The music, however, was anything but pedantic. It’s no secret that Marsalis is something of a traditionalist. He’s known for comments disparaging post-1960s jazz movements such as fusion or free jazz, and the program reflects his love of jazz history and tradition. But it swung and thundered, paid homage to greats like Louis Armstrong, Count Basie and Duke Ellington (especially Ellington) while it showcased the arranging talent of members of the orchestra.
Victor Goines is one of the principal arrangers, and he loves to invoke the ghosts of Ellington and Basie by experimenting with all manner of orchestra colors and sounds. There were mutes and plungers aplenty in his charts—and in the arrangements of others. Ted Nash is the noticeable modernist of the group. His arrangement of We Three Kings used free-float rhythms, atmospheric effects (plucking on open piano and guitar strings) and featured a wailing Coltrane-style soprano sax solo.
Admirably, Marsalis doesn’t treat the LCJO as his backup band. He announced the songs from his place back in the trumpet section, and didn’t hog the solo spotlight by any means. He even gave Milwaukee native Dan Nimmer, who studied with Mark Davis at the Wisconsin Conservatory, a chance to shine in a trio version of Santa Claus Is Coming to Town. Nimmer lives in the tradition of knuckle-busting technicians like Oscar Peterson and Errol Garner, and there were touches of both in his impressive solo.
The guest on this tour is a relative newcomer, vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant. She sang only a few songs, but showed the crowd why she’s won major plaudits for her recent work. She’s a musical chameleon of sorts—you could hear signs of Billie Holiday (the sly inverted rhythm of a familiar phrase), Sarah Vaughn (dramatic swoops into the lower register), and others. But her voice never grandstands—she’s always serving the music.
Which makes her a perfect fit to help showcase this group, the closest thing America has to a repertory company for some of it’s most cherished music.
