Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra With Wynton Marsalis at Hancher Auditorium

Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis
Hancher Auditorium
Iowa City, IA
January 29, 2026

Wynton Marsalis, the great trumpeter, composer and educator, founded New York City's Jazz at Lincoln Center (JALC) in 1987 and has served as its artistic director ever since. JALC, home to the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (JLCO), exists "to entertain, enrich and expand a global community for jazz through performance, education, and advocacy." The JLCO, a big band full of top-tier musicians, and Marsalis received a rapturous response on a cold January night at the beautiful 1800-seat Hancher Auditorium, located on the Big Ten campus of the University of Iowa in Iowa City. If the audience welcomed the JLCO like old friends, that is because they are: the group has performed at Hancher more than a dozen times since 1992.

The JLCO's current tour program, entitled Duke in Africa, explores the ways in which Duke Ellington's compositions were inspired by African cultures, as well as essaying the results of his own travels to African nations. Alongside Ellington's music, the band performed two compositions by the pianist's musical partner, Billy Strayhorn, plus two newer pieces, one each by South African composers Bheki Mseleku and Nduduzo Makhathini. The spellbinding program, which provided welcome solo features for most of the band's 15 members, was chosen by saxophonists Alexa Tarantino and Chris Lewis.

As it happened, Marsalis put out a press release on the day of the show that he would step down as JALC's artistic director in 2027, after 40 years in the role. Fittingly, then, he began the concert by indicating that his role that evening was to be "just one of the trumpet players," with Tarantino and Lewis leading proceedings. The band began with Mseleku's "Mr. Allard," a wistful mid-tempo tune that saxophonist Sherman Irby arranged. Solos by pianist Dan Nimmer and Marsalis were highlights, as was the smart alternation of a Latin beat with a relaxed swing by the outstanding drummer, Obed Calvaire—one of the best playing today. Makhathini's "Unumbeza" (meaning "conscience"), arranged by trumpeter Marcus Printup, began with the piano trio of Nimmer, Calvaire (on brushes), and bassist Carlos Henriquez. A series of horn fanfares led to another standout solo by Nimmer, the pianist dropping in Brubeck-like rhythmic patterns, rapid single-note quavers and references to multiple eras of jazz piano stylings, followed by Printup's effective solo.

Lewis introduced the concert's theme of "Mother Africa," describing how Ellington's album Togo Brava Suite (United Artists, 1971) was inspired by the West African nation, where he was featured on a series of postage stamps in the company of Bach, Beethoven, and Debussy. The JLCO essayed the aptly-named "Soul Flute," featuring Tarantino on that instrument, trumpeter Kenny Rampton, trombonist Vincent Gardner and Paul Nedzela coaxing a gorgeous sound out of his baritone sax. The four-part suite itself followed: "Soul-Soothing Beach," unsurprisingly, was delicate, with bossa nova stylings and more Tarantino flute; "Naturellement" was wild, with jungle drums and a great Lewis tenor solo during which he dueled with Nimmer; "Amour Amour"'s repeated bass figure and Calvaire's snares-off accents were hypnotic; and closer "Right On, Togo" brought the piece to a rousing finale with Henriquez's happy, burbling bass line, Calvaire's two-beat, and a great Irby solo.

The "Liberian Suite"'s "Dance Number 5" was great fun with Calvaire laying down a tom pattern with mallets while Nedzela played a slinky baritone line. Chris Crenshaw stole the show with what Marsalis called his "ya ya trombone," using his mute to create a vocal-like sound that elicited appreciative laughter among the band. Two Strayhorn tunes, "Absinthe," featuring Abdias Armenteros on tenor and Lewis on clarinet, and "Lotus Blossom," featuring the rhythm section, followed. The latter was another highlight of the evening, Nimmer starting with a free piano intro that settled into a waltz, then moved to swinging double-time for his solo, which again elicited much chatter and bandmembers giving each other looks of amazement. The final song was one of Ellington's best-known and well-loved tunes, "Cottontail," but with a special connection to the concert's venue on this evening: the tune was designed to feature Ryan Kisor, an Iowa native, who Lewis introduced as "one of the greatest living trumpet players, even though you may never see him step up to the front to solo." Solo he did, however, bringing the crowd to its feet with his rousing sendoff to a very special evening.

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