Jazz at Lincoln Center Celebrates the Big Band Sound with Concerts Throughout Frederick P. Rose Hall
New York, NY (October 5, 2016) Throughout the Fall season, Jazz at Lincoln Center will celebrate the spirit of big band with five unique performances, including a Family Concert, featuring the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis as well as young jazz stars on the rise. These special events will take place on every stage in the organization’s home, Frederick P. Rose Hall, and will highlight big band swing, high intensity battles, and the optimistic beat of the Swing Era that helped bring the country out of the Great Depression.
Concert details:
The Jazz Age: Untamed Elegance
October 28-29, 2016, 8pm
Rose Theater
A grand decade when “the parties were bigger, the pace was faster, the buildings were higher, the morals looser,” jazz defined the Roaring Twenties – a time also known as the Jazz Age. 100 years after the first known jazz recording, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis transports audiences to the wild and sophisticated 1920s. Led by master saxophonist and veteran JLCO member Victor Goines, the Orchestra will showcase the hot jazz of New Orleans, the sweet sounds of 1920s dance bands, and demonstrate how the integration of the two led to the Swing Era of the 1930s. This concert will feature essential compositions by artists including Duke Ellington, George Gershwin, and Louis Armstrong and His Hot 7. Goines will also debut Untamed Elegance, a brand new composition written for the Orchestra, inspired by the sounds, styles, and culture of the Prohibition years. He is an expert at these early jazz styles, and he also possesses a vast knowledge of contemporary jazz vocabulary, as demonstrated in his original work Crescent City, composed for fellow New Orleans native Branford Marsalis. The combination of Goines’ deep vocabulary with the hot and sweet sounds of the 1920s will make for an upbeat and swinging affair, bringing the untamed elegance of the Jazz Age to New York’s House of Swing.
Ticket prices start at $35
The Swing Era: Revolution in Rhythm
November 17-19, 2016, 8pm
Rose Theater
The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis showcases the timelessness of swing as a genre, cultural period, and musical concept. The big bands that emerged during the Swing Era defined the sound of America – bringing people out of the Depression and ushering in a new sense of possibility. For the occasion, music director and JLCO trumpeter Marcus Printup will arrange a combination of Swing Era classics and rarely heard works, adding a modern twist to some, and demonstrating what made jazz the definitive dance music of the 1930s. Jazz also led the country in its quest for civil rights, integrating the bandstand through extraordinary effort and increasing the connection between audiences and musicians, both of whom were actively engaged with changing the status quo. Printup and the JLCO will honor that ideal, embodying the sounds, uplifting feelings, and sense of community associated with an era of great music and productive engagement.
Ticket prices start at $35.
Family Concert: Who is Count Basie?
November 5, 2016, 1pm & 3pm
Rose Theater
Piano player and bandleader William “Count” Basie brought America out of the Depression with the elegant and irresistible swing of Kansas City. Establishing 4/4 swing as a primary jazz style, The Count led one of the greatest big bands of all time, featuring the hard-swinging All-American Rhythm Section, iconic soloists, and a communal feeling that kept the dance floor moving all night. In this hour-long narrated concert featuring the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, crowd participation, and engaging storytelling by Wynton Marsalis, families will learn about Basie’s exciting career and infectious music. After nearly 25 years, this beloved family-oriented series continues to be a wellspring of enlightenment for curious minds, with concerts “as illuminating as they are entertaining” (Chicago Tribune).
Ticket prices start at $10.
