Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra

Dedicated to safeguarding the jazz legacy of the United States, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra—previously called the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra—ranks among the world's foremost large ensembles. Since the closing years of the 1980s the group has formed a central part of New York City's Jazz at Lincoln Center initiative, acting as the adaptable resident ensemble for an array of performance programs. Under the direction of celebrated trumpeter and artistic director Wynton Marsalis, the fifteen-member orchestra sustains an intensive itinerary of concerts, allocating approximately half of each year to engagements across the United States and at major stages abroad. The JLCO also joins numerous Jazz at Lincoln Center instructional activities intended for both seasoned and beginning participants. Beyond stage appearances, Marsalis and the ensemble have issued several well-regarded recordings, among them the 1997 Pulitzer Prize-winning oratorio Blood on the Fields, the 2006 Congo Square recorded with Ghanaian drum master Yacub Addy, and the 2018 Latin-themed Una Noche con Ruben Blades.

Established in 1988, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra relied in its formative period on the leadership of conductor David Berger. Marsalis assumed the artistic directorship in 1991, after which the ensemble's emphasis on historical repertoire expanded, with particular focus on the compositions of Duke Ellington. The orchestra's yearly Ellington programs have since become fixtures in New York cultural life, while its debut album—recorded while Berger still held the podium—was 1992's Portraits by Ellington. Far from treating jazz solely as preserved history, the JLCO has also supported the creation of fresh works composed expressly for its instrumentation. Throughout the 1990s the group supplemented its customary schedule of concerts, tours, and education programs with broadcasts on international television and joint presentations alongside various symphony orchestras. Toward the end of that decade the JLCO appeared on disc with greater frequency as Marsalis enlisted the orchestra for large-scale undertakings such as the 1997 jazz oratorio Blood on the Fields, which earned the Pulitzer Prize, the 1999 double release Sweet Release & Ghost Story, and Big Train. The same year the ensemble marked the centennial of Duke Ellington's birth with the concert recording Live in Swing City: Swingin' with the Duke.

Throughout the following decade Marsalis maintained close collaboration with the JLCO, producing further albums such as the 2002 orchestral project All Rise, 2005's Don't Be Afraid: The Music of Charles Mingus, and the 2006 partnership with Ghanaian drum master Yacub Addy on Congo Square. In 2015 the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra demonstrated its affinity for Afro-Cuban repertoire on the two-disc Live in Cuba, documenting the ensemble's inaugural performances on the island. Later that year the orchestra issued Big Band Holiday, an assortment of jazz settings drawn from traditional Christmas repertoire. In 2016 the JLCO presented The Abyssinian Mass, a studio account of Marsalis's 2013 composition that examined connections between secular and sacred music within African-American communities. The group joined pianist and bandleader Jon Batiste for the 2017 tribute The Music of John Lewis, honoring the founder and musical director of the Modern Jazz Quartet. Also in 2017 the JLCO released the piano-focused Handful of Keys, which included contributions from Myra Melford, Joey Alexander, Helen Sung, and additional artists and reached the Top Ten of Billboard's Jazz Albums chart. In 2018 the JLCO brought out Una Noche con Ruben Blades, a spirited Latin collaboration between the orchestra's bassist Carlos Henriquez and vocalist Ruben Blades. Two further recordings appeared in 2020: The Music of Wayne Shorter and A Swingin' Sesame Street Celebration, the latter accompanied by a PBS concert special in which Marsalis and the ensemble applied their refined approach to classic children's songs from the program.