Wynton Marsalis and Company Showcase New Arrangements of Pivotal Pre-Jazz Pieces
Whereas others revisiting this early music try to incorporate some of the funk and grit of early jazz and protojazz, Marsalis and friends keep everything very smooth and highly swinging.
‘Jazz Americana’
Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra With Wynton Marsalis
Frederick P. Rose Hall
Streaming Through February 15
About halfway through the second act on Sunday night at Jazz at Lincoln Center, artistic director Wynton Marsalis told us about Hagar, an Old Testament figure who has a large role in African American religious tradition, and who inspired W.C. Handy’s classic standard of 1920, “Aunt Hagar’s Blues.” Over the course of more than 100 years, the composition’s best-loved vocal version is probably by trombonist and singer Jack Teagarden, who made it one of his signature songs. Then there’s Art Tatum’s version: He recorded a masterpiece solo piano performance in 1949 that, among other things, invented Elvis Presley’s “Heartbreak Hotel.”
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