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The Shanghai Suite

JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER ORCHESTRA WITH WYNTON MARSALIS

Wynton Marsalis’ The Shanghai Suite is a nine-movement musical meditation celebrating China’s rich culture. Originally composed for the opening of Jazz at Lincoln Center’s club in Shanghai, the sweeping composition also highlighted the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra’s 22-23 season opening concert. That effervescent performance is now available as a digital album from Blue Engine Records.

Featuring special guest clarinetist Ye Huang, the album explores jazz as a medium for transcultural exchange. In composing The Shanghai Suite, Marsalis walked in the footsteps of illustrious Black American musicians like Teddy Weatherford, who flourished in Shanghai in the 1930s and paved the way for many. Inspired by a love for China’s rich mythology, cuisine, and architecture, Marsalis’ suite was hailed “a special work full of innovative spirit” by the Global Times in China.

Isaiah J. Thompason - The Power of the Spirit
Isaiah J. Thompason - The Power of the Spirit
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The Music Of Max Roach

Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis

Max Roach was a revolutionary drummer, composer, and activist. Now, to celebrate what would have been his 100th birthday, the JLCO releases The Music of Max Roach, their tribute to a 20th century icon.

Taken from a live performance music-directed by the JLCO’s own drummer Obed Calvaire, The Music of Max Roach includes new big band arrangements of some of Roach’s most searing compositions and gives the icon the thrilling retrospective his artistry deserves.

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FREEDOM, JUSTICE, AND HOPE

JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER ORCHESTRA WITH WYNTON MARSALIS AND BRYAN STEVENSON

Freedom, Justice, and Hope is a stirring experience that explores Black Americans’ pursuit of equality through music and spoken word. Originally performed in front of an empty house and then webcast globally during the Covid pandemic, this special event is now an album, just in time for Juneteenth 2024.

The album pairs Stevenson’s moving monologues on race in America with classics like John Coltrane’s “Alabama” and “We Shall Overcome.” Stevenson also contributes his considerable piano chops to two tracks, joining special guests Endea Owens (bass) and Josh Evans (trumpet) who also each wrote monumental new compositions for the occasion. 

Isaiah J. Thompason - The Power of the Spirit
Isaiah J. Thompason - The Power of the Spirit
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AMONG GIANTS

SARAH HANAHAN

Alto saxophonist Sarah Hanahan’s debut album Among Giants showcases her raw talent, her unique voice, and her deeply felt, instantly memorable compositions. The album also demonstrates why she’s the heir to a jazz tradition she’s long revered, teaming her up with a band of legends who’ve helped nurture the young lion’s burgeoning career.

Featuring all-stars Marc Cary on piano, Nat Reeves on bass, and Jeff “Tain” Watts on drums, Among Giants finds Hanahan marshaling a powerhouse rhythm section to make an unforgettable statement that announces her arrival on the global jazz scene. Already hailed by NPR’s “Youngbloods” series as a star in the making, Hanahan is a young star revolutionizing the genre.

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To Whom I Love

Summer Camargo

Blue Engine Records is proud to announce To Whom I Love, the scintillating debut release from rising star trumpeter and SNL band member Summer Camargo. To Whom I Love is an album-length love letter, with each song dedicated to a different person who’s played a significant role in Camargo’s life.

The album not only features her highly talented band but also special guest Joey DeFrancesco, the late, legendary organist who redefined his instrument. DeFrancesco’s two songs on the album constitute his last recorded output before he passed away in August of 2022.

Isaiah J. Thompason - The Power of the Spirit
Isaiah J. Thompason - The Power of the Spirit
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The Love Suite: In Mahogany

Roy Hargrove

Roy Hargrove, named “the most impactful trumpeter of his generation” by The New York Times, left behind a remarkable legacy when he passed in 2018. Now, Blue Engine Records, celebrates Hargrove’s legacy with the release of an unearthed gem from the JALC archives: Roy Hargrove’s The Love Suite: In Mahogany – Live from Jazz at Lincoln Center, a live performance of a JALC-commissioned suite that Hargrove never played in full again.

