Led by legendary jazz trumpet player and composer Wynton Marsalis of the United States, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra collaborated with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra to present Marsalis' fourth jazz symphony The Jungle in Shanghai on Oct 26.

Under the baton of Yu Long, artistic director of the Shanghai orchestra, the two orchestras "presented the humanistic, historical and artistic perspectives of this brilliant masterpiece with excellent control", according to music critic Hu Jiaowei.

The Jungle is the fourth jazz symphony composed by Marsalis, an internationally acclaimed musician, composer, bandleader and educator as well as the managing and artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, a nonprofit arts organization that presents and preserves jazz music through live performances, education and recordings.

"The interweaving of composition and improvisation, the blending of genres and elements, the overlapping of harmony and color, the connection of compound rhythms and beats, the overwhelming onomatopoeia, impressionistic processing and transitions. … All of this makes The Jungle undoubtedly a masterpiece of large-scale contemporary symphony," Shanghai-based Hu wrote after the concert.

The Jungle was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic and premiered in 2016. In 2017 the New York Philharmonic premiered the piece in Shanghai at the Music in the Summer Air Festival.

For SSO and Yu, playing The Jungle with Marsalis and JLCO was like "stepping into a brand-new world of jazz". During rehearsal, Yu found himself uncontrollably tearful when Marsalis played his improvised trumpet solo near the end of the piece. "I simply couldn't help my tears … completely different from my usual ways. Such is the power of his music. It's beyond words," Yu says.

The concert was one of 57 theater productions in the ongoing China Shanghai International Arts Festival. Marsalis and the JLCO presented another concert at the Shanghai Symphony Hall on Oct 24, playing selected pieces from his nine-movement composition The Shanghai Suite. The piece was composed for the opening of the Jazz at Lincoln Center's club in Shanghai. Its album was released on Oct 25.

From Swinging on the Bund to The Monkey King's March, White Yulan — First Flower of Spring and Shanghai Skyline, these movements interpret the rich heritage and ideas of Chinese culture, combining traditional Chinese pentatonic scales with the rhythm and beats of swing and blues.

Blues music and Chinese culture have many things in common, Marsalis says in Shanghai.

Jazz is about achieving balance for two opposites, like the Chinese philosophical idea of yin and yang. "Chinese culture is as old as several thousand years. Classical music is about 600 years and jazz is maybe 100 years old," Marsalis says.

By making music that crosses the boundaries of culture and genre, he says, "we bring cultures together from their roots".

During his stay in Shanghai, Marsalis oversaw the contract renewal for the Jazz at Lincoln Center Shanghai. "Shanghai has a tradition with jazz music. It is touching to see fantastic musicians play here; and the young people become educated and embraced in the community," Marsalis says at the center on Oct 27.

Co-founded by the Jazz at Lincoln Center New York and the Shanghai Bund Investment Development (Group) Co Ltd in 2017, Jazz at Lincoln Center Shanghai has staged over 2,000 shows in the past seven years, playing a prominent role in promoting Sino-US cultural exchanges and popularizing jazz culture to Chinese and global audiences.

"Music is a universal language. Jazz, born in New Orleans, Louisiana in America, has become a global genre. Especially, at this time in history, the opportunity to communicate through music — this ancient common tradition that we all share is very important," says Greg Scholl, executive director of Jazz at Lincoln Center.

Before coming to Shanghai, Marsalis and the JLCO participated in the 27th Beijing International Music Festival and played two concerts at the National Centre for the Performing Arts on Oct 9 and 10. The Jazz master then celebrated his 63rd birthday onstage while performing in Hong Kong on Oct 18.

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