Juilliard Jazz Artist Dip/oma Ensemble Featuring an all Wynton Marsalis Program

Last night's Juilliard Jazz Ensemble featured the music of Wynton Marsalis, Dir. of Juilliard Jazz and the Wynton Marsalis Jazz Orchestra at Lincoln Center.  World renown musician, composer & conductor is a guiding force in the school's jazz division.   Ironically, Marsalis performs on trumpet and his musical program was without a trumpet player.  The ensemble consisted of a pianist, trombone, bass, 2 sax/clarinet players and a drummer.  The first selection was "Knozz-Moe-King" which was a 40 minute composition that set the tone for a night of surprises and sheer enjoyment.  The musical styles varied amongst Dixie sounding jazz, Latin, Cab Calloway swing and my favorite a jazzy funeral march featuring a drum solo by Francsco Cinigilio.  Last night there was little talking or intros just a fabulous & fun night of music.  I was fascinated watching the drummer as he used different techniques of holding his sticks in each hand, seeing the pianist lead the count by tapping a beat on his chest and seeing how the horn musicians stood off to the sides when they weren't playing but kept their own rhythm to the music.  The drummer wore a knit cap and one horn player a small fedora.  The combined talent and cool factor was off the charts.  I'm hoping that some of their coolness gets absorbed by osmosis just being in the audience.