If you had to judge by Wynton Marsalis’ stage manner, you would never know he is considered one of the greatest jazz trumpeters of all time. At the gala season opener at the Maine Center for the Arts on Saturday, Marsalis came onstage demurely with the 15-piece Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. He took his seat in the back tier of the lineup and simply greeted the audience.

But there was no mistaking Marsalis’ golden spot in jazz history when he breezed through every conceivable horn sound in Duke Ellington’s “Portrait of Louis Armstrong,” which opened the two-hour show.

Ellington has been a guiding light for the 40-year-old Marsalis, a New Orleans native who has taken the music scene – both in classical and jazz circles – by storm. Ellington, by way of inspiration, may be the origin of the Marsalis blaze, but the reigning trumpet king casts a wide net when it comes to jazz. He’s the artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, the world’s largest not-for-profit jazz organization, and, in that capacity, he is interested in the indigenous qualities of the American form but also in its global variations. Most recently, Marsalis has worked alongside Brazilian musicians, and the fruits of these encounters thrummed most impressively in a percussive piece called “Dreaming on the Washboard.”

In the course of the evening, the sounds of American jazz greats – Benny Carter, Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, Billy Strayhorn and Art Blakey – echoed spiffily through the sold-out hall. While Marsalis was the headliner and often played virtuoso solos, every musician proved himself – and the band is so male that it’s a walking advertisement for Brooks Brothers, the group’s official clothier – to be a gleaming star. Carlos Henriquez on the bass: amazing. Joe Temperley on sax: amazing. Richard Doron Johnson on piano: amazing. Drummer Herlin Riley: super amazing. The trumpet, trombone, sax sections: amazing.

At the intermission, a person in the lobby suggested that the concert was filled with talent but was also staid. Shouldn’t this jazz be in a nightclub, with a dance floor and something bubbly waiting for you back at the table? Probably, there’s something to that observation. Indeed, a Wynton Marsalis concert could never be accused of being under-rehearsed.

But it is also true that Marsalis has worked tirelessly to give jazz orchestras the same formal sophistication as classical music. That’s why the Brooks Brothers, that’s why the polite and articulate stage presence, that’s why the extraordinary pool of accomplishment and talent among the players, many of whom are in their 20s and 30s. The fact is: You probably can’t hear jazz played this perfectly any place else. Whether or not jazz should be played so exactingly is simply a matter of taste. But there’s no denying Marsalis’ altitude, not only in the jazz world but in the wider field of music.

No matter which camp one falls into, the gala concert was a grand display of America’s finest jazz musicians. Who will ever forget Seneca Black playing the heart-breakingly crystalline lead-in trumpet solo to “Hank’s Symphony”? Or Riley’s drum extravaganza in the same piece? Or Henriquez’s lavish bass in Monk’s “Balue Bolivar Balues-are”?

As part of the ceremonial opening to the season, University of Maine President Peter Hoff announced the winners of the Wilma Award, an annual tribute that recognizes the work of individuals and institutions in the arts. This year, two Willie’s were given: one to Bangor Savings Bank and one to George Wood, a retired Bangor physician.