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Tuesday and Wednesday Evenings, November 17–18, 2015, at 7:30
Pre-concert lecture by Larry Blumenfeld on Tuesday, November 17, at 6:30
in the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse
A Love Supreme
Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis
Wynton Marsalis, Music Director and Trumpet
Ryan Kisor, Trumpet
Kenny Rampton, Trumpet
Marcus Printup, Trumpet
Vincent Gardner, Trombone
Chris Crenshaw, Trombone
Elliot Mason, Trombone
Sherman Irby, Alto and Soprano Saxophones, Flute, Clarinet
Ted Nash, Alto and Soprano Saxophones, Flute, Clarinet
Victor Goines, Tenor and Soprano Saxophones, Clarinet, Bass Clarinet
Walter Blanding, Tenor and Soprano Saxophones, Clarinet
Paul Nedzela, Baritone and Soprano Saxophones, Bass Clarinet
Dan Nimmer, Piano
Carlos Henriquez, Bass
Ali Jackson, Drums
This performance is approximately 90 minutes long, including intermission.
Please join us in the Alice Tully Hall lobby immediately following the performance
for a White Light Lounge.
(Program continued)
A Love Supreme is sponsored by Morgan Stanley.
These performances are made possible in part by the Josie Robertson Fund for Lincoln Center.
Steinway Piano
Alice Tully Hall, Starr Theater
Adrienne Arsht Stage
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Please make certain all your electronic devices
are switched off.
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MetLife is the National Sponsor of Lincoln Center.
Upcoming White Light Festival Events:
Friday and Saturday Evenings, November 20–21,
at 7:30 at New York City Center
Sunday Afternoon, November 22, at 3:00
at New York City Center
A Sadler’s Wells London Production
Thomas Adès: Concentric Paths—Movements
in Music (U.S. premiere)
Thomas Adès, Piano and Conductor
Orchestra of St. Luke’s
Wayne McGregor, Choreographer
Karole Armitage, Choreographer
Alexander Whitley, Choreographer
Crystal Pite, Choreographer
THOMAS ADÈS: Concentric Paths, Life Story,
Piano Quintet, Polaris
Presented in association with New York City
Center
For tickets, call (212) 721-6500 or visit
WhiteLightFestival.org. Call the Lincoln Center Info
Request Line at (212) 875-5766 to learn about program cancellations or to request a White Light
Festival brochure.
Visit WhiteLightFestival.org for full festival
listings.
Join the conversation: #LCWhiteLight
We would like to remind you that the sound of coughing and rustling paper might distract the
performers and your fellow audience members.
In consideration of the performing artists and members of the audience, those who must leave
before the end of the performance are asked to do so between pieces. The taking of photographs
and the use of recording equipment are not allowed in the building.
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A Love Supreme
Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis
Set I
Selection of John Coltrane favorites
Intermission
Set II
COLTRANE (arr. MARSALIS) A Love Supreme (1964/2002)
Acknowledgement
Resolution
Pursuance
Psalm
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A Note on John Coltrane
By David A. Wild
John William Coltrane’s influence is enormous. His sound and his urgent, buzz-sawlike approach to chords has been adopted
and adapted by many. “My Favorite
Things” resurrected the soprano saxophone as a modern jazz instrument, and
Michael Brecker and others effectively
combined Coltrane’s vocabulary with R&B
influences in the jazz fusion revolution that
followed his death. Compositions like
“Giant Steps” set the bar for harmonic improvisation; his complex, polytonal, motivic
lines in modal contexts like “Impressions”
showed the way forward when that proved
too confining. He brought cries and pitchless screams, elements of early jazz, into
this most modern context. The spiritual element evident in A Love Supreme speaks to
many beyond jazz—Coltrane has inspired
poetry and literature, and he may be the
only jazz musician to have a church dedicated to his memory.
Coltrane’s legacy is now so pervasive and
such a part of the fabric of jazz, it is hard to
quantify. But, asked about influencing
others, the humble man behind the music
said: “It’s a big reservoir that we all dip
out of.” He said his goal was to be “a force
for good.” A Love Supreme, his major
work featured this evening, embodies
these concepts in both its musical and spiritual depth.
