[Dixielandjazz] Congo Square -Deja Vu?

[Steve barbone]

Marsalis shows his mastery of a much broader instrument

By TONY GERMANOTTA, The Virginian-Pilot - May 1, 2006

NORFOLK ‹ Wynton Marsalis spent nearly three hours on stage at Chrysler Hall
Sunday night and never put a trumpet to his multi-Grammy award-winning lips.

Didn¹t matter. Marsalis was master of a much broader instrument: his fabled
Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and a Ghanian percussion ensemble known as
Odadaa! 

The musicians were in town as part of a six-stop premiere tour for ³Tribute
to Congo Square,² a work Marsalis and Yacub Addy , leader of the Ghanian
group, had recently created.

Congo Square, Marsalis explained, was a legendary gathering place in old New
Orleans where slaves could mingle, make African music and sell goods.

What evolved there, he said, became the basis for every genre of American
music that relies on drums and bass: from Dixieland to Hip Hop, funk to rock
and roll.

³You¹re going to keep thinking we¹re finished,² Marsalis explained to the
crowd, noting there were 14 sections to the composition. ³But we aren¹t.²

He said he would skip the introductions on each movement, since there were
so many, and pointed out there would be songs for men, for women, for
children: ³all aspects of communal life.²

What followed was an hour-long excursion through traditional African and
American music. Some movements had a sultry feel, like a sweaty night along
the Mississippi River. Others caught the bustle of a big city. Through it
all, the African rhythms provided an irresistible underpinning to the
orchestra¹s explorations.

One minute the band would swing as hard as Basie¹s. The next, they were
tossing around diminished chords that would make Billy Strayhorn proud. Some
movements were pretty, like a Paul Whiteman arrangement, other¹s as gritty
as a funeral march.

It was a tour de force from both sides of the continental divide. The
Ghanians, in colorful traditional garments, played off of the jazz
orchestra¹s tight harmonies, and Marsalis¹ men not only survived the
intricate African rhythms, they thrived on them.

The result was a composition that left you feeling as if you had stepped
back in time and visited the real Congo Square, then sped forward to see how
it would all turn out.

The second half of the show featured additional interactions between the two
ensembles and ended with a bit of Dixieland that seemed to bring the concert
full circle, back to New Orleans and Congo Square.

Odadaa! moved to the front of the stage, beating out their traditional
tempos, and the Orchestra joined them, all playing as they marched slowly
off stage. What could be more Big Easy?

The orchestra will perform ³Congo Square² on Tuesday at the Kennedy Center
in Washington and later in the week at Jazz at Lincoln Center¹s Frederick P.
Rose Hall in New York City .