Our World Tuesday: Good Times at Lincoln Center

Last week, we headed down to New York City to hear Winton Marsalis.  He was part of an ensemble at Lincoln Center that was honoring the music of Tito Puenrte.

Check that.  The great Wynton Marsalis was part of an ensemble.  And he was cool.  He packed all his greatness into his trumpet and delivered it in the context of  the work of a Latin-American musician who lived to make people feel good, to smile, to move, and to smile.

We were there because Adella and I had fallen in love with Wynton Marsalis after a summer of watching him in Ken Burns's "Jazz:  The Story of America's Music."  It's a long series, so we would watch a little each night until we acquired a broad view of American culture through the lens of jazz.  Every night, we were treated to history through music through Marsalis, who made musical sounds where words were of no use to him.  We were there because we had fallen in love with America's music and with the American people through music.

This was a family day at Lincoln Center, and there were small kids shouting answers to the questions of host Carlos Henriquez and gurgling babies everywhere and it was great.  The Rose Theater is as comfortable as it is beautiful and spacious.

I used the zoom on my camera like an opera glass to get closer than I was, though I was happy to be where I was in the back row of the orchestra section and to take in everything.  Here's most of the ensemble's performance of Puente's famous "Oye Como Va," which closed this amazing event.


Our World Tuesday