DESCRIPTION:
On 10/13/90 the Wynton Marsalis Septet performed for a crowd of 80,000+ at the National Stadium in Santiago, Chile.

Herlin Riley (drums) Wessell Anderson (alto) Todd Williams (tenor/clarinet) Reginald Veal (bass) Eric Reed (piano) Wycliffe Gordon (trombone).

"I remember playing a concert with Art Blakey in Chicago for a crowd that wanted to hear rock and roll. When we played they started throwing things on the stage.
I remember telling cats before we walked out on the stage in Chile, if they start throwing things on the stage be cool walking off. We started with a song everyone knew "Gracias a La Vida" I had arranged it the night before.
Then we went straight to the universal language, the blues. Cone played a phrase in his solo that sounded like a song the native crowd sang at soccer matches.

Then, and what I'm sure is the only time this ever happened in the history of music, all of the people began to sing that song which happened to fit the blues in the right place in the form. Normally a crowd has a two or three note chant but as you can hear, this song was involved and it took place over a chorus of blues. We couldn't believe it, and the rest of the set continued in that vein. People loving the music. We had never experienced anything like that before or after."

Wynton