The crowd was not disappointed—the orchestra put on a show. The audience was enjoying the music, and the musicians, likewise, were enjoying the guests. When the audience responded to his comment that Benny “The King” Carter won many awards—both important and trivial—with laughter, Marsalis remarked that he was playing to a smart crowd that night.

The music varied widely across the jazz genre, from hard bop to bossa nova. The orchestra consisted of five woodwinds, three trombones, and four trumpets, supported by a rhythm section of drums, bass, and piano. The EMPAC concert hall propagated the voicing of the instruments—there were few times when it was difficult to pick out a single part from the others. The concert sounded like it took place in a recording studio, an unexpected sensation for such a large hall.

If anyone in the hall had any questions about the fitness needed to play the upright bass, they were answered by Carlos Henriquez’s acrobatics as his arm flew up and down the neck of the instrument to traverse the octaves. In fact, the entire rhythm section was on top of the songs, forming a solid base for some of the more exploratory work by the rest of the orchestra. Drummer Ali Jackson gave an impressive performance, whether during his own solo work, or driving some of the solos in the rest of the orchestra—the clacking of the rims was the perfect foil for Erica vonKleist’s flute solo, for example.

The band’s second song, a rendition of Joe Henderson’s “Inner Urge,” set a groove for much of the concert to follow. It was an uptempo song with a complex chord structure; the melody created tension that the solos explored. All the while, the rhythm section was pushing forward tracing out the rhythms and chords for the soloists to build their work upon.

The penultimate song of the set, “Single Petal of a Rose,” was an amazing solo. With Dan Nimmer’s piano accompaniment, Joe Temperley played Duke Ellington’s classic beautifully on the bass clarinet. The song was smooth and emotional, and it was apparent that it was a crowd favorite.

The orchestra finished with the first movement of “Home,” as they introduced Yacub Addy, a resident of Latham and a musician proficient in traditional African drumming. Marsalis told the audience to listen to the story in his drumming. The juxtaposition was effective—the beat of the drum picked up many of the same idioms of the melodies and solos; it was compelling to observe how well the jazz fit with its African roots.

After the orchestra left to great applause, Marsalis and saxophonist Victor Goines joined the rhythm section and Addy to come back onstage for an encore. This started with a good bit of back-and-forth between Marsalis and the audience, exchanging a trumpet riff for a delighted exclamation. This settled back down into the more common exchanged-solo format of a jazz concert. Between solos, Marsalis and Goines faced each other and comically piped out a few bars of the melody. The most memorable part of the encore, however, was Henriquez’s solo, where he started singing scat along with his bass playing. The crowd—and the animated Marsalis—loved it.