Jazz at Lincoln Center's annual fall gala in its home in the Time Warner Center was a celebration of artistic director Wynton Marsalis’s 25 years on the music scene. Bret Silver, JALC's deputy director of development, carried the celebratory theme throughout the gala dinner, served in the Allen Room and in the Atrium, and following a special concert in the Rose Theater, with performances by Marsalis and his orchestra, pianists Hank Jones and Marcus Roberts, jazz singer Diana Krall, dancers from the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, and the Kronos Quartet, among others.
The festive spirit began as soon as guests left the theater and received flutes of pink champagne; it continued with the decor. David Beahm's flowers—orbits of white dendrobium orchids, handstrung on steel grass, around masses of white, silver-tipped hydrangeas—were meant to reflect the multiple layers within jazz, and Marsalis' multiple activities in the music world. These were contained in glass cylindrical vases, which also held submerged orchid stems.
The tables, with silver lamé cloths, ecru cloth napkins, and a splash of color from red water goblets, were decorated with toy instruments—silver trumpets and silver and white tambourines—as well as gifts for guests: copies of a new book, Jazz ABZ, by Marsalis and Paul Rogers, and CD sets of Marsalis' Pulitzer Prize-winning oratorio, Blood on the Fields.
Lighting further reflected the silver anniversary theme: In shades of lavender, magenta, purple, and pink, it featured gobos of the number 25 and, in the Atrium, another gobo of Marsalis' signature.
Great Performances' menu, with dishes inspired by Marsalis' favorites, included a salad of greens and sliced Anjou pear; braised short ribs of beef with potato, sage, and turnip gratin; orange and yellow carrots; brussels sprouts and roasted chestnuts; and bourbon pecan pie with chocolate and caramel sauces. A 2004 Bacchus chardonnay and J. Lohr 7 Oaks 2002 cabernet sauvignon were poured with the meal.
—Jane L. Levere
Photos: Julie Skarratt (room, trumpet), Patrick McMullan (lighting)
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