Born September 23, 1926, in Hamlet,
North Carolina, Coltrane grew up in Highpoint, where he learned to play saxophone
and practiced incessantly. He moved to
Philadelphia in 1943 and, inducted into the
Navy in August 1945, he was later
assigned to a band in Hawaii. Recordings
made a month before his discharge reveal
a musician conversant with the new bebop
repertoire—though hardly a natural
genius—and indicate how far Coltrane
would travel artistically.
Back freelancing in Philadelphia by late
1946, Coltrane became a busy member of
the city’s jazz scene. Local musicians in
Dizzy Gillespie’s big band recommended
Coltrane when a seat opened up, and he
joined Gillespie in September 1949, playing lead alto, and then tenor in a later sextet. He returned to journeyman work in
1951, notably playing with a Johnny
Hodges–led small group for half of 1954. In
September 1955, Miles Davis asked
Coltrane to join his newly formed group.
He stayed with the trumpeter through
early 1957, recording an arresting solo on
“‘Round Midnight.” After overcoming
some personal problems, he joined pianist
Thelonious Monk for six months at New
York’s Five Spot. Critic Ira Gitler called
Coltrane’s developing style of dense, rapid
runs “sheets of sound,” and they are a
marvelous contrast to Monk’s spare solos.
Recordings under Coltrane’s own name,
like the album Blue Train, featured nowstandard originals like the title track and
“Moment’s Notice.”
Coltrane rejoined Davis in January 1958,
and the following year, the sextet recorded
the groundbreaking Kind of Blue. Its modal
“So What” is a stark contrast to “Giant
Steps,” the harmonically complex original
Coltrane recorded later that spring. By
then, Coltrane wanted his own band, but
he stayed with Davis through a memorable
European tour in the spring of 1960. By
April, he was leading his own group, eventually with McCoy Tyner on piano and Elvin
Jones on drums.
Coltrane had begun playing the out-offavor soprano saxophone in 1958, and he
used it to great effect in October 1960 on
a modal reimagining of the show tune “My
Favorite Things.” 1961’s Africa/Brass combined the quartet and multi-reed player Eric
Dolphy with a large brass orchestra. That
fall, Coltrane’s appearance at the Village
Vanguard (with Dolphy and others added)
yielded definitive versions of the blues
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“Chasin’ the Trane” and the modal “Impressions.” With bassist Jimmy Garrison on
board in 1962, the “Classic Quartet” was in
place. Coltrane toured Europe in 1961 (with
Dolphy), 1962, and 1963, and also recorded
with Duke Ellington.
In 1964 there were only two recording projects, both featuring originals. Crescent,
that summer, included the beautiful “Wise
One.” The second (in December) was A
Love Supreme, the most successful of
Coltrane’s major works. The June 1965
Ascension added a bassist and six horns to
the quartet for a massive, 40-minute collective scream. November’s Meditations joined
the quartet (in its last recording) with new
members saxophonist Pharoah Sanders and
drummer Rashied Ali in a perfect balance of
approaches. These titles also suggest the
increasing spiritual and religious overtones
of Coltrane’s music. He was less active in
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1966, although a tour of Japan that summer
featured the new quintet. The following
spring brought several recording sessions,
among them a set of duets with Ali. But by
the summer, Coltrane was ill and rarely
played. He died of liver cancer on July 17,
1967, at the age of 40.
Author and pianist David A. Wild is a coauthor of The John Coltrane Reference,
author of many liner notes on the Impulse!
label, and contributor to various jazz publications and the New Grove Dictionary of Jazz.
He teaches and performs in central Texas.
—Copyright © 2015 by Lincoln Center for the
Performing Arts, Inc.
For more on John Coltrane’s masterwork,
A Love Supreme, turn to page 78.
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Illumination
A Love Supreme
by John Coltrane
I will do all I can to be worthy of Thee O Lord.
It all has to do with it.
Thank you God.
Peace.
There is none other.
God is. It is so beautiful.
Thank you God. God is all.
Help us to resolve our fears and weaknesses.
Thank you God.
In You all things are possible.
We know. God made us so.
Keep your eye on God.
God is. He always was. He always will be.
No matter what…it is God.
He is gracious and merciful.
It is most important that I know Thee.
Words, sounds, speech, men, memory, thoughts,
fears and emotions—time—all related…
all made from one…all made in one.
