The Birth of Cool - Jazz @ Lincoln Center

Last night Wynton Marsalis & his Orchestra performed a program of the music of Gerry Mulligan & John Lewis.  Set 1 was the music of John Lewis & Set II the compositions of Gerry Mulligan.  The incredibly talented jazz pianist, Jonathan Batiste, played 2 piano solos & with Marsalis & his Orchestra.  Batiste tinkled the ivories with unrestricted elegance and tonal creativity.  In addition to his remarkable musical talent, Batiste serves as a traveling ambasador for the NY based non-profit org. Music Unites.  The late, great jazz legends, Lewis & Mulligan crossed paths in the late 1940's along with Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker & Gil Evan's whose combined talents in rehearsals & arrangements coalesced into "The Birth of Cool" a hybrid of emerging innovative styles.  Marsalis, introduced family members in the audience and talked of his personal experiences & mentoring by both Mulligan & Lewis.  Marsalis is our greatest communicator & champion of jazz.  Each band member shined in their solos & other members helped conduct while Marsalis played his magical horn .  You're invited to feel at home. I think dancing in the aisles would have been welcomed.  The artists on stage were exuberant in their performing.  The jazz that evolved from the birth of cool gets your blood flowing & body swaying.  If not, check your pulse.  I won't be dancing in the aisles but I will be for Marsalis' "Blood on the Fields" in February & at the Tribecca Y for the talk on "Why Jazz Happened."