Just blocks away from West Campus’s raucous Saturday night football watch parties, Hogg Memorial Auditorium’s deep blue velvet curtains parted for one of the world’s premier jazz orchestras.
Led by legendary New Orleans trumpeter Wynton Marsalis since 1991, New York City’s Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra formed in 1988 as a part of Lincoln Center’s efforts to younger audiences. On Saturday, the band took the sellout crowd on a world tour of contemporary jazz compositions inspired by the genre’s golden age.
Marsalis, winner of nine Grammy Awards and a Pulitzer Prize in music, last brought the band to Austin in 2010. This time, the orchestra returned with five new members, including three that joined in 2024.
The 90-minute set burst open with “Bearden (The Block),” a hard-swinging thrill ride composed by trombonist Chris Crenshaw. Next came a splash of latin flavor in “⅔’s Adventure,” an eight-minute journey between inverse Cuban rhythms Marsalis called “a ⅔ clave that decides it wants to be ³⁄₂.”
The mood turned indigo when baritone saxophonist Paul Nedzela opened “Joe’s Concerto No. 4” with a soul-bearing solo, a fitting tribute to Joseph Temperley, who played saxophone in the orchestra for more than 25 years.
“He used to always get angry at me and say, ‘You’re always writing all that old, slow shit for me to play,’” said Marsalis, who wrote the concerto for Temperley shortly before the saxophonist’s death in 2016.
Marsalis then pleasantly surprised fans of the 1960s Greenwich Village folk scene, taking a moment to honor his close friend Paul Simon (Simon and Garfunkel), who rose from his seat and received a standing ovation.
“Cumbia de Paz,” composed by bassist Carlos Henriquez, kicked off the back half of the performance. The song offered another taste of latin groove that added rich textures when Abdias Armenteros blew one of the most impressive solos of the evening on his tenor saxophone.
Music director and tenor saxophonist Chris Lewis’ adventurous setlist ended in an exploration of works from contemporary South African composers. The first, an eight-minute spiritual ascension by Nduduzo Makhathini with a Zulu title that translates to “conscience.” The performance brought out a supple solo from pianist Dan Nimmer.
The next, a romping tribute to iconic drummer Art Blakey, delivered overt hard-bop influence and spirited back and forth improvisation between Marsalis and Nedzela. The program ended with Bheki Mseleku’s “Timelessness,” an explosive post-bop marathon in the vein of John Coltrane’s “Giant Steps.”
The night’s second standing ovation persisted until Marsalis returned to the stage, now accompanied only by his rhythm section and saxophonists. The crowd followed Marsalis into an intimate rendition of “Big Fat Alice’s Blues” that belonged to Sherman Irby and his sensual alto saxophone, which gave the encore the suave energy of an underground jazz club in downtown Manhattan.
A second standing ovation gave way to another encore, this time a dialogue between Marsalis and Nimmer that turned from a lighthearted vaudeville number into a shadowy melody fit for a cabaret. With every eye glued to his trumpet, Marsalis held the final note for 10 seconds, keeping the audience in the palm of his hand for as long as possible.
