[Dixielandjazz] New Orleans Jazz at Lincoln Center

[Steve Barbone]

'Kings of the Crescent City'
Way Up Yonder in Manhattan, Dreaming of Home

NY TIMES - By NATE CHINEN -January 14, 2008

No one could ever accuse Jazz at Lincoln Center of giving short shrift to
the jazz legacy of New Orleans, especially as it pertains to Louis
Armstrong. So on a fundamental level ³Kings of the Crescent City,² Friday
and Saturday at the Rose Theater, upheld standard practice for the
organization. The nearly full house on Friday night confirmed the soundness
of this approach.

A few things set the concert apart, though, including the absence of Wynton
Marsalis, Jazz at Lincoln Center¹s artistic director. On countless programs
past Mr. Marsalis has extolled the Armstrong genius both in word (as a host)
and deed (on his horn). In his place were qualified surrogates like the
actor Wendell Pierce, best known for his role on the HBO drama ³The Wire,²
and the brass specialist Troy Andrews, best known as Trombone Shorty. They
shared a stage with some Jazz at Lincoln Center regulars, most of whom also
share hometown roots in New Orleans.

Mr. Pierce was a charismatic master of ceremonies throughout the program,
which saluted not just Armstrong but also the cornetist King Oliver, the
pianist Jelly Roll Morton and the soprano saxophonist Sidney Bechet. He had
help from the historian Geoffrey C. Ward, who imbued the evening¹s script
with the same tersely anecdotal style he has used in the documentary films
of Ken Burns. 

Accordingly the show felt at times like a PBS series transported to the
stage, with deft dramatic touches. (At one point Mr. Pierce read a
despairing letter in the first-person voice of King Oliver; a few songs
later he inhabited the opposite extreme, belly-laughing through Morton¹s
³Hyena Stomp.²)

Trombone Shorty, a former street-level prodigy now in his early 20s, played
just a bit of trombone, focusing his efforts on trumpet during the concert¹s
Armstrong-centric final stretch. His high-register solo on ³Indiana² brought
to mind a fireworks display, with each salvo bursting brighter and more
dazzling than the last. (There were literally oohs and ahhs in the crowd.)

He brought similar fire to ³West End Blues,² though his execution of the
famous opening cadenza could have been a good deal more precise. In general
he delivered the sort of swagger that early jazz all too rarely enjoys in
revival.

The concert¹s primary trumpeter, Marcus Printup, fulfilled his role with
versatility and poise, as did its musical director, Victor Goines. But both
seemed to take a slightly academic approach to the music, sounding
comfortable enough but not at home. (Mr. Goines was noticeably stronger on
soprano saxophone, paying tribute to Bechet, than he was on clarinet.) And
the young pianist Jonathan Batiste seemed to face a similar hurdle.

By contrast the rest of the group ‹ the trombonist Wycliffe Gordon, the
banjoist Don Vappie, the bassist Reginald Veal and the drummer Herlin Riley
‹ attacked the music with evident zeal and command. In a tangible sense they
were the concert¹s heavy lifters, and the chief reason for its musical
success.