The Marsalis family has been professionally acquainted with Florida since the 1980s, and this current tour also includes stops in Gainesville, Fernandina and Palm Beach. Their "Big Band Holidays" show will hit a dozen of the hipper Southern cities before they return home to New York, where this same crack unit played 61 shows in their 2022-23 season, with nearly 50,000 tickets sold.
Jazz at Lincoln Center was founded in 1987, under Wynton Marsalis' direction. Its clout grew rapidly, and it's now become a cultural organization on par with some of its neighbors in the massive 13-plus-acre Lincoln Center space, which includes Juilliard, the New York Philharmonic, the New York City Ballet and the Metropolitan Opera.
Thirty-five years since its inception, JLC scored nearly $41 million in revenue last year, with over $230 million in net assets. The Orchestra remains among the very best in the business, now or ever, but that's only a small part of their operation.
Since its founding in 1988, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra has released at least 32 albums, not counting the 56 released under Marsalis' own name, or the 20 others recorded in collaboration with legends like Kathleen Battle, Art Blakey, Eric Clapton, Placido Domingo, Dizzy Gillespie, Herbie Hancock, Joe Henderson, Shirley Horn, Elvin Jones, Willie Nelson, Marcus Roberts and even Yo-Yo Ma, as well as his own family, most of whom have also played here before.
The current JLCO lineup includes trumpeters Marsalis, Ryan Kisor, Kenny Rampton and Marcus Printup (an alumnus of the University of North Florida in Jacksonville); trombonists Chris Crenshaw, Vincent Gardner and Elliot Mason; Victor Goines, Sherman Irby, Ted Nash and Paul Nedzela on saxophones, clarinets and flute; vocalist Ashley Pezzotti; and a rhythm section of pianist Dan Nimmer, bassist Carlos Henriquez and drummer Obed Calvaire. The regular group is augmented by another three dozen in their circles, who may appear at any time.
Wynton Marsalis and his brothers Branford, Delfeayo and Jason were all child prodigies, taught by their father Ellis Marsalis Jr. (1934-2020), himself a veteran jazz pianist whose résumé went back to the genre's 1950s peak.
They emerged en masse in the 1980s, bringing New Orleans swagger and chops for days. Most important, perhaps, was their ability to explain the music and situate it perfectly in the broader context of Black culture, at the exact time when the rise of hip-hop was forcing a critical reassessment of everything that came before.
Collectively, Marsalis and his team have led the way in continually reasserting the commercial viability of jazz, while also helping to develop the infrastructure through which new jazz talent will continue to develop for decades to come. That process continues, in real time, right here on Saturday night.
The JLCO's Big Band Holidays program promises expertly orchestrated version of holiday chestnuts "both sacred and secular," delivered with verve and swing. Guest vocalist Pezzotti will sit in with the band for a few carols too. Get ready for a jazzy Yule.
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