The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis 2016 Blue Engine International Tour will touch down in 15 international cities in 40 days, JALC has announced. The tour is named for Jazz at Lincoln Center’s new platform, Blue Engine Records. It begins on February 4 in Paris and will conclude on March 12 in Wellington, New Zealand.

The orchestra will feature various guest artists performing more than 75 arrangements. In London, the orchestra will be joined by Wayne Shorter to perform Shorter’s compositions, newly arranged by members of the orchestra. The tour will also feature the Australian and New Zealand premieres of Marsalis’ Symphony No. 3, titled “Swing Symphony.” The orchestra will perform the work with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra conducted by David Robertson in Sydney, with the West Australian Symphony conducted by Christopher Dragon in Perth and with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra conducted by Matthew Coorey in Wellington.

According to a press release, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra will also perform new material: the George Gershwin Songbook with guest artists in London, and a “Jazz in the Key of Life” repertoire “which includes new arrangements of popular music’s most skillfully crafted and sophisticated songs by Stevie Wonder, the Beatles, Elton John, Donny Hathaway and more.”

Throughout the tour, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra will also perform original compositions and arrangements by orchestra members and their contemporaries, plus tunes by Thelonious Monk; classic Blue Note Records selections by Herbie Hancock, Joe Henderson, Jackie McLean, Lee Morgan, Joe Henderson; and selections from the orchestra’s 2015 album release on Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Blue Engine Records, Live in Cuba.

The tour will feature education programs and residencies at the Barbican Centre in London and the New Zealand Festival in Wellington. In London, Vincent Gardner and orchestra members will work with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra of Great Britain and the National Youth Jazz Orchestra Big Band Academy as a lead up to the youth orchestras’ performances at the Barbican. In Wellington, in addition to master classes and open rehearsals, the orchestra will perform its signature Jazz For Young People: Who Is Duke Ellington? concerts for students and families.

For more information, go to Jazz at Lincoln Center.

Tour Dates

February 4
Paris, France – The Olympia

February 5
Le Havre, France – Le Volcan

February 6
Lyon, France – Auditorium de Lyon

February 8
Amsterdam, Netherlands – Royal Concertgebouw

February 9
Dortmund, Germany – Konzerthaus Dortmund

February 11
Wroclaw, Poland – National Forum of Music

February 12
Brno, Czech Republic – Sonocentrum

February 13
Vienna, Austria – Vienna Konzerthaus

February 15
Luxembourg City, Luxembourg – Philharmonie Luxembourg

February 18
London, UK – with special guest Wayne Shorter at Barbican Centre

February 20
London, UK – George Gershwin Songbook with guest artists at Barbican Centre

February 24
Sydney, Australia – Sydney Opera House Concert Hall

February 25 - 27
Sydney, Australia – Swing Symphony with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra conducted by David Robertson at Sydney Opera House Concert Hall

February 29
Albany, Australia – Albany Entertainment Centre

March 3 - 4
Perth, Australia – Swing Symphony with the West Australian Symphony conducted by Christopher Dragon at Perth Concert Hall

March 6
Brisbane, Australia – Queensland Performing Arts Centre

March 10-11
Wellington, New Zealand – Swing Symphony with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra conducted by Matthew Coorey at Michael Fowler Centre

March 11
Wellington, New Zealand – Jazz For Young People: Who Is Duke Ellington at Michael Fowler Centre

March 12
Wellington, New Zealand – Michael Fowler Centre