JAZZ REVIEWS : Ellington Work Caps Uneven Program

The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, heard Thursday at the Wadsworth Theater, is essentially a repertory ensemble devoted to the works of Duke Ellington and other early giants, with only occasional bows to the present in the form of new works.

If the musicians paid attention to conductor Robert Sadin’s odd gestures, they showed no evidence of it. In fact, the most effective conducting of the evening was seen when he yielded to trumpeter Jon Faddis, whose leading and playing on Dizzy Gillespie’s “Things to Come” was one of the evening’s few highlights.

The orchestra, though tightly unified, had difficulty at times in capturing the spirit of Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus and the other pioneers--several of whom, incidentally, were not basically big-band figures.

The ensemble’s music director, pianist Marcus Roberts, hammered away at an overlong original, later offering a less-than-inspired “Where or When.” If his solos were the nadir of the evening, its zenith was reached with the closing Ellington piece, “Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue.” This magnificent work was interpreted superbly, with Joshua Redman in the tenor sax solo made famous by Paul Gonsalves.

It has been claimed that jazz repertory groups are needed to perform for young audiences some of the great works they never heard played by the originators. It should be borne in mind, though, that the Ellington Orchestra is still around, as is the admirable Basie Band. Credit the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with good intentions that are not too often realized.