For Marsalis, Unity Has That Swing

Wynton Marsalis’ current tour with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra was titled “United in Swing” long before the events of Sept. 11. Yet at the LCJO’s performance at the Beverly Theatre on Friday night--the opening event in the newly debuting 2001 Verizon Music Festival--the label seemed especially appropriate, for a number of reasons.

First of all, of course, there was the obvious patriotic association, enhanced by the evening’s climactic number, a stirring rendering of “Stars and Stripes Forever.” Accompanied by the appearance of a large American flag over the ensemble, the music was not simply a restatement of the familiar Sousa march, but also a dramatic transformation, in which elements of jazz and Americana coursed through its spirited rhythms.

Second, there was a less obvious, but no less significant, subtext. “United in Swing” is a way of describing a sense of togetherness through music, and it is an expression of the impact that a specific kind of music--swing (the very same music that provided the soundtrack for World War II)--has had upon American life. But it also identifies the manner in which swing/jazz provides a model for a compatible community of widely divergent opinions.

Take, for example, some of the selections performed by the LCJO. The evening opened with an extraordinary display of trumpet soloing by Marsalis, his arching, blues-driven lines articulated in strikingly vocalized fashion by the manipulation of a hat-like mute in front of the bell of his horn. It was, in effect, a demonstration of the value and the importance of individual effort.

But there were also the collective passages--a brisk romp through Billy Strayhorn’s original arrangement of “Take the ‘A’ Train,” a segment from Marsalis’ “Blood on the Fields,” a rendering of Charles Mingus’ “Dizzy Moves” and an atmospheric take on Mary Lou Williams’ “Big John Blues”--in which the emphasis was placed upon the ensemble.

And it was in these segments, which contrasted the unity of the group portions with the improvisational individualism of soloists such as trumpeter Ryan Kisor, trombonist Ron Westray and saxophonists Wess “Warmdaddy” Anderson and Joe Temperley, that the qualities of swing and jazz best reflected the values of the diversity and spontaneity of American culture.

The evening opened with the first of the Verizon Festival’s “emerging talented artists,” singer Sandra Booker--obviously better known to Los Angeles jazz fans than to the Verizon folks. But it was Marsalis and the LCJO that brought the performance to life, uniting in swing a full-house crowd of understandably enthusiastic listeners.