Music Minute: Jazz for Kids

Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Blue Engine Records just released Jazz for Kids, a new digital album from the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis. In the Orchestra’s masterful hands, the simplicity and familiarity of childhood favorites like “Old MacDonald” and “Itsy Bitsy Spider” afford a world of musical possibilities for audiences young and old.

On a unique interpretation of “Wheels on the Bus,” the Orchestra is joined by co-anchor of NBC News’ TODAY and co-host of TODAY with Hoda and Jenna Hoda Kotb, who narrates the beloved nursery rhyme, accompanied by a special solo by Wynton Marsalis.

Recorded in 2011 at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall, Jazz for Kidsexplores the universal appeal of jazz, providing younger audiences with an access point to the music and making tried-and-true jazz lovers feel young at heart. Showcasing the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra’s greatest strengths—unprecedented stylistic versatility and a creative roster of expert arrangers—Jazz for Kids demonstrates how jazz can transform even the most familiar song to take listeners on an unforgettable ride.

Wonderful for both young and old, either as an introduction to jazz or a reminder of the music’s ability to supercharge your imagination, this collection of children’s classics with a jazz spin is available now on all digital platforms. 

About Blue Engine RecordsBlue Engine Records, Jazz at Lincoln Center’s platform that makes its vast archive of recorded concerts available to jazz audiences everywhere, launched on June 30, 2015. Blue Engine Records releases new studio and live recordings as well as archival recordings from Jazz at Lincoln Center’s performance history that date back to 1987 and are part of the R. Theodore Ammon Archives and Music Library. Since the institution’s founding in 1987, each year’s programming is conceived and developed by Managing and Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis with a vision toward building a comprehensive library of iconic and wide-ranging compositions that, taken together, make up a canon of music. These archives include accurate, complete charts for the compositions—both old and new—performed each season. Coupled with consistently well-executed and recorded music performed by Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, this archive has grown to include thousands of songs from hundreds of concert dates. The launch of Blue Engine is aligned with Jazz at Lincoln Center’s efforts to cultivate existing jazz fans worldwide and turn new audiences on to jazz.