The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra may be the most exciting show you"ll see all year.

Comprised of 15 of the finest American jazz musicians, the LCJO has brought this musical style to a new level. Under artistic director Wynton Marsalis, the group has rocked the world with their extensive repertoire and phenomenal playing ability.

This season, the LCJO has embarked on their most extensive national tour in their history, called "United in Swing." Although they"re touring dozens of cities over the course of nine months, the LCJO is devising a different program for each night. The group selects their songs from the history of jazz, ranging from obscure older pieces to popular favorites by Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Charles Mingus and Thelonius Monk.

Sunday"s performance will include works by Mingus, a new piece by Marsalis and other compositions written by LCJO members. ""United in Swing" is one of the best representations of jazz that the audience will ever see," said LCJO bassist Rodney Whitaker. "They"ll have a good time. People say that they"ve never seen jazz and liked the LCJO."

Marsalis is perhaps one of the most accomplished musicians of the twentieth century. Born in 1961, he began his classical training on trumpet and entered The Julliard School at age 17. Since 1982, Marsalis has recorded more than 30 classical and jazz compilations, which have earned him nine Grammy awards. Four years ago, he became the first jazz musician to win the Pulitzer Prize for music, for his compilation "Blood on the Fields." He also regularly hosts the "Jazz for Young People" series at the Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York and was recently named a United Nations Messenger of Peace by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

The LCJO is as equally committed to education as they are to performing. The group travels to junior highs and high schools and works with students in music programs. Each musician gives master classes and pre-concert lectures that allow the communities to get to know the band. In addition, Whitaker is the Director of the Jazz Studies program at MSU. "To travel the world playing great music it"s a great opportunity," said Whitaker. "It"s almost as if you"re in graduate school you get to be exposed to some of the best people in every walk of life."

The group"s performance in Ann Arbor is a welcome trip home for Whitaker, who was born and raised in Detroit. Musicians such as Paul Chambers, Doug Watkins and Louis Hayes all got their start in the motor city. "It"s a homecoming," Whitaker said. "I get to see some of my family and friends it"s great to see a community that has supported me as a musician."

In 1999, the White House Millennium Council Program named the LCJO as Cultural Ambassador of the United States. To Whitaker, this honor carries a special connotation. "From a cultural standpoint, jazz is America"s only uniquely true art form everything else comes from Europe," he said. "And Jazz is America it represents everything that America is a spirit of democracy and improvisation and a spirit that makes you use everything you have in the face of adversity."