Nicola Benedetti walks onto the Usher Hall stage, welcoming us to the 79th opening concert of the Edinburgh International Festival. A curtain raiser for one of Edinburgh’s cultural stalwarts, it’s also the beginning of a year-long curtain call for Wynton Marsalis’s tenure at Jazz at Lincoln Center which he has helmed for the best part of four decades. A modest occasion: just Nicola, Wynton and 200 of their closest musical friends to perform his twelve-movement symphony, All Rise.

From the outset, it’s clear that the musicians are having a lot of fun. The dense syncopation of first movement ‘Jubal Step’ has the double-bass section of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra bouncing through their part, grins across their faces. This dexterity is matched by the trumpets of Jazz at Lincoln Center, the jazz orchestra nestled center stage, surrounded by the RSNO. While it’s apparent that they will be the swinging engine of this exploration of the music of the Americas, their playful ease is infectious as well as being magnified across their Scottish counterparts by energetic conductor James Gaffigan. The next couple of movements introduces some Cuban flavour, as well as the improvising talent of saxophonist Abdias Armenteros (who is about as old as All Rise) and Sherman Irby (now one of the band’s more tenured members). Irby trades bars with the leader of the violins, a cross-genre dialogue that will become more frequent and familiar as the symphony progresses. By the time we arrive at movement four (‘Wild Strumming of Fiddle’), the tone is reminiscent of Aaron Copland, the cellos have begun to stomp, and the orchestra’s handiwork is delighting not least the JALC saxes who are tapping their thighs and nodding their heads. It’s in this mutual appreciation that Wynton’s intention of representing ‘community’ in the work is affecting for both the players and the audience witnessing the camaraderie.

This theme of musicians entertaining one another spills into the opening of ‘Save Us’ where the Edinburgh Festival Chorus follow a drum line opening with a standing yell that wouldn’t be out of place on the terraces of Hampden Park. “Save us, save us, save us!” they sing — even this collective invocation offering a more ‘community’ version of the singular “salve me” alternative that might have been picked. Speckled in amongst the chorus are members of the Max Ferdinand Singers including G. Thomas Allen (first male winner of the Sarah Vaughan Prize) whose countertenor runs have Edinburgh Festival Chorus heads turning in awe and appreciation. By the time that the second interval arrives, the Edinburgh audience has fallen under the spell of a music that documents dissonance as well as demanding harmony. A crowd that might wince at the idea of applause after each movement are now celebrating at every opportunity. As they decamp to the bar, folks are audibly humming the tune they just heard in ‘The Halls of Erudition and Scholarship’. In short, Wynton and his supremely talented pals have won hearts, minds, and tapping feet.

Kicking off the final set of four movements, both JALC and the RSNO receive copious amounts of applause from the audience, the choir and each other. It’s a class act and leads into some quite glorious music-making. Gaffigan jigs away on his conductor’s platform, violin and cello serenely duet, Wynton delivers yet another ripping solo that is practically cheered on. For a moment, JALC transform into a train during ‘Expressbrown Local’ complete with train whistle and the clanging of a level crossing. It all culminates in ‘I Am (Don’t You Run From Me)’ where the terrifying brass gives way to a rising choir and an increasingly insistent refrain of “I AM”. And then the drama melts into a New Orleans second line, the choir folders are down and everyone’s swaying. And then the hall is applauding. And specifically, they’re applauding the man who has magic-ed this community feeling together: Wynton Marsalis. In one final act of almost inevitable alchemy, the audience all rise to salute him, his symphony and the massed musical forces who have brought this complex, brilliant tapestry of American music to Scotland (and beyond).

The Edinburgh International Festival runs August 7 to August 30, 2026. You can see what’s on here. Image by Andrew Perry.