Wynton Marsalis is bringing a jazzy zoo to Centennial Hall on Friday, Oct. 5

The legendary trumpeter Wynton Marsalis wants to expand Tucson’s jazz family.

On Friday in Centennial Hall, Marsalis will bring the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra to present “Spaces,” his complete 90-minute suite celebrating the musical nature of 10 animals. Accompanying the orchestra are tap dancer Jared Grimes and “jook” dancer Li’l Buck.

“Everybody likes animals,” said Marsalis, on the phone from Los Angeles. “Whether it’s Aesop’s Fables, Bugs Bunny or Paddington, this is a subject they can understand and relate to. I know because I’ve got four kids myself.

“That’s what makes this a great concert for young people. It is entertainment, and it introduces them to jazz — they aren’t somewhere else watching more TV and video games.”

Composed of 10 separate pieces, “Spaces” dedicates each one to a different creature. Marsalis says this unusual suite is also his way of saying “Animals need their space and humans need their space. It is important to recognize how animal space can shape and affect human space.”

Are you wondering if your favorite animal made the list? Included are the chicken, monkey, elephant, frog, penguin, snake, swallow, nightingale, lion and bee.

Marsalis likes to talk about how every animal has its own distinctive sound and movement.

“Snakes slide and a trombone slides,” he began. “The nightingale knows over 300 songs, choosing from among them just like a jazz musician.”

A trumpet can crow like a rooster, or maybe a baritone sax could bellow like an elephant, he suggested.

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“Other birds like to travel in flights, so I compose flights of sound,” Marsalis adds, starting to sound like Bob Ross, that guy on TV who paints pictures as he talks about them.

He continues on, describing how each piece is introduced by an instrument representing that animal. Then the sound morphs into music, and the music develops a groove. When that happens, the jazz soloists leap in to make their contributions.

Offering a more specific example, Marsalis describes how he builds up the lion’s personality.

“Most of the time the lion is sleeping,” the composer chuckles. But when the lion feels threatened, he goes through a lot of changes that quickly generate more energy.

“The music must build through those changes. While chords evolve and tempos shift, the lion gets a lot of brass fanfares because he is the king,” Marsalis says. As the orchestra plays, the king emerges right before your ears.

Then there are the dancers, Jared Grimes tapping out his own rhythms and the imaginative “jooker” Li’l Buck.

“Both men are classically trained dancers,” said Marsalis. “But they are also gifted stylists. They have their own dance careers.”

Grimes has won the Astaire Award and has choreographed for Cirque du Soleil and multiple Broadway shows. Innovative Li’l Buck has performed with Yo-Yo Ma, Madonna and the New York City Ballet.

“Everybody loves music and dancing and animals,” said Marsalis, adding that even those audience members who might come expecting the usual concert “won’t be disappointed. Nobody ever left our shows hating Li’l Buck.”