The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis (JLCO) comprises 15 of the finest jazz soloists and ensemble players today. The orchestra makes a return to the Marcus Center's Uihlein Hall on Wednesday, October 11 at 7:30 pm.
Tickets go on sale this Friday, July 21 at 12:00 pm and can be purchased in person at the Marcus Center Box Office (929 North Water Street, Downtown Milwaukee), by phone at 414-273-7206, and online at Ticketmaster.com or MarcusCenter.org. Groups 10 or more should call Group Sales at 414-273-7121 x210 or x213. This engagement is sponsored by Marcus Hotels.
The mission of Jazz at Lincoln Center is to entertain, enrich and expand a global community for Jazz through performance, education and advocacy. With the world-renowned Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and guest artists spanning genres and generations, Jazz at Lincoln Center produces thousands of performance, education, and broadcast events each season in its home in New York City (Frederick P. Rose Hall, "The House of Swing") and around the world, for people of all ages. Jazz at Lincoln Center is led by Chairman Robert J. Appel, Managing and Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis, and Executive Director Greg Scholl.
The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (JLCO), comprising 15 of the finest jazz soloists and ensemble players today, has been the Jazz at Lincoln Center resident orchestra since 1988. Featured in all aspects of Jazz at Lincoln Center's programming, this remarkably versatile orchestra performs and leads educational events in New York, across the U.S. and around the globe; in concert halls; dance venues; jazz clubs; public parks; and with symphony orchestras; ballet troupes; local students; and an ever-expanding roster of guest artists. Under Music Director Wynton Marsalis, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra performs a vast repertoire, from rare historic compositions to Jazz at Lincoln Center-commissioned works, including compositions and arrangements by Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Fletcher Henderson, Thelonious Monk, Mary Lou Williams, Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Goodman, Charles Mingus, and many others.
Education is a major part of Jazz at Lincoln Center's mission; its educational activities are coordinated with concert and Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra tour programming. These programs, many of which feature Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra members, include the celebrated Jazz for Young People family concert series; the Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition & Festival; the Jazz for Young People Curriculum; educational residencies; workshops; and concerts for students and adults worldwide. Jazz at Lincoln Center educational programs reach over 110,000 students, teachers and general audience members.
Jazz at Lincoln Center, NPR Music and WBGO have partnered to create the next generation of jazz programming in public radio: Jazz Night in America. The series showcases today's vital jazz scene while also underscoring the genre's storied history. Hosted by bassist Christian McBride, the program features hand-picked performances from across the country, woven with the colorful stories of the artists behind them. Jazz Night in America and Jazz at Lincoln Center's radio archive can be found at jazz.org/radio.
Under Music Director Wynton Marsalis, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra spends over a third of the year on tour. The big band performs a vast repertoire, from rare historic compositions to Jazz at Lincoln Center- commissioned works, including compositions and arrangements by Duke Ellington; Count Basie; Fletcher Henderson; Thelonious Monk; Mary Lou Williams; Billy Strayhorn; Dizzy Gillespie; Benny Goodman; Charles Mingus; Chick Corea; Oliver Nelson; and many others. Guest conductors have included Benny Carter; John Lewis; Jimmy Heath; Chico O'Farrill; Ray Santos; Paquito D'Rivera; Jon Faddis; Robert Sadin; David Berger; Gerald Wilson; and Loren Schoenberg.
The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra has also been featured in several education and performance residencies in the last few years, including those in Vienne, France; Perugia, Italy; Prague, Czech Republic; London, England; Lucerne, Switzerland; Berlin, Germany; São Paulo, Brazil; Yokohama, Japan; and others.
Television broadcasts of Jazz at Lincoln Center programs have helped broaden the awareness of its unique efforts in the music. Concerts by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra have aired in the U.S.; England; France; Spain; Germany; the Czech Republic; Portugal; Norway; Brazil; Argentina; Australia; China; Japan; Korea; and the Philippines.Jazz at Lincoln Center has appeared on several XM Satellite Radio live broadcasts and eight Live From Lincoln Center broadcasts carried by PBS stations nationwide; including a program which aired on October 18, 2004 during the grand opening of Jazz at Lincoln Center's new home, Frederick P. Rose Hall, and on September 17, 2005 during Jazz at Lincoln Center's Higher Ground Benefit Concert. Jazz at Lincoln Center's Higher Ground Benefit Concert raised funds for the Higher Ground Relief Fund that was established by Jazz at Lincoln Center, and was administered through the Baton Rouge Area Foundation to benefit the musicians, music industry-related enterprises, and other individuals and entities from the areas in Greater New Orleans who were impacted by Hurricane Katrina, and to provide other general hurricane relief.
The band is also featured on the Higher Ground Benefit Concert CD that was released on Blue Note Records following the concert. The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra was featured in a Thirteen/WNET production of Great Performances entitled "Swingin' with Duke: Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis," which aired on PBS in 1999. In September 2002, BET Jazz premiered a weekly series called Journey with Jazz at Lincoln Center, featuring performances by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra from around the world.
In 2015, Jazz at Lincoln Center announced the launch of Blue Engine Records (www.jazz.org/blueengine), a new platform to make its vast archive of recorded concerts available to jazz audiences everywhere. The label is dedicated to releasing new studio and live recordings as well as archival recordings from past Jazz at Lincoln Center performances, and its first record- Live in Cuba, recorded on a historic 2010 trip to Havana by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis-was released in October 2015. Blue Engine's second offering-Carlos Henriquez's The Bronx Pyramid -was released in September 2016. In December 2015, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis released Big Band Holidays, featuring special guest vocalists Cécile McLorin Salvant, Gregory Porter, and René Marie. The following release was The Abyssinian Mass, a Wynton Marsalis composition featuring the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, Damien Sneed, 70-piece Gospel Choir Chorale Le Chateau, and special guest Reverend Dr. Calvin O. Butts, III. The Music of John Lewis featuring pianist Jon Batiste hit stores in March 2017. To date, 14 other recordings featuring the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis have been released and internationally distributed: Vitoria Suite (2010); Portrait in Seven Shades (2010); Congo Square (2007); Don't Be Afraid...The Music of Charles Mingus (2005); A Love Supreme (2005); All Rise (2002); Big Train (1999); Sweet Release & Ghost Story (1999); Live in Swing City (1999); Jump Start and Jazz (1997); Blood on the Fields (1997); They Came to Swing (1994); The Fire of the Fundamentals (1993); and Portraits by Ellington (1992). For more information on Jazz at Lincoln Center, please visit www.jazz.orVideos