Blessed be His name.
Thought waves—heat waves—all vibrations—
all paths lead to God. Thank you God.
His way…it is so lovely…it is gracious.
It is merciful—thank you God.
One thought can produce millions of vibrations
and they all go back to God…everything does.
Thank you God.
Have no fear…believe…thank you God.
The universe has many wonders. God is all. His way…it is so
wonderful.
Thoughts—deeds—vibrations, etc.
They all go back to God and He cleanses all.
He is gracious and merciful…thank you God.
Glory to God…God is so alive.
God is.
God loves.
May I be acceptable in Thy sight.
We are all one in His grace.
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Illumination
The fact that we do exist is acknowledgement of Thee O Lord.
Thank you God.
God will wash away all our tears…
He always has…
He always will.
Seek Him everyday. In all ways seek God everyday.
Let us sing all songs to God
To whom all praise is due…praise God.
No road is an easy one, but they all
go back to God.
With all we share God.
It is all with God.
It is all with Thee.
Obey the Lord.
Blessed is He.
We are from one thing…the will of God…thank you God.
I have seen God—I have seen ungodly—
none can be greater—none can compare to God.
Thank you God.
He will remake us…He always has and He always will.
It is true—blessed be His name—thank you God.
God breathes through us so completely…
so gently we hardly feel it…yet,
it is our everything.
Thank you God.
ELATION—ELEGANCE—EXALTATION
All from God.
Thank you God. Amen.
—Copyright © Jowcol Music, LLC. Reprinted with permission.
For poetry comments and suggestions, please write
to [email protected].
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JOE MARTINEZ
Meet the Artists
Wynton Marsalis
Wynton Marsalis is the managing and artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. Born
in New Orleans in 1961, he began his classical training on trumpet at age 12. He
entered The Juilliard School at age 17 and
joined Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers.
His recording debut came in 1982, and Mr.
Marsalis has since recorded more than 70
jazz and classical albums, garnering him
nine Grammy Awards to date. In 1983 he
became the first and only artist to win both
classical and jazz Grammys in the same
year, a feat he repeated the following year.
His recordings include Two Men with the
Blues, featuring Willie Nelson (2008), He
and She (2009), Here We Go Again:
Celebrating the Genius of Ray Charles
(2011), and Wynton Marsalis & Eric Clapton
Play the Blues (2011).
To mark the 200th anniversary of Harlem’s
historical Abyssinian Baptist Church in 2008,
Mr. Marsalis composed a full mass for choir
and jazz orchestra. His other compositions
include At the Octoroon Balls, Big Train,
Blues Symphony, and Swing Symphony,
which was co-commissioned by the New
York Philharmonic, Berliner Philharmoniker,
Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Barbican
Centre. In 1997 he became the first jazz
artist to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize in
music for his oratorio Blood on the Fields,
commissioned by Jazz at Lincoln Center. Mr.
Marsalis has also written six books, including To a Young Musician: Letters from the
Road, with Selwyn Seyfu Hinds (2005);
Squeak, Rumble, Whomp! Whomp!
Whomp!, illustrated by Paul Rogers (2012);
and Moving to Higher Ground: How Jazz
Can Change Your Life, with Geoffrey C.
Ward (Random House, 2008).
Mr. Marsalis is an internationally respected
teacher and spokesman for music education, and has received honorary doctorates
from dozens of universities and colleges
throughout the U.S. In 2001 he was
appointed Messenger of Peace by Kofi
Annan, former Secretary-General of the
United Nations; he has also been designated cultural ambassador to the United
States of America by the U.S. State
Department through their CultureConnect
program in 2004. In 2009 Mr. Marsalis was
awarded France’s Legion of Honor. Mr.
Marsalis also led the effort to construct Jazz
at Lincoln Center’s new home—Frederick P.
Rose Hall—the first education, performance, and broadcast facility devoted to
jazz, which opened in October 2004.
Ryan Kisor
Ryan Kisor (trumpet) was born in Sioux
City, Iowa, and began playing trumpet at
age four. In 1990 he won first prize at the
Thelonious Monk Institute’s first annual
Louis Armstrong Trumpet Competition.
