Music

Jazz at Lincoln Centre Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis

Barbican, London

5/5

Timeless big band swing

We have been waiting to hear something good from the USA for a while now. It comes in the shape of one of the best big band orchestras in the world. Snappily named ‘Jazz at Lincoln Centre Orchestra’ it’s been playing since 1988, with Wynton Marsalis at its helm since 1991. Marsalis of course needs no introduction.

I saw the JLCO play at the Barbican last year, came away enchanted and rushed to buy tickets when I heard they were coming back to London.

In the first half we got to hear the UK première of Marsalis’ Democracy! Suite written for a septet during lockdown. In Marsalis’ words it is “a non-polemical, instrumental composition inspired by the facts, feelings, and fictions of our current global situation”. The movements have great titles such ‘Be present’, ‘Sloganize, Patronize, Realize, Revolutionize (Black Lives Matters)’, ‘Ballot Box Bounce’. In his introduction to the first movement, ‘Be present’ Marsalis cheekily suggested that one should be present and not complain later. The suite is a radiant uplifting piece with beautiful tunes and orchestration, celebrating democracy within a jazz band, and by extension giving a civic lesson to the world.

In the second half the full orchestra came out and as is customary the programme featured several pieces written by the members of the band, most notably Jojo’s Mojo by Marcus Printup and Bodegas Groove by Carlos Henriquez, among other repertoire classics.

All the pieces were humorously introduced by Marsalis, with a mixture of jovial anecdotes and didactic memos from an elder. He is truly the gentle patriarch of the orchestra in a good old-fashioned way. His solos were superb as always.

At the end of the concert three young musicians, a saxophonist, pianist and bassist, joined the band as part of an educational scheme. This seemed like an unplanned after-thought and the orchestra musicians weren’t sure at first how to incorporate them but took it all in their professional stride. It seems that Marsalis likes to keep everyone on their toes. The three young men played well and were of course overjoyed to have this amazing opportunity. They joined a few orchestra musicians for the encore as well, which to me seemed inappropriate as we all came to hear the masters not the apprentices. Perhaps they should have been included earlier in the concert and the encore kept for band members. Either way their presence did not detract from the excellence of the evening. Furthermore it is refreshing to see that a famous musician like Marsalis is such a keen educator.

Every individual member of the band is a complete star in their own right, and by that I mean a well-rounded, versatile, first-class musician. But I’d like to do a roundup of my favourites from this concert:

Chris Lewis on the tenor saxophone (and clarinet) was most impressive. He is not a permanent member of the band but regularly joins them.

Alexa Tarantino seems to be always picking up a new instrument to play (she plays alto and soprano saxophone, flute and clarinet). She is the only woman in the orchestra, but more than holds her own. Last year I thought she was impressive, but a little bookish in her solos. This time she was much more relaxed and blew us all away with her virtuosity.

Carlos Henriquez on the bass keeps the whole show going without fuss or ego. He is the steady dependable heartbeat of the whole operation, but also does a smooth solo when asked.

Kenny Rampton on the trumpet played the most gorgeous trumpet solo of the evening, and it was a very tough competition with so many amazing trumpeters in the band, el jefe included.

I hope the annual Barbican visits will become a feature, we always need more of the best and wouldn’t it be nice to prolong the spell.