• Submitted by: manso
• Arts and Culture
• 10 / 07 / 2010

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HAVANA, Cuba, Oct 6 (acn) Cuban jazz lovers were enchanted by Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz Lincoln Center Orchestra (JLCO) from the very beginning of the first of four concerts offered by the American musicians at the Mella Theater in Havana.

Tuesday night's performance was marked by a selection of themes arranged by the musicians of the band with the purpose of showing an overall view of the history of jazz starting from the laments of the slaves to the intimacy of nightclubs of the 1920s through the 1940s.

The Cubans were quickly infected by the charisma and virtuosity of the musicians who moved rhythmically to the music as they played their instruments.

It wouldn't be hard to imagine magical Duke Ellington clicking his fingers to the beat of each of the JLCO maestros, or smiling Dizzy Gillespie bragging about the quality of those who have maintained his legacy.

And what could be said about Marsalis, this exceptional musician who has come to Cuba with his trumpet to show a new dimension of the term `maestro.'

Marsalis' performance was beyond the sublime. He managed to create an intimate environment in complicity with the audience that was delighted with every bit of his interpretation.

In each of the pieces performed, Marsalis and his musicians melted among themselves and with their instruments to create a single sound that would come out from the stage, regardless of the hard to play arrangements.

Expectations were surpassed; the musicians took with them not only the applauses of the audience but also their hope to attend the next concert.

Source: /groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/message/118328