Jazz@Rochester

Dianna and I decided to get some tickets and hear Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra on the 13th. Despite our nosebleed seats (does anyone else think that the seating chart for online purchases lies?) the sounds were wonderful as Marsalis and the guys blew through the first half of the program with some holiday and other tunes. They kept on swinging through the second half with the Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn adaptation of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite. The concert was a benefit for the Lifetime Assistance Foundation. We had a lot of trouble keeping still in our seats (OK, part of it for me is that my legs just don’t fit the seats at Eastman) amongst all the prim, proper and motionless concertgoers in the Eastman Theatre. But it was clear that everyone was grooving silently to the tunes by the wild applause, sometimes breaking out when the best part of a solo was still in play. As noted below below, the trombonist Wycliffe Gordon was in town to play a gig at Montage Grille, and came over to the Eastman Theatre to trade some fours with Wynton and his pals from the VIP section at the base of the stage. When Marsalis announced from the stage that they would be heading over there later to sit in, I knew that it would be impossible to get in once I got Dianna home (the light from the grand chandelier hanging in front of our seats had given her a tremendous headache) and made it back to the Montage. On the other hand, I was very content with the music I had just experienced; I didn’t relish the idea of dealing with crowds over at Montage Grille, which in my experience has been sometimes inept at handling them in an effective way (one of the few drawbacks of the venue). Instead I headed happily home with the swinging saxes of “Sugar Rum Cherry” dancing in my head. If anyone had an opportunity to see Wycliffe (and Wynton?) at the Montage, drop me a line (try it, but my comment function appears to be broken).