[Dixielandjazz] NY Post Review of Marsalis & Clapton

[Stephen G Barbone]

Maybe we should add a rocker to our bands to attract more audience?

Cheers,
Steve Barbone
www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband

How Dixieland got to Layla

By DAN AQUILANTE - NY POST

April 11, 2011

The program said "Wynton Marsalis & Eric Clapton Play the Blues" but  
the pair's Friday night gig at Jazz at Lincoln Center was really a  
master class in the birth of jazz by two of music's most gifted  
players. Rocker Clapton chose all the tunes, and jazzman Marsalis set  
those tunes in the framework of a Dixieland band. The brass blowers  
were led by trumpeter Marsalis, with banjo, bass, piano and drums  
rhythm section in the back. The guitar would usually be back in the  
rhythm, but was elevated to the front line so Slowhand could work his  
solo magic, which was as fluid and soulful as any of the horn noodling  
from Marsalis and his posse.

The 10-song, 90-minute set was tight, opening with a rendition of the  
early jazz standard "Ice Cream,"presented as a rag that showcased the  
solo talents of the entire 11-man outfit. Clapton was the honored  
guest, Marsalis the boss, and in that tune everybody got a shot at  
being the star.

Between Clapton and Marsalis, there was a load of mutual admiration in  
the chatter, but the night wasn't about words. Where the two showed  
their respect and friendship was in their interplay especially on  
"JolietBound" and again in the traditional spiritual "Just a Closer  
Walk With Thee." On the latter, bluesman Taj Mahal was invited to sit  
in as the guest vocalist, giving Clapton's gruff and leady pipes a rest.
In this performance, the one big nod to EC's rock-god status was a  
version of his seminal love song "Layla." It was played as if it were  
a first line New Orleans funeral dirge, very different yet still  
pretty, as it connected musical dots between early jazz and modern rock.