-
Wynton Marsalis swings for the fences
The ambitious bandleader’s new piece, ‘Swing Symphony,’ is a musical manifesto not only on the melding of jazz and classical but on the cultural crosscurrents that he feels are at the heart of America’s greatness. Keep reading »
-
Wynton Marsalis on jazz, and jazz criticism
Talking with Wynton Marsalis about jazz is a pleasure, as I discovered while interviewing him for a Sunday Arts & Books profile (you can read it here). He plays at Disney Hall on Feb. 12 and 13. Keep reading »
-
“Life’s Work: Wynton Marsalis” An Interview for the Harvard Business Review
Wynton Marsalis grew up in a family of New Orleans jazz musicians and received his first trumpet as a sixth birthday present from bandleader Al Hirt. At 14 he debuted with the Louisiana Philharmonic; at 17 he moved to New York, where he attended Juilliard, joined Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, assembled his own band, and began a prolific composing and recording career. In 1987, Marsalis founded Jazz at Lincoln Center, which has grown into the world’s biggest arts organization dedicated to Jazz.
Keep reading » -
Wynton Interviewed by Poet Gene Myers
Wynton Marsalis grew up in a family that is considered to be New Orleans royalty (Pianist Ellis Marsalis is his father; sax player Branford Marsalis is his brother.). He has recorded over 40 albums; made trumpeting cool again, revived acoustic jazz and is one of the loudest advocates for traditional jazz.
Keep reading » -
Wynton Marsalis in Cuba for Historic Jazz Concerts
A country known for groundbreaking jazz is getting a visit from one of America’s leading trumpeters, who spent the weekend jamming with Cuban legends ahead of a concert series that will put musicians from the two Cold War enemies on stage together. The visit by Wynton Marsalis and his Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra kicks off a season of unprecedented cultural exchanges - with the American Ballet Theater scheduled to perform in Havana next month in honor of Cuban ballet legend Alicia Alonso. Keep reading »
-
Wynton Marsalis’s New ‘Swing Symphony’ is Brave, Even Heroic
The New York Philharmonic opened its new season this week with the American premiere of Wynton Marsalis’s “Swing Symphony,” a grand, sweeping work elementally disconnected from the world we live in, and its essential indifference to the era of its creation is one the composition’s uncommon attributes. Keep reading »
-
Two beats
Around three-fifteen on a recent afternoon, the trombone player and music producer Delfeayo Marsalis sat in the control room of a studio in the West Fifties and said to his brother Wynton and eleven other musicians, “We’re rolling, this is Take 68.” The musicians were recording “Tournament Galop,” a Romantic piano piece that was written by Louis Moreau Gottschalk, who was born in New Orleans in 1829. Take 67 had been Brahms’s Hungarian Dance No. 6, also written for the piano but arranged in this case for piano and brass. Both pieces will accompany a new silent film, “Louis,” a fictionalized account of the childhood of Louis Armstrong. When “Louis” is shown, in five cities over seven days at the end of August, Marsalis and the others will perform the score live. They were recording the soundtrack for a CD.
Keep reading » -
Wynton Marsalis gets the Berlin Phil to swing
Equally at home in both the classical and jazz genres, Wynton Marsalis is one of the most renowned trumpeters and composers of our time. He is the artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City. Keep reading »
-
At Trumpeter’s Home, the Door’s Always Open
On Thursday evening, Joey Pero walked past Lincoln Center and stepped into the lobby of a luxury high-rise apartment building on West 66th Street and told the doorman, “We’re here to see Wynton.” Keep reading »
-
Wynton Marsalis Awarded French Legion of Honor in NYC
Wynton Marsalis received France’s highest distinction last week in New York – the insignia of chevalier of the Legion of Honor, an honor that was first awarded by Napoleon Bonaparte. Keep reading »