Trumpeter and Jazz at Lincoln Center (JLC) founder Wynton Marsalis debuted his latest composition, “Afro!” at the opening of Jazz at Lincoln Center’s 25-26 season titled “Mother Africa” on September 18 at the Rose Theater at Columbus Circle in Manhattan. The performance featured Co-Composer and Djembe Virtuoso Weedie Braimah, Vocalist Shenel Johns, and guest Percussionist Brian Richburg Jr. alongside Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (JLCO), delivering two sets that explored Marsalis’ “ruminations on Africa” across six passages of music. Jazz at Lincoln Center has been a hub for jazz music since 1987, hosting free or low cost performances, providing educational resources, and a slew of diverse programming across the genre pantheon in the heart of the city where the style gestated and developed — holding space for jazz legends, contemporary mainstays, and the next generation of artists across multiple venue spaces that include the Rose Theater and Dizzy’s Club. Marsalis, who founded the organization and acts as its artistic director, also leads the JLCO through a variety of performances throughout the year at its home venue and on the road. Excitement brewed at the Columbus Circle venue as attendees rode to the fifth floor in packed elevators. The Appel Room, which serves as a sort of lobby for the theatre, was bustling as jazz aficionados grabbed drinks and shopped merch ahead of show time. Soon, the bells over the loudspeaker rang a familiar tune, Dizzy Gillespie’s “A Night in Tunisia,” signaling a few minutes to showtime, before an unseen announcer kicked off the show. “We got a great season,” he told the audience. “Let’s get ready to swing!”
Braimah, Johns, Richburg, Marsalis, and his 15-piece orchestra took to the stage to rousing applause. Marsalis opened each of the six sections of music with a spoken word, sometimes comedic, proverbial quote. “To get lost is to learn the way,” Marsalis said to the audience before Braimah kicked off the first passage, “Mother Africa,” with a solo djembe introduction. Throughout the evening, Marsalis and the orchestra explored themes that included family and war, and incorporated various styles of music that spawned from the African diaspora — moments of swinging be-bop were juxtaposed against traditional African rhythms, intricate vocal passages reminiscent of gospel music existed alongside free-form improvisations from instrumental soloists, and funk, blues, and soul sensibilities were injected into the compositions that spanned two 45 minute sets.
The piece exists in the same tradition as grandiose, socially conscious jazz epics of the past, including Max Roach’s “We Insist! Freedom Now Suite” and Duke Ellington’s “Black, Brown and Beige,” which were instrumental to civil rights movements in their explorations of race relations in the 1940s and 50s. This is a new epic for a new age, and while “Afro!” may not be as overt in its messaging. The piece invokes questions about the state of socio-political relations here in America through its exploration of relationships, war, and connection to “the continent.”
Missed the performance? Marsalis and the JLC will hit the road, staging performances of “Afro!” in Africa this fall. You can also stream “Afro!” And other past JLC shows at their subscription-based archive, and stay up to date with this season’s programs at the JLC website.