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Wynton Marsalis talks Tanglewood, a fateful audition at 17, and his father’s enduring influence
The respective quintets of Wynton Marsalis and his 83-year-old father, pianist Ellis Marsalis, will perform Saturday to help close out the 2018 season at Tanglewood. The younger Marsalis, 56, plans to perform four new compositions of his own, collectively titled “The Integrity Suite,” backed by his longtime rhythm section of pianist Dan Nimmer, bassist Carlos Henriquez, and drummer Ali Jackson. Recent Juilliard graduate Julian Lee, 22, will round out the quintet on tenor saxophone and clarinet. Keep reading »
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From one drummer to another, a celebration of Buddy Rich
Drummer Buddy Rich was one of the great virtuosos in jazz, on any instrument. But ask drummer Ali Jackson about Rich and it’s not the late musician’s blazing technique he focuses on. Rather, it’s Rich’s extraordinary range, as musician and showman. “He played in so many contexts, from vaudeville [as a child star with his family] to swing and the big band era, to bebop and everything else.” Keep reading »
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Pulitzer centennial celebration brings past winners to Cambridge
For many journalists, novelists, playwrights, poets, and composers over the past century, winning the Pulitzer Prize has been a career-capping honor. For many more who have been nominated but have not won, the Pulitzer has floated just beyond reach, an elusive dream that has given rise to that most nagging of all questions: “What if?’’ Keep reading »
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Wynton Marsalis gives spirited take on jazz with ‘Abyssinian Mass’
Wynton Marsalis is onto something big. Again. The composer, trumpeter, bandleader, and all-around high priest among contemporary jazz advocates is accustomed to working on a large scale — in terms of compositional scope as well as ensemble size. Keep reading »
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Marsalis, quintet shine
Wynton Marsalis skipped back to his 2004 CD, ‘‘The Magic Hour,” for most of the material his quintet played at Sanders Theatre on Sunday, passing over the covers that fuel the more recent ‘‘Live at the House of Tribes” in favor of the trumpeter’s whimsical originals.
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Marsalis captures a little of the ‘Magic’
Wynton Marsalis has been coming to Symphony Hall for 20 years, he told his audience there early on last night, and “it’s always a pleasure.” This time he