Marsalis’ playing makes his music speak

Trumpeter Wynton Marsalis was in a fine mood Wednesday night at USC’s Bovard Auditorium. Performing with his quintet -- a setting that provides a particularly felicitous arena for his instrumental and compositional skills -- he was imaginative, hard swinging and unassumingly charismatic.

A passionate desire to communicate radiates from the core of Marsalis’ art, energized by an intellect that invests his compositions and improvisations with flashing sparks of connectivity. How else could he have offered a program without a single familiar number while maintaining a continuing flow of fascinating musical qualities?

He began with “Skipping,” a piece filled with start-and-stop rhythms jauntily reflecting the title. “Me and You” employed rhythmic hand clapping. “Free to Be” had the off-center, disjunctive qualities of a Thelonious Monk piece. “Big Fat Hen” recalled the soul boogaloo of the 1960s (Marsalis’ trumpet producing barnyard sounds reminiscent of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band’s “Livery Stable Blues”). The set wound up with “The Magic Hour” -- a four-part depiction of events that take place in the hour before children go to bed.

The playing was extraordinary, with Marsalis sounding particularly free and easy, soaring through high notes, growling, mewling, his instrument at the full service of his spontaneous ideas. Alto saxophonist Wess “Warm Daddy” Anderson was an amiable front-line companion. Bassist Carlos Henriquez and drummer Ali Jackson laid down superbly transparent rhythm accompaniment, and pianist Eric Lewis’ stunning playing ranged from tender lyricism to barrelhouse intensity.

Marsalis often has described his belief in a trilogy of essential jazz elements: improvisation, a connection with the blues and the propulsion of rhythmic swing. His performance at Bovard suggested that another element should be included -- the passion and power of musical communication.