Mr. Kisor then enrolled in Manhattan
School of Music, where he studied with
Lew Soloff. He has performed and/or
recorded with the Mingus Big Band, Gil
Evans Orchestra, Horace Silver, Gerry
Mulligan, Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music
Orchestra, Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, the
Philip Morris All Stars, and others. In addition to being an active sideman, Mr. Kisor
has recorded several albums as a leader,
including Battle Cry (1997), The Usual
Suspects (1998), and Point of Arrival
(2000). He has been a member of the Jazz
at Lincoln Center Orchestra since 1994.
Kenny Rampton
Kenny Rampton (trumpet) joined the Jazz
at Lincoln Center Orchestra in 2010. In
addition to performing in the ensemble,
Mr. Rampton leads his own groups and is
also the trumpet voice for the popular PBS
show Sesame Street. His debut solo CD,
Moon Over Babylon, was released in 2013.
He has performed with the Scottish
National Jazz Orchestra at the Edinburgh
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International Festival, and was the featured
soloist on the Miles Davis/Gil Evans classic
version of Porgy and Bess. Mr. Rampton
has been a regular member of the Mingus
Big Band, Orchestra, and Dynasty, Mingus
Epitaph (under the direction of Gunther
Schuller), George Gruntz Concert Jazz
Band, Chico O’Farrill’s Afro Cuban Jazz
Orchestra, Bebo Valdés and His Havana
All Stars, and the Manhattan Jazz
Orchestra. He spent much of the 1990s
touring the world with the Ray Charles
Orchestra, legendary jazz drummer
Panama Francis (and the Savoy Sultans), as
well as jazz greats Jon Hendricks, Lionel
Hampton, and Illinois Jacquet. As a sideman, Mr. Rampton has also performed
with Dr. John, Christian McBride, the Maria
Schneider Orchestra, Charles Earland, and
a host of others. His Broadway credits
include Anything Goes, Finian’s Rainbow,
The Wiz, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,
Young Frankenstein, and The Color Purple.
Marcus Printup
Born in Georgia, Marcus Printup’s (trumpet)
first musical experiences were hearing the
fiery gospel music his parents sang in
church. While attending the University of
North Florida on a music scholarship, he won
the International Trumpet Guild jazz trumpet
competition. In 1991 Mr. Printup met his
mentor, pianist Marcus Roberts, who introduced him to Wynton Marsalis. This led to
his induction into the Jazz at Lincoln Center
Orchestra in 1993. Mr. Printup has recorded
with Betty Carter, Dianne Reeves, Eric Reed,
Madeleine Peyroux, Ted Nash, Cyrus
Chestnut, and Wycliffe Gordon, among others. He has recorded a number of records as
a leader, including Song for the Beautiful
Woman, Unveiled, Hub Songs, Nocturnal
Traces, Bird of Paradise, and his most
recent, Homage (2012) and Desire (2013),
featuring Riza Printup on harp. Mr. Printup
appeared in the 1999 movie Playing by
Heart and recorded on the film’s soundtrack. As an educator, Mr. Printup teaches
privately at Mannes School of Music at the
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New School, and is an in-demand clinician
teaching at middle schools, high schools,
and colleges across the U.S.
Vincent Gardner
After singing and playing piano, violin, saxophone, and French horn at an early age,
Vincent Gardner (trombone) decided on the
trombone at age 12. He attended Florida
A&M University and the University of North
Florida. He soon caught the ear of Mercer
Ellington, who hired Mr. Gardner for his first
professional job. Mr. Gardner moved to
Brooklyn after graduating from college,
completed a world tour with Lauryn Hill in
2000, and then joined the Jazz at Lincoln
Center Orchestra. He has served as an
instructor at The Juilliard School, visiting
instructor at Florida State and Michigan
State Universities, and adjunct instructor at
the New School. He is currently the director
of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Youth
Orchestra, and he has contributed many
arrangements to the Jazz at Lincoln Center
Orchestra and other ensembles. In 2009
Mr. Gardner was commissioned by Jazz at
Lincoln Center to write The Jesse B.
Semple Suite, inspired by the short stories
of Langston Hughes. In addition, Mr.
Gardner is an instructor at Jazz at Lincoln
Center’s jazz education program, Swing
University, teaching courses on bebop and
more. He is featured on a number of
notable recordings and has recorded five
CDs as a leader for SteepleChase Records.
