Even after three encores, no one wanted the concert to end. People stood in Blaisdell Concert Hall, cheering and clapping, trying to pretend the last note had not faded away. Sound of Marsalis and jazz
orchestra still resonate
By Ruth O. Bingham
Special to the Star-BulletinPassing through on tour, Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra captured more than a few new fans Wednesday night as they recreated charts from Duke Ellington and Dizzy Gillespie to Charles Mingus and Marsalis.
Despite the billing, Marsalis positioned himself as one of the band, a member who happened to be the music director, not an accompanied star.
He opened as soloist in "Back to Basics," but then wandered around behind the band for the final phrases, calmly taking his seat among the trumpets, where he remained.
Only with "Midnight Blues" in the second set did he step forward as a featured soloist, displaying his famous sculpted phrases, tastefully placed. Marsalis's range of timbres both with and without mutes was truly astounding.
The LCJO played as a tight ensemble, especially in two demanding charts by Mingus, "Dizzy Moods" and "Meditation for Integration."
The first altered moods constantly, incorporating cross-rhythms and meter shifts; the second borrowed techniques from classical music's minimalism, using repeated cells that fluctuated in and out of phase between musicians, yielding complex rhythms. Wild music, even for jazz.
At the end of the concert, Marsalis's "Big Train" imitated the sounds of a train with stomped rhythms, claps, shouts, blasted chords, and a string bass ostinato. As the imaginary train faded into pianissimo distance, Marsalis whistled a high, clear countermelody on a darkened stage. It was a powerfully effective closing that erupted into a standing ovation.
Many of the other works have been performed for decades, but jazz charts are no more than bare outlines. The music itself is what happens in the moment of creation.
On Wednesday, outstanding moments popped up in almost every chart in numerous improvised solos.
Joe Temperley, in his understated style, delivered a beautifully styled sax solo in Ellington's "Jack the Bear" and another on bass clarinet for the second encore, "Single Petal of a Rose."
Herlin Riley on drums broke into an unusual, explosive solo on tambourine in the first set, Ron Westray massaged his trombone into quasi-singing with a plunger mute, and Victor Goines "sang" a low, smokey, late-night clarinet solo.
Carlos Henriquez (bass) and Richard Doron Johnson (piano) had few solos but added select punctuation and comments throughout, Johnson's additions sounding distinctly Basie-like in their exactitude.
On second thought, perhaps that last note hasn't faded away: it is still echoing in memories.
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