[Dixielandjazz] Review of LCJB's Ellington tribute

[Steve Barbone]

Perhaps worth a listen if the Lincoln Center Jazz band band tours your area
with their Ellington tribute.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone


REVIEW: Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra - Duke Ellington
    
by Will Stewart - Ann Arbor News special writer January 17, 2008

Part history lesson, part world-class jazz performance, the Hill Auditorium
concert by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra on Wednesday paid
extraordinary tribute to Duke Ellington, swaddling Ellington's timeless
arrangements in a warm, familiar cloak, while infusing them with a newfound
urgency.

Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis, as is his wont with the orchestra, took a
back seat in the musical portions of the show, electing instead to share the
spotlight with his remarkable, 15-piece orchestra, which consists of some of
jazz's finest young - and not-so-young - players.

Though he did trumpet some incredibly fine solos of his own, Marsalis spread
the love around the orchestra, allowing each member at least one solo, while
placing each piece in a historical perspective, thanks to his informative
and charming introductions.

>From gentle favorites like "Sophisticated Lady," "Satin Doll," and "Mood
Indigo," to lesser, jumpier classics like "Old Man Blues" and "Moon Over
Cuba," the band stayed true to Ellington's motto: "It don't mean a thing if
it ain't got that swing."

Swing it did. And, oh, the arrangements, ebbing and flowing so gracefully as
to bring shivers, only to recede in order for one of countless solos to fill
Hill Auditorium with full, rich sounds.

Some highlights:

* Walter Blanding's bebop-inspired tenor solo on Satin Doll, which breathed
life into an otherwise pedestrian reading of the 1953 classic.
* Trombonist Christopher Crenshaw's rambling, rumbling, Dixieland solo turn
on "Old Man Blues."
* Elliot Mason's stirring bass trumpet solo on "Moon over Cuba."
* Sherman Irby's jaw-droppingly soulful alto saxophone solo on "Prelude to a
Kiss."

There were plenty of others.

But none came close to 78-year-old Joseph Temperley's impossibly languid
bass clarinet accompaniment to pianist Dan Nimmer on the all-but-forgotten
"Single Petal of a Rose" from Ellington's "Queen Suite." Temperley sold
every single note, coaxing the warmest, gentlest tones of the evening from
the most difficult instrument on the bandstand.

It was the highlight moment during an evening full of highlights and one
that deserves to go into Hill Auditorium's canon of stunning musical
moments.