He has also performed with the Duke
Ellington Orchestra, Bobby McFerrin, Harry
Connick Jr., the Saturday Night Live Band,
Chaka Khan, A Tribe Called Quest, and
many others.
Chris Crenshaw
Chris Crenshaw (trombone) started playing
piano at age three, and this love for piano
led to his first gig with Echoes of Joy, his
father Casper Crenshaw’s gospel quartet
group. Mr. Crenshaw started playing the
trombone at 11, receiving honors and
awards along the way, and he received his
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bachelor’s degree with honors in jazz
performance
from
Valdosta
State
University in 2005. In 2007 he received his
master’s degree in jazz studies from The
Juilliard School, where his teachers
included Douglas Farwell and Wycliffe
Gordon. He has appeared as a sideman on
fellow Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra
trumpeter Marcus Printup’s Ballads All
Night and on Wynton Marsalis & Eric
Clapton Play the Blues. In 2006 Mr.
Crenshaw joined the Jazz at Lincoln Center
Orchestra, and in 2012 he composed
God’s Trombones, a spiritually focused
work that was premiered by the Jazz at
Lincoln Center Orchestra.
Elliot Mason
Elliot Mason (trombone) began trumpet
lessons at age four with his father. At age
seven, he switched his focus to trombone.
At 11, he was performing in various
venues, concentrating on jazz and improvisation. At 16, he received a full scholarship
to the Berklee College of Music. Mr. Mason
has won awards that include the prestigious Frank Rosolino Award and Berklee’s
Slide Hampton Award in recognition of outstanding performance abilities. He moved
to New York City after graduation, and in
2008 joined Northwestern University’s
School of Music faculty as the jazz trombone instructor. Mr. Mason has performed
with the Count Basie Orchestra, Mingus
Big Band, the Maria Schneider Orchestra,
and Maynard Ferguson Big Bop Nouveau.
A member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center
Orchestra since 2006, he also continues to
co-lead the Mason Brothers Quintet with
his brother Brad Mason. The Mason
Brothers released their debut album, Two
Sides, One Story, in 2011.
Sherman Irby
Sherman Irby (alto saxophone) found his
musical calling at age 12, and in high school
he played and recorded with gospel immortal James Cleveland. He graduated from
Clark Atlanta University with a bachelor’s
degree in music education, moved to New
York City in 1994, and recorded his first two
albums, Full Circle (1996) and Big Mama’s
Biscuits (1998), on Blue Note. Mr. Irby
toured the U.S. and the Caribbean with the
Boys Choir of Harlem in 1995, and was a
member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center
Orchestra from 1995 to 1997. During that
tenure he also recorded and toured with
Marcus Roberts, and was part of Betty
Carter’s Jazz Ahead Program and Roy
Hargrove’s ensemble. From 2003–11 Mr.
Irby was the regional director for
JazzMasters Workshop, mentoring young
children, and he has served as the artist in
residence for Jazz Camp West and an instructor for Monterey Jazz Festival Band
Camp. He formed Black Warrior Records and
released Black Warrior, Faith, Organ Starter,
Live at the Otto Club, and Andy Farber’s This
Could Be the Start of Something Big. Since
rejoining the Jazz at Lincoln Center
Orchestra in 2005, Mr. Irby has arranged
much of the ensemble’s music, and he has
been commissioned to compose new
works, including Twilight Sounds and his
Dante-inspired ballet, Inferno.
Ted Nash
Ted Nash (alto saxophone) enjoys an extraordinary career as a performer, conductor, composer, arranger, and educator. Born in Los
Angeles into a musical family (his father, Dick
Nash, and uncle, the late Ted Nash, were
both jazz and studio musicians), Mr. Nash
mixes freedom with accessibility, blues with
intellect, and risk-taking with clarity. His
group Odeon has often been cited as a creative force of jazz. Many of his recordings,
such as The Mancini Project and Sidewalk
Meeting, have received critical acclaim and
have been chosen for a number of “best of”
lists. HIs album Portrait in Seven Shades
(2010) is the first composition released by
the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra featuring original music by a band member other
than bandleader Wynton Marsalis. Mr.
Nash’s latest album, Chakra, was released in
2013, and the Jazz at Lincoln Center
Orchestra premiered his commissioned
work, Presidential Suite, in 2014.
