Crosby, Stills and Nash Get Jazzy With Marsalis

NEW YORK (AP) – David Crosby quips that performing with Wynton Marsalis’ Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra is “like getting to play with the bigger kids.”

Crosby, Stills and Nash surprised the audience at a Friday night concert at Rose Theater when they walked onstage dressed in formal dark gray suits for a benefit concert with Marsalis’ jazz orchestra.

Nash admits he was uncertain about whether the languages of rock and jazz “would blend.” But the concert dispelled any concerns as the folk-rock trio’s trademark vocal harmonies got enhanced by the jazz orchestra’s tight ensemble playing and skilled soloists.

The arrangements, written by JLCO members, reimagined a dozen tunes from the Crosby, Stills and Nash songbook such as “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes,” ”Marrakesh Express” and “Teach Your Children.”