Marsalis turns on the next generation

Jazz great Wynton Marsalis brought his trumpet, his wit and an abiding devotion to swing to a special performance today at the Wells Fargo Center for the Arts.

Nearly 1,500 students, from fourth grade through high school, packed the auditorium for an hour of uptempo jazz, along with lessons in grammar, history and rhythm from the nine-time Grammy winner and New Orleans native.

“If it’s not swinging it ain’t worth hearing,” Marsalis said, describing the music of the 1930s and 40s — popularized by the likes of Count Basie, Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman.

With his 14-member Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra performing examples, Marsalis led the students through the basics of the shuffle, which he called “the foundation of swing,” as well as improvisation, syncopation and tempo.

Good manners are also essential, as jazz players must listen to and respect what their bandmates are doing. “That’s sometimes too much for people to manage,” Marsalis said.

“It was awesome,” said Andrew Faulkner, a seventh-grader at Salmon Creek School in Occidental. “I learned the feeling of jazz.”

Dylan Huybrecht, a fourth-grader at Oak Grove School in Graton, was impressed by the band’s rendition of “Summertime” at fast, medium and slow tempos.

“It’s like a whole different song,” he said.

The performance was part of the arts center’s Education Through the Arts program, which serves about 25,000 students a year with concerts, artists’ workshops at schools and loaning instruments to students.