Blue Engine Records, Jazz at Lincoln Center’s in-house record label, will release The Fifties: A Prism by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis. Composed and arranged by Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra trombonist Christopher Crenshaw and recorded live at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall–also known as the House of Swing–in February 2017, the suite combines many of the different styles and movements that made the jazz of the 1950s so creatively vital. The result is a distinctly modern take on classic jazz idioms. TheFifties is at turns playful and moving, melodic and challenging—but it’s always swinging. Blue Engine Records’ The Fifties: A Prism will be available exclusively on digital platforms on May 1, 2020 at jazz.org/thefifties.
“All jazz is modern,” says Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Managing and Artistic Director, Wynton Marsalis—and we owe the 1950s for that. The momentous decade became the crucible in which modern jazz was formed, as styles like modal, hard bop, third stream, and more melted together and artists like Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, and Ornette Coleman reached the height of their powers.
Now, Crenshaw has taken inspiration from the era to create The Fifties: A Prism, the newest Blue Engine album. He says, “When I was presented with the idea of coming up with a suite dealing with the 1950s, I immediately realized this was going to cover all the genres of jazz, from bebop to freedom music. The 50s had a mix of the well-established and the up-and-coming musicians and composers to bless this music; if most of them got along, so can we.”
TRACK LISTING:
I. Flipped His Lid (6:56)
Solos: Sherman Irby (alto saxophone), Stantawn Kendrick (tenor saxophone), Dan Nimmer (piano)
2. Just A-Slidin’ (5:57)
Solos: Vincent Gardner (trombone), Elliot Mason (trombone), Ali Jackson (drums)
3. Conglomerate (5:24)
Solos: Paul Nedzela (baritone saxophone), Wynton Marsalis (trumpet), Stantawn Kendrick (tenor saxophone), Carlos Henriquez (bass),
4. Cha-Cha Toda la Noche (5:31)
Solos: Victor Goines (clarinet), Vincent Gardner (trombone), Carlos Henriquez (bass)
5. Unorthodox Sketches (5:31)
Solos: Victor Goines (clarinet), Sherman Irby (alto flute), Ted Nash (piccolo), Paul Nedzela (bass clarinet)
6. Pursuit of the New Thing (10:14)
Solos: Ted Nash (alto saxophone), Wynton Marsalis (trumpet), Stantawn Kendrick (tenor saxophone)
Personnel:
THE JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER ORCHESTRA WITH WYNTON MARSALIS
2016-17 Concert Season
REEDS
Sherman Irby — alto saxophone, alto flute
Ted Nash — alto saxophone, piccolo
Victor Goines — tenor saxophone, clarinet (February 17 only)
*Dan Block— tenor saxophone, clarinet (substitute for Victor Goines, February 18 only)
Walter Blanding — tenor saxophone
*Stantawn Kendrick — tenor saxophone
Paul Nedzela — baritone saxophone, bass clarinet
TRUMPETS
*Tatum Greenblatt
Marcus Printup
Kenny Rampton
Wynton Marsalis
TROMBONES
Vincent Gardner
Christopher Crenshaw — music director
Elliot Mason
RHYTHM SECTION
Dan Nimmer (piano)
Carlos Henriquez (bass)
Ali Jackson (drums)
*Indicates substitute orchestra member
About Blue Engine Records
Blue Engine Records, Jazz at Lincoln Center’s platform that makes its vast archive of recorded concerts available to jazz audiences everywhere, launched on June 30, 2015. Blue Engine Records releases new studio and live recordings as well as archival recordings from Jazz at Lincoln Center’s performance history that date back to 1987 and are part of the R. Theodore Ammon Archives and Music Library. Since the institution’s founding in 1987, each year’s programming is conceived and developed by Managing and Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis with a vision toward building a comprehensive library of iconic and wide-ranging compositions that, taken together, make up a canon of music. These archives include accurate, complete charts for the compositions – both old and new – performed each season. Coupled with consistently well-executed and recorded music performed by Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, this archive has grown to include thousands of songs from hundreds of concert dates. The launch of Blue Engine is aligned with Jazz at Lincoln Center’s efforts to cultivate existing jazz fans worldwide and turn new audiences on to jazz. For more information on Blue Engine Records, visit www.jazz.org/blueengine