Wynton Marsalis & Jazz at Lincoln Center

Saturday night brought to our town Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra.  There were 15 players in all: Marsalis and three other trumpeteers, a drummer, a pianist, a bassist, three trombonists, and five musicians who played a variety of saxaphones, clarinets and flutes.  Among the stronger performances to my ear were Wayne Shorter's "Infant Eyes" and Lee Morgan's "Ceora."  The Singletary Center was 80-85% full, maybe 1200 people.  My daughter remarked that there were a lot of bald heads and gray hair and asked why there were so few young people there.  Good question.  Surely the ticket prices had something to do with it, the cheapest was $40.   One might also infer a lack of interest in jazz among the college student-age crowd.  Jazz for that crowd might be regarded similar to classical music: something you go hear performed occasionally in a fancy hall but is not part of the regular stream of life.  

All that may be but missing out on a performance by Marsalis with this orchestra is missing something special.  Wynton Marsalis is one of our Nation's greatest cultural ambassadors, as interesting a cultural commentator as a musician.