The Fantastic Mr. Jelly Lord

30th Anniversary Landmark Concert

The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis kicks off our 30th season with a joyous celebration of New Orleans legend Jelly Roll Morton (1890–1941). Jazz's first great composer, musical intellect, and piano virtuoso, Morton gave us the musical blueprint of an eternal New Orleans and jazz as we know it today. Through both classic and never-before-heard arrangements of essential tunes like "King Porter Stomp," "Jungle Blues," "Black Bottom Stomp," and "The Pearls," the JLCO will showcase the contemporary power and the depth of possibility in the earliest jazz. The concepts found in these pieces have been explored by master musicians for the past century, and through the lens of Jelly Roll, you will hear that all jazz is truly modern. In addition to the JLCO's own resident pianist Dan Nimmer, this performance will feature the celebrated pianist Aaron Diehl, rising star Sullivan Fortner, and two promising young Juilliard jazz students from the Midwest and the West.