SHERMAN IRBY’S INFERNO
JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER ORCHESTRA WITH WYNTON MARSALIS
Hell’s never sounded as suave and soulful as it does on Sherman Irby’s Inferno by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (JLCO) with Wynton Marsalis. Irby, the lead alto saxophonist for the JLCO, cleverly interprets Dante Alighieri’s epic poem from “The Divine Comedy” to create a sweeping work that takes listeners on a lyrically swinging tour of the underworld’s nine circles.
The epic composition, recorded live in 2012, lets the JLCO’s all-star improvisers give life to the colorful denizens of hell and casts the late, legendary baritone saxophonist Joe Temperley as the voice of Dante. Irby’s Inferno both stands alone as an irresistible musical narrative and sheds new light on Dante’s classic; this unique exploration of the epic poem captures its timeless quality and ingeniously places it in conversation with the jazz canon.
1.Overture: Lost
2.Movement I: House of Unbelievers
3.Movement II: Insatiable Hunger
4.Movement III: Beware of the Wolf and the Serpent
5.Movement IV: The City of Dis
6.Movement V: The Three-Headed Serpent
7.Movement VI: The Great Deceiver / Finale: The Shores of Mount Purgatory
