This is how Wynton Marsalis, the charismatic leader and trumpeter of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, describes this high-flying big band whose fifteen members shine as much for their dazzling solos as for their innate sense of teamwork. The group has become a force to be reckoned with in its field, representing not only the past, upholding a decades-old tradition, but also the jazz of today in its approach to the repertoire.