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Victor Goines
A native of New Orleans, Victor Goines
(tenor saxophone) has been a member of
the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and
the Wynton Marsalis Septet since 1993,
touring throughout the world and recording
more than 20 albums. As a leader, Mr.
Goines has recorded seven albums, including Pastels of Ballads and Blues and Love
Dance (both 2007) on Criss Cross Records,
and Twilight (2012) on Rosemary Joseph
Records. A gifted composer, he has more
than 50 original works to his credit, including 2014’s Crescent City, premiered by the
Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. He has
recorded and/or performed with many noted
jazz and popular artists, including Ahmad
Jamal, Ruth Brown, Dee Dee Bridgewater,
Ray Charles, Bob Dylan, Dizzy Gillespie,
Lenny Kravitz, Branford Marsalis, Ellis
Marsalis, Dianne Reeves, Willie Nelson,
Marcus Roberts, Diana Ross, and Stevie
Wonder. Currently Mr. Goines is the director
of jazz studies and professor of music at
Northwestern University. He received a
bachelor of music degree from Loyola
University and a master of music degree
from Virginia Commonwealth University.
Walter Blanding
Walter Blanding (tenor saxophone) began
playing the saxophone at age six, and
moved with his family to New York City
from Cleveland in 1981; by age 16, he was
performing regularly with his parents at the
Village Gate. Mr. Blanding attended
LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and
Performing Arts and continued his studies at
the New School for Social Research, where
he earned a bachelor of fine arts degree in
2005. His 1991 debut release, Tough Young
Tenors, was acclaimed as one of the best
jazz albums of the year. He has been a
member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center
Orchestra since 1998, and has performed,
toured, and/or recorded with his own groups
and with such renowned artists as the Cab
Calloway Orchestra, Roy Hargrove, Hilton
Ruiz, Count Basie Orchestra, Illinois Jacquet
Big Band, Wycliffe Gordon, Marcus Roberts,
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Wynton Marsalis Quintet, and Isaac Hayes.
Mr. Blanding lived in Israel for four years
and toured the country with his own
ensemble and with U.S. artists such as
Louis Hayes, Eric Reed, and Vanessa
Rubin. He taught music in several Israeli
schools and eventually opened his own private school in Tel Aviv.
Paul Nedzela
Paul Nedzela (baritone saxophone) has
become one of today’s top baritone saxophone players. He has played with many
renowned artists and ensembles, including
Wess Anderson, George Benson, the
Birdland Big Band, Bill Charlap, Chick Corea,
Paquito D’Rivera, Michael Feinstein, Benny
Golson, Wycliffe Gordon, Roy Haynes,
Christian McBride, Eric Reed, Dianne
Reeves, Herlin Riley, Maria Schneider, Frank
Sinatra Jr., the Temptations, the Vanguard
Jazz Orchestra, Reginald Veal, and Max
Weinberg. Mr. Nedzela has performed in
Twyla Tharp’s Broadway show, Come Fly
Away, and in major festivals around the
world. He has studied with some of the
foremost baritone saxophonists in the
world, including Joe Temperley, Gary
Smulyan, and Roger Rosenberg. Mr. Nedzela graduated with honors from McGill
University in Montreal with a bachelor of
science degree in mathematics in 2006. A
recipient of the Samuel L. Jackson Scholarship Award, he continued his musical studies at The Juilliard School and graduated
with a master of music degree in 2008.
Dan Nimmer
With prodigious technique and an innate
sense of swing, Dan Nimmer’s (piano) playing often recalls that of his own heroes,
specifically Oscar Peterson, Wynton Kelly,
Erroll Garner, and Art Tatum. As a young
man, Mr. Nimmer’s family inherited a piano
and he started playing by ear. He studied
classical piano, but became interested in
jazz and began playing gigs around
Milwaukee. He left Milwaukee to study
music at Northern Illinois University, and
worked the Chicago scene as one of the
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city’s busiest piano players. He decided to
leave school and move to New York City,
where he became a member of the Jazz at
Lincoln Center Orchestra and the Wynton
Marsalis Quintet. Mr. Nimmer has worked
with Norah Jones, Willie Nelson, Dianne
Reeves, George Benson, Frank Wess,
Clark Terry, Tom Jones, Benny Golson,
Lewis Nash, Peter Washington, Ed
Thigpen, Wess “Warmdaddy” Anderson,
Fareed Haque, and many more. He has
appeared on the Tonight Show with Jay
Leno, the Late Show with David
Letterman, The View, the Kennedy Center
Honors, Live from Abbey Road, and Live
From Lincoln Center, among other broadcasts. Mr. Nimmer has released four of his
own albums on the Venus label (Japan).
