Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis at State Theatre New Jersey

Join us for an evening of unparalleled artistry and musical mastery with the sensational Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, led by artistic director, trumpeter extraordinaire, and nine-time Grammy® Award-winner Wynton Marsalis as they perform the Duke in Africa program.

Duke Ellington found deep inspiration in Africa, travelling with his orchestra to Dakar, Senegal in 1966 to perform at the first World Festival of Negro Arts. This trip led him to compose several of his most iconic works including Afro-Bossa, Liberian Suite, and the Grammy® Award-winning Togo Brava Suite. Co-music-directed by JLCO saxophonists Chris Lewis and Alexa Tarantino, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis celebrates these compositions and the spirit of Duke's historic trip, nearly 60 years later.

For more than three decades, Jazz at Lincoln Center has been a leading advocate for jazz, culture, and arts education, dedicated to inspiring and growing jazz audiences worldwide. Under the direction of Wynton Marsalis, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra has brought the art form of jazz from the heart of New York City to cities around the world.

From swinging rhythms to soulful melodies, every performance is a celebration of the spirit of jazz and its enduring influence. The Chicago Tribune describes the exhilarating force of the band in concert: “The orchestra [tore] through this music as if chasing the wind. Only a group of musicians who have toured together for so long…could have attained this kind of synchronicity.”