Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra

The Vets 

1 Avenue of the Arts, Providence, RI   (view map)

Wynton Marsalis is a man with a mission. As the leader of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary, he strives to cover the entire range of the music’s glorious history — from New Orleans to now, from Louis Armstrong to the innovations being made by young boundary-pushers. Saxophonist/clarinetist Victor Goines recently told the Hartford Courant that “we don’t just play concerts, but we learn about the tradition and the history of the music, which allows us to not only play the music in the style of the tradition, but with the freedom of the present that we have while reflecting the vision of Wynton Marsalis.” You must know that the trumpeter’s horn is one of jazz’s wonders — rich, seductive and bubbling over with the blues. And each member of his 15-piece ensemble is a killer soloist. FirstWorks will present Marsalis’s crew at the Vets, 1 Avenue of the Arts, Providence, at 7 pm (and tune into CBS on Sunday, February 3 at 11 am; Wynton will host a one-hour special, New Orleans: Let the Good Times Roll, as part of the Super Bowl pre-game coverage) | $23-$68 | 401.421.4278 | first-works.org

Part of the FirstWorks Festival