Wynton Marsalis, whose contributions to Eric Clapton's current album Clapton did much to shape its distinctive sound, was not present for his performance here on Friday, but listening to the CD again before the show prompted me to check out another collaboration between Marsalis and a great guitarist, Paco de Lucia.
Vitoria Suite, Marsalis' main project last year and now available in Hong Kong as a double CD, was composed to mark the 25th anniversary of the Vitoria Jazz Festival held annually in northern Spain's Basque country. Marsalis is a regular performer at the event. It is an ambitious work which makes connections between the blues, Basque folk music and flamenco, hence De Lucia's involvement.
Marsalis doesn't do things by halves. Inaki Anua, who organises the festival, had asked whether he might like to compose a single blues theme for the anniversary and he replied: 'I don't know how to write short pieces. I'll compose a suite.' The work is scored for the full Jazz At Lincoln Centre Orchestra, plus guests Lucia on flamenco guitar, pianist Chano Dominguez, and three percussionists.
Given the jazz orchestra line-up, comparisons with Miles Davis and Gil Evans' Sketches of Spain are inevitable, and there are echoes, but the music here is altogether more fiery from the opening handclaps on. 'As outsiders, it's not possible for us to play this music in the same way that a Spanish musician would, so instead I've tried to take elements of the music of the region and translate that into the sound of jazz,' Marsalis says.
Whether the eclecticism of the projects Marsalis has undertaken in recent years indicates a conscious attempt to shake his image as a dogmatic jazz purist is unclear. But as little as 10 years ago, it would have been impossible to conceive of him collaborating with musicians from other genres - Clapton among them. The two will be teaming up again next month at the Lincoln Centre for three concerts.
The blues and jazz have both taken hits this month with the deaths of guitarist Gary Moore at 50 and George Shearing at 91. A full appreciation of Shearing - one of the greatest jazz pianists to have been born in Britain, although he became a naturalised US citizen - will appear next week.
