Keeping It Whimsical
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Wynton Marsalis’s new extended work is a story about Mother Nature and Father Time, which begins at the dawn of creation. Nature and Time give birth to a series of motley offspring – such as Fear, Envy, Greed, and Hate – whose characteristics become the foundation of Human Nature.
The two-hour work, which had its premiere over the weekend at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Rose Hall, is subtitled “A Family Holiday Program.” It employed the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and the 40-voice Boys Choir of Harlem, as well as a narrator (Nancy Giles) and three guest vocalists (Milt Grayson, Jennifer Sanon, Allan Harris), all conducted by Robert Sadin.
Diane Charlotte Lampert wrote the lyrics and libretto, and finding such a collaborator was a smart move by Mr. Marsalis. The dramatic form keeps the story moving along nicely – something that can’t be said of some of Mr. Marsalis’s previous long form works, such as “Blood on the Fields” and “All Rise.” “Blood” in particular, was also so heavy with meaning it collapsed under its own weight. “Human Nature,” contrastingly, is light and airy – Mr. Marsalis and Ms. Lambert work hard to keep everything capricious and whimsical and often delightful.
As with much of Mr. Marsalis’s writing, the primary inspiration is Duke Ellington, but some selections suggest Gil Evans, Jelly Roll Morton, and New Orleans parade marches. The use of the choir throughout is reminiscent of Ellington’s Sacred Concerts, and there are love songs and battles that bring to mind his music, too. A recurring mating ritual theme (“Coo Coo Lullaby”), in waltz time, is informed by Ellington’s settings of Tchaikovsky.
Mr. Marsalis cleverly suggests the dawn of creation with music from the dawn of jazz, in the style of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band. Milt Grayson – a marvelous bass-baritone who is half Billy Eckstine and half Fyodor Chaliapin – sings of Nature’s procreative urges with the choir.
After a while the proceedings get somewhat predictable – when the narrator told us of the “cool North Wind,” we heard pianist Eric Lewis lay down some modal chords, and we knew someone (it turns out to be Mr. Marsalis) was going to launch into a harmon-muted Miles Davis impression. But the overall work is no less satisfying for that.
The soloists each had a very impressive star turn. Jennifer Sanon portrayed “Fickle” as a torchy sex-kitten. The hard-swinging Allan Harris drove home a droll Dr. Seussian lyric about throwing the “e” from “Hate” into a “hat” and letting the “e” go – a pun on “ego” – in the spirit of Ella Fitzgerald swinging nursery rhymes. The choir disappeared for long stretches, but reemerged unexpectedly and effectively.
I find it hard to hold it against Mr. Marsalis that his work is derivative of the jazz masters (to paraphrase an old jazz saw, “You try writing like Duke Ellington!”), especially since “Human Nature” is purely intended for fun. But the story could have been told more compactly. In the first act, we get themes for all the components of human nature as well as the elements; then, in the second, we get more themes for the four winds. Like many of Mr. Marsalis’s extended works, “Suite for Human Nature” is a bit too extended, especially for young ones raised on MTV and iTunes.
Like another choral-dramatic work of African-American culture, Marc Connolly’s “The Green Pastures,” “Human Nature” can be viewed as – among other things – a rough interpretation of several books of the Old Testament. Ms. Lampert knows her folklore; she closes the first act with a reference to the flood (prevalent in many cultures), in this caused by Mother Nature’s tears and the witty line, “Time is running out.” As “Green Pastures” ends with allusions to the coming of Christ, “Human Nature” concludes when Mother Nature and Father Time give birth to a pair of twins – named Love.