[Dixielandjazz] Jazz at the Philharmonic, really , "Swing Symphony"

[Stephen G Barbone]

Give Wynton Marsalis credit once again for trying to expand the  
audience for jazz. You have to love the last sentence in this article.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone
www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband

At Philharmonic, Jazz Blended Unevenly
NY TIMES - SEP{T 23 2010 - By Anthony Tommasini


What better way to open an orchestra’s new season than with a new  
piece? That was Alan Gilbert’s reasoning last September, when he  
inaugurated his tenure as music director of the New York Philharmonic  
with the premiere of “EXPO,” an exciting work by Magnus Lindberg, the  
Philharmonic’s composer in residence.

On Wednesday night at Avery Fisher Hall, Mr. Gilbert began his second  
season at the helm of the Philharmonic. Again the program, broadcast  
on PBS’s “Live From Lincoln Center,” began with a premiere, this time  
of a sprawling new score by Wynton Marsalis, “Swing  
Symphony” (Symphony No. 3), written for and performed by the Jazz at  
Lincoln Center Orchestra and the Philharmonic.

This was actually the American premiere. The piece was jointly  
commissioned by the New York Philharmonic, the Berlin Philharmonic,  
the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Barbican in London. The first  
performance took place recently in Berlin. Still, an American premiere  
counts as new. And sharing is a good thing, especially in recessionary  
times.

Mr. Marsalis has described “Swing Symphony” as a symphonic meditation  
on the evolution of swing. The concept had great potential and  
possible pitfalls, and Mr. Marsalis’s piece both fulfilled some of the  
potential and succumbed to some of the pitfalls. The five movements of  
this 45-minute work evoke, pay homage to and juxtapose styles of jazz  
and pop: ragtime, mambo, bebop, black American church music. And  
bringing the 15 virtuosos of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra,  
including Mr. Marsalis, together with the players of the Philharmonic  
was, in theory, an inspiring idea.

Still, during long stretches the music, as orchestrated here, hovered  
uneasily in some middle ground, sounding at times like a jazz ensemble  
beefed up with an orchestra and at other times like an orchestra  
jolted by jazz. Though it made acoustic and dramatic sense to place  
the jazz musicians in the center of the stage, surrounded by the  
Philharmonic players, this enhanced the impression that the jazz  
artists were more of a solo ensemble than true collaborators. I liked  
the piece best whenever Mr. Marsalis worked hard to blend the two  
instrumental contingents and when the music seemed not just a homage  
to old jazz styles but a transformed synthesis, something fresh,  
subtle and startling.

Actually, there are six movements to this symphony. But at the Berlin  
premiere the piece lasted nearly an hour. The Philharmonic had  
commissioned a score of about 40 minutes or so, since the gala was  
being televised and had to clock in under two hours. So one movement  
was dropped for this occasion, the only performance of the work this  
season. (Next season the entire piece will be performed in a  
subscription series program.)

The first movement, “St. Louis to New Orleans,” builds quickly into a  
growling, organic blast from the joint forces. Then the music segues  
smoothly into a perky, syncopated march. But Mr. Marsalis lays things  
on thick. The textures were sometimes so dense that the chords were  
indistinct and lost their punch. I was relieved when the second  
movement, “All-American Pep,” a homage to early-20th-century pop  
music, began, because the textures thinned out and you could hear many  
more of the music’s nuances and intricacies. Riffs and bits of tunes  
are tossed from section to section of the orchestra; the music is  
scored with clarity and, at times, welcome delicacy. In a captivating  
episode for solo baritone saxophone -- played here by Joe Temperley, a  
master -- a sensual, unabashedly romantic melody is cushioned by  
pungent string chords.

“Midwestern Moods,” the third movement, had engrossing moments,  
especially a mellow episode for subdued yet restless strings backing  
up solo turns by the jazz musicians. “Manhattan to L.A.” pulses with  
rippling bebop. “The Low Down Up On High,” the finale, flows with  
muted brasses and woodwinds, like bittersweet gospel. A hymnlike  
section featuring the five saxophones ushers in the surprise ending,  
where the music just slips away.

Mr. Marsalis is a staggeringly talented musician and a Pulitzer Prize- 
winning composer. Still, just evoking older styles of music, however  
astutely and sensitively, seemed not enough. You could have believed  
that this work was from, say, 1959 and had been introduced by Leonard  
Bernstein.

Mr. Gilbert seemed totally in his element, conducting with a mix of  
cool command and jazzy swing. The Philharmonic players should be  
proud. They played with verve and color, never sounding like classical  
music stiffs. Quite a few players looked as if they were enjoying  
themselves immensely, as did members of the audience, which gave Mr.  
Marsalis and the musicians a standing ovation. I have never seen so  
many people at a Philharmonic concert tapping their feet and hands.  
And this time it was entirely appropriate, not at all a distraction.