BOSTON GLOBE
December 5, 2003

'All Rise' gives BSO, Marsalis chance to shine
by Richard Dyer

"The blues," Wynton Marsalis told a group of enthralled high school students Wednesday, "are not about being sad. Instead they are like a vaccine against the bad things that happen."

Wednesday night the Boston Symphony Orchestra, joined by Marsalis's Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, gave the New England premiere of his blues oratorio, "All Rise." By the end an audience that needed to be won over was all but dancing in the aisles and gave the composer a thunderous standing ovation.

The 12 movements and two hours of "All Rise" record a spiritual journey, survey the ages of man and the history of African-Americans, and provide a collage of musical styles assimilated into the blues and growing out of it.

This is a tall order, and the flaws of the work are abundant and obvious. The piece is way too long, and Marsalis writes less well for symphony orchestra than for jazz ensemble. The work elaborates the history of jazz/symphonic fusion without greatly advancing it. Marsalis alternately shows off the jazz band and rotates the musical spotlight across the various sections of the orchestra. When the "opposing" forces play together, one of them is usually providing a backdrop for the other. Marsalis, ideally equipped to help lead American music into the 21st century, has instead chosen to recreate -- knowledgeably and elegantly -- the best American musical styles of 60 years ago.

But the flaws fade in the course of the performance because of the generosity and authenticity of feeling that pervades the music. The range is wide -- from a New Orleans funeral to a fugue, from an Ellingtonian train ride to a spiritual, from crisp Stravinskian rhythms to swing. There is something wonderful in every movement, and the cumulative impact is irresistible, all the way through to the built-in pop-song encore.

"All Rise" provides countless opportunities for chorus, instrumental and vocal soloists, orchestra, and jazz band to excel. Among the many heroes of the evening were former BSO tympanist Vic Firth, emerging from retirement because his successor is getting married this week; BSO tubist Mike Roylance preaching the sermon at the funeral; violinist Malcolm Lowe and cellist Martha Babcock in a love duet; the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, singing its heart out (and from memory); vocal soloists NaGuanda Miller, Cynthia Hardy, Robert Honeysucker, and especially Brian Robinson (amazing tenor and longtime member of the chorus -- a physician in "real" life). To this one should add all 15 improvising members of the fabulous Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, from its teenage pianist (Aaron Diehl) through Marsalis himself, whose solos were few but choice. The superb rhythm section was Carlos Henriquez (bass) and Herlin Riley (drums). And, of course, Kurt Masur, who seemed to be having the time of his life sharing with us a work that he commissioned.

"Go downtown!" one of the players called to a Lincoln Center trombonist before a major and magical solo, and that's where all the performers onstage Wednesday night went, taking us along with them.