Carlos Henriquez
Carlos Henriquez (bass) studied music at a
young age, played guitar, and took up the
bass while enrolled in The Juilliard School’s
Music Advancement Program. He entered
LaGuardia High School of Music & Arts and
Performing Arts and was involved with the
LaGuardia Concert Jazz Ensemble, which
went on to win first place in Jazz at Lincoln
Center’s Essentially Ellington High School
Jazz Band Competition & Festival in 1996.
After high school Mr. Henriquez joined the
Wynton Marsalis Septet and the Jazz at
Lincoln Center Orchestra, touring the
world and appearing on more than 25
albums. He has performed with artists
including Chucho Valdés, Paco De Lucía,
Tito Puente, the Marsalis Family, Willie
Nelson, Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder, Lenny
Kravitz, Marc Anthony, and many others.
He has been a member of the music faculty at Northwestern University School of
Music since 2008, and was music director
of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra’s
cultural exchange with the Cuban Institute
of Music with Chucho Valdés in 2010.
Ali Jackson
Ali Jackson (drums) developed his talent on
drums at an early age, and was the recipient of Michigan’s prestigious ArtServe
Emerging Artist Award in 1998. After earning an undergraduate degree in music
composition at the New School for contemporary music, he studied under Elvin
Jones and Max Roach. Mr. Jackson has
been a member of the Jazz at Lincoln
Center Orchestra since 2005, and has performed and recorded with artists and
ensembles including Wynton Marsalis,
Dee Dee Bridgewater, Aretha Franklin,
George Benson, Harry Connick, Jr., KRSOne, Marcus Roberts, Joshua Redman,
Vinx, Saito Kinen Orchestra conductor Seiji
Ozawa, Diana Krall, and the New York City
Ballet. Mr. Jackson currently performs
with the Wynton Marsalis Quintet and
Horns in the Hood, and leads the Ali
Jackson Quartet. He also hosted the
Jammin’ with Jackson series for young
musicians at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s
Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola.
Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra
The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, comprising 15 of the finest jazz soloists and
ensemble players today, has been the Jazz
at Lincoln Center resident orchestra since
1988. Featured in all aspects of Jazz at
Lincoln Center’s programming, this remarkably versatile orchestra performs and leads
educational events around the globe, with
an ever-expanding roster of guest artists.
Under Music Director Wynton Marsalis, the
orchestra spends over a third of the year on
tour, performing a vast repertoire, from rare
historic compositions to commissioned
works, including compositions and arrangements by Duke Ellington, Count Basie,
Fletcher Henderson, Thelonious Monk,
Mary Lou Williams, Dizzy Gillespie, Benny
Goodman, Charles Mingus, and many others. Guest conductors have included Benny
Carter, John Lewis, Jimmy Heath, Chico
O’Farrill, Ray Santos, and Paquito D’Rivera.
Over the last few years, the Jazz at Lincoln
Center Orchestra has performed collaborations with many leading symphony
orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Russian National Orchestra, Berliner
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Philharmoniker, and the Boston, Chicago,
and London symphony orchestras. In 2006
the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra
collaborated with Ghanaian drum collective
Odadaa!, led by Yacub Addy, to perform
Congo Square, a composition that Marsalis
and Addy co-wrote and dedicated to
Marsalis’s native New Orleans. In 2010 the
Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra performed
Marsalis’s symphony, Swing Symphony, cocommissioned by the New York Philharmonic, Berliner Philharmoniker, Los
Angeles Philharmonic, and the Barbican
Centre, in Berlin and New York City, and in
Los Angeles the following year.
To date, 14 recordings featuring the Jazz at
Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton
Marsalis have been released and internationally distributed, including Vitoria Suite
(2010), Portrait in Seven Shades (2010),
Congo Square (2007), Don’t Be Afraid…The
Music of Charles Mingus (2005), A Love
Supreme (2005), and All Rise (2002). Most
recently, the orchestra released Live in
Cuba and Big Band Holidays on Jazz at
Lincoln Center’s new record label, Blue
Engine Records.