Commissioned by Jazz at Lincoln Center to compose and perform The Love Suite: In Mahogany, a then-23-year-old Hargrove demonstrates a remarkably mature approach to his craft. For the first time, this historic concert—captured at Alice Tully Hall in 1993 during one of Jazz at Lincoln Center’s earliest seasons—is available via digital streaming platforms. This album showcases the trumpet virtuosity and soulful songwriting for which Hargrove continues to be celebrated.

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The Southern Suite

Sean Mason

Featuring rising star pianist Sean Mason’s adventurous, close-knit quintet, The Southern Suite looks back at the Charlotte-born musician’s roots from the vantage of Mason’s current position at the heart of the NYC scene. Mason’s technical prowess and compositional genius are on full display: he conjures up new songs that sound like they should already be part of the jazz canon. Unforgettable gospel-tinged hooks sit on top of a deep, compelling pocket, making for catchy, danceable, forward-looking music.

Hailed by NPR’s Youngbloods series as a musician on the rise, Mason has already performed and toured with jazz legends including Branford Marsalis, Wynton Marsalis, and Herlin Riley. Now, the release of The Southern Suite presents an astonishingly mature statement from a young star in the making, revealing the stunning scope and potential of Mason’s performing and songwriting ability.

Isaiah J. Thompason - The Power of the Spirit
Isaiah J. Thompason - The Power of the Spirit
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Louis Armstrong’s Hot Fives and Hot Seven

Wynton Marsalis

Performed at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater in 2006, Wynton Marsalis Plays Louis Armstrong’s Hot Fives and Sevens recreates the magic of Armstrong’s seminal ensembles. The lineup, which includes many longtime Marsalis collaborators, features Wycliffe Gordon (tuba, trombone, bass, vocals), Vincent Gardner (trombone), Victor Goines (clarinet), Walter Blanding (saxophones), “Papa” Don Vappie (banjo, guitar), Jon Batiste (piano), Carlos Henriquez (bass), and Ali Jackson (drums).

Originally recorded in the 1920s, Louis Armstrong’s Hot Fives and Hot Sevens sides are still hailed as some of the greatest and most influential jazz sessions ever captured; musicians obsess over their warmth, wit, and joy to this day. Now, Marsalis—another acclaimed New Orleans trumpeter—reimagines classics from those sessions like “Basin Street Blues,” “St. James Infirmary,” and “Heebie Jeebies” for a whole new generation of audiences.

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THE JUNGLE – SYMPHONY NO.4

Wynton Marsalis

“New York City is the most fluid, pressure-packed, and cosmopolitan metropolis the modern world has ever seen,” says Wynton Marsalis. No wonder, then, that the city inspired what is perhaps the composer’s greatest work to date. The Jungle, his fourth symphony, received its first recorded release this past May on Blue Engine Records.

Captured in 2019, this inspired performance of The Jungle was conducted by Nicholas Buc and features The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis alongside the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in Melbourne’s Hamer Hall.

Marsalis’ masterwork highlights the paradoxes that define New York City, where wealth and poverty, grit and romance, and unlimited growth and stagnation all coexist. But it’s also a meditation on what being human means today—a wide-scale attempt to understand the maelstrom of modern life and remind listeners of what brings us together.

Isaiah J. Thompason - The Power of the Spirit

The Power of the Spirit

This hard-swinging, high-flying live album from emerging piano talent Isaiah J. Thompson captures a rollicking night in Dizzy’s Club.

The Music of Wayne Shorter

Listen to the legendary saxophonist’s only performances alongside the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis.

Live in Cuba

The album that started it all. Blue Engine’s first release bottles the magic of the JLCO’s historic, celebrated first performances in Havana.

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Explore Blue Engine’s entire catalog

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