Jennifer Sanon

The young band that Marsalis brought to Orchestra Hall over the weekend underscored the trumpeter's passion for finding and nurturing new artists. Apart from longtime Marsalis collaborator Walter Blanding Jr. on saxophone, Marsalis' quintet was staffed by players of a younger generation. And by featuring the 19-year-old vocalist Jennifer Sanon, a bona fide discovery, Marsalis reminded a capacity audience that jazz constantly replenishes itself with waves of inspiring new talent.

Because Marsalis' small groups rarely feature a singer, Friday night's performance by Sanon was noteworthy... Crying out her phrases with clarion force, fleshing out the tune with shouts and wails and sighs, she conveyed an emotional maturity one does not typically encounter in singers so young.
- By Howard Reich, Tribune arts critic.

Mastery of the trumpet as well as a century of jazz tradition doesn't come any more naturally than it does in the playing of Wynton Marsalis.

And he brought with him a 19-year-old singer, Jennifer Sanon, who was wise beyond her years in renditions of the encore, "Comes Love," and a traditional blues that almost had her channeling Billie Holiday and Miles Davis. Sanon also made her own of two "Magic Hour" songs Marsalis wrote for Bobby McFerrin and Dianne Reeves. Of Marsalis' instrumental colleagues, Blanding sometimes evoked the great swing-era saxophonists, and elsewhere he delivered the roiling, elongated phrasing and bluesy harmonic sense of the hard-bop heritage. That goes for his occasional turns on his other saxophone, a curved-bell soprano...
- BY JAY HARVEY JAY.HARVEY@INDYSTAR.COM

SECTION: FLORIDA WEST; Pg. E4
LENGTH: 476 words
HEADLINE: Marsalis ushers in new festival
BYLINE: By RICHARD STORM CORRESPONDENT

Wynton Marsalis -- he of the phenomenal talent and versatility -- jump-started Festival Diapente with an appearance Sunday evening at the Earth Harp installation outside the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, and a superb concert inside the hall a few minutes later.

An extraordinarily gifted young singer, Jennifer Sanon, joined the group to provide an effortless, supremely musical rendition of "Comes Love," in which her rich voice, impeccable intonation and solid rhythm made this song and "Baby, I Love You," which followed, memorable. At age 19, with her gifts and the support of Marsalis, she should have an outstanding career.

Marsalis' contributions to both classical and popular music are well known, ranging from definitive performances of Baroque music for trumpet to concerts and recordings in which he has expanded the boundaries of jazz to include both classical and modern influences.

On Sunday, there were moments when he and his gifted quintet seemed to be channeling both C.P.E. Bach and Philip Glass without ever losing the earthy spirit of jazz and the blues.

For the classical music fans in the capacity audience (and there were many), pleasures were to be found in the clear manner in which the selections were constructed and presented. The minimalist gestures of pianist Aaron Goldberg were clean, modern, deft.

For those seeking the less-abstract excitement of more traditional jazz, bassist Carlos Henriquez and saxophonist Walter Blanding provided plenty of rich satisfaction, while Ali Jackson astounded everyone with his dazzling pyrotechnics on the drums, snapping out rhythms in both styles.

Yet, for all the razzle-dazzle, there was plenty of sensitivity to go around.

For example, after an almost-abstract John Adams-like version of Dizzy Gillespie's "Bloomin' Boogie," "I Remember April" was given a lilting, bossa nova-influenced beat for a series of variations on the theme, a technique which pervades both classical and jazz music.

Logic would tell us that these musicians have performed this program so often that it must be frozen in most aspects. While that could well be true, the sense of experimentation, an impression of real improvisation, pervaded the evening, especially in Marsalis' playing of such unfamiliar pieces as "Free to Be Free" and "Big Fat Hen" (in which he managed to imitate chickens on his trumpet). Elsewhere, both his soft playing and his stratospheric scatting were enormously impressive.

Sanon rejoined the group for solid, self-assured versions of "This Is the Feeling of Jazz" and "Them There Eyes," closing the program with "Alabama Bound" in a rendition packed with good humor and impressive musicianship.

The hushed encore, "Embraceable You," left the audience mellow and Festival Diapente well begun.

Music review

Wynton Marsalis Quintet

Reviewed April 10 in the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, Sarasota. - Sarasota Herald-Tribune Co.