Jazz at Lincoln Center
The mission of Jazz at Lincoln Center is to
entertain, enrich, and expand a global community for jazz through performance, education, and advocacy. With the worldrenowned Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra
and guest artists spanning genres and generations, Jazz at Lincoln Center produces
thousands of performance, education, and
broadcast events each season in its home
in New York City and around the world, for
people of all ages. Jazz at Lincoln Center is
led by chairman Robert J. Appel, managing
and artistic director Wynton Marsalis, and
executive director Greg Scholl.
Jazz at Lincoln Center regularly premieres
works commissioned from a variety of
composers, including Benny Carter, Joe
Henderson, Benny Golson, Jimmy Heath,
WhiteLightFestival.org
Wayne Shorter, Sam Rivers, Joe Lovano,
and Christian McBride, as well as from
current and former Jazz at Lincoln Center
Orchestra members Wynton Marsalis,
Wycliffe Gordon, Ted Nash, Victor Goines,
Sherman Irby, Chris Crenshaw, and
Carlos Henriquez.
Education is a major part of Jazz at Lincoln
Center’s mission, reaching over 110,000
students, teachers, and general audience
members. These programs include the
Jazz for Young People curriculum and family concert series, the Essentially Ellington
High School Jazz Band Competition and
Festival, educational residencies, workshops, and concerts for students and
adults worldwide.
Jazz at Lincoln Center, NPR Music, and
WBGO have partnered to create Jazz Night
in America, the next generation of jazz programming in public radio. The series showcases today’s vital jazz scene while also
underscoring the genre’s storied history.
Television broadcasts of Jazz at Lincoln
Center programs have helped broaden the
awareness of its unique efforts in the
music, and have aired internationally,
including in the U.S., UK, Spain, Germany,
Norway, China, and Korea.
White Light Festival
I could compare my music to white light,
which contains all colors. Only a prism can
divide the colors and make them appear;
this prism could be the spirit of the listener.
—Arvo Pärt. Celebrating its sixth anniversary, the White Light Festival is Lincoln
Center’s annual exploration of music and
art’s power to reveal the many dimensions
of our interior lives. International in scope,
the multidisciplinary festival offers a broad
spectrum of the world’s leading instrumentalists, vocalists, ensembles, choreographers, dance companies, and directors
complemented by conversations with
artists and scholars and post-performance
White Light Lounges.
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Lincoln Center for the Performing
Arts, Inc.
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
(LCPA) serves three primary roles: presenter of artistic programming, national leader
in arts and education and community relations, and manager of the Lincoln Center
campus. A presenter of more than 3,000
free and ticketed events, performances,
tours, and educational activities annually,
LCPA offers 15 programs, series, and festivals including American Songbook, Great
Performers, Lincoln Center Festival,
Lincoln Center Out of Doors, Midsummer
Night Swing, the Mostly Mozart Festival,
and the White Light Festival, as well as the
Emmy Award–winning Live From Lincoln
Center, which airs nationally on PBS. As
manager of the Lincoln Center campus,
LCPA provides support and services for
the Lincoln Center complex and the 11 resident organizations. In addition, LCPA led a
$1.2 billion campus renovation, completed
in October 2012.
Lincoln Center Programming Department
Jane Moss, Ehrenkranz Artistic Director
Hanako Yamaguchi, Director, Music Programming
Jon Nakagawa, Director, Contemporary Programming
Jill Sternheimer, Director, Public Programming
Lisa Takemoto, Production Manager
Charles Cermele, Producer, Contemporary Programming
Kate Monaghan, Associate Director, Programming
Mauricio Lomelin, Producer, Contemporary Programming
Julia Lin, Associate Producer
Regina Grande, Assistant to the Artistic Director
Luna Shyr, Programming Publications Editor
Madeleine Oldfield, House Seat Coordinator
Kathy Wang, House Program Intern
For the White Light Festival
Matt Frey, Lighting Design
Josh Benghiat, Lighting Design Associate
Jessica Barrios, Wardrobe Assistant
Tatiana Stola, Company Manager