Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at the Lincoln Center Orchestra to release Live in Cuba on August 21

LIVE IN CUBA captures nine-time Grammy Award-winner Wynton Marsalis and the world-renowned Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra’s dazzling first—and only—performances in Cuba, where they explored the profound connections between American jazz and Afro-Cuban music, from bebop to bolero and beyond. The historic concert is now another first: it’s the debut, double-disc release from Blue Engine Records, a new label dedicated to preserving and promoting jazz. 

Recorded in front of clamorous, sold-out crowds over three nights at Havana’s Mella Theatre in October 2010, Live in Cuba finds the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra performing Ellington standards, Afro-Cuban numbers, and distinctly modern compositions from the band members. Live in Cuba is a document of two nations’ indelible cultural connections, of a journey into uncharted musical territory, and of some of the world’s most virtuosic musicians sharing a stag
Disc One commences with the track "2,3's Adventure". Eight minutes long it was composed and arranged by Carlos Henriques to commemorate their trip to Cuba. Henriques described the song as a "traveling phase that starts in a generic mambo pattern and goes directly into a swing then into a guajira."

Photo by FRANK STEWART for Jazz at Lincoln Center

Sherman Irby does an impressive twist to the traditional nursery rhyme "Baa Baa Black Sheep" making it more dark than it seems employing an Ostinato bassline that will send chills up your spine in the beginning. The song mellows out into a blues tinge melody to add "depth" according to Irby.
Elsewhere on the CD is "Inaki's Decision from Victoria Suite" composed and arranged by Wynton Marsalis. Marsalis said the song was written for the city of Vitoria and Inaki, the founder of Vitoria Jazz Festival. Marsalis describes the song as one with chord changes that are reminiscent of Monk and the New Orleans big band sound. 

High points of the second disc include "Limbo Jazz" which was composed by Duke Ellington and arranged by Victor Goines. To hear Goines tell it, "Limbo Jazz" is based on "chord changes of Happy Birthday. It's really simple. The one thing I really changed was that I created a bridge that goes to the relative minor of the song."  Sounds from the south and north are blended to create the Chris Crenshaw composed "Bearden (The Block)." The song pays homage to American artist Romare Bearden who was born in North Carolina and later moved to Harlem. The song is a combination of Crenshaw's take on Bearden's paintings which he transposes into sound.  Said Crenshaw "I was thinking about Bearden’s collages, ‘Three Guitarists,’ ‘The Block’ and ‘The Block Two,’ ‘Reclining Nude,’ ‘Conjuring Woman,’ and ‘The Piano Lesson,’ when I composed this piece. The whole thing moves from a southern church sound into different tonal centers that are more urban.”

Photo by FRANK STEWART for Jazz at Lincoln Center

To celebrate the Blue Engine Records launch and Live in Cuba album release, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis is currently on the 2015 Blue Engine U.S. Tour where the band will visit 12 American cities and six of the summer's finest music festivals. The band is accompanied on their tour by a pop-up banner documenting the historic trip to Cuba as well as a merchandise table. Appearing at all tour venues, the table will allow audiences to purchase Blue Engine merchandise and buy a pre-order copy of Live In Cuba, which comes with a free tumbler and preview tracks from the album. The CD will be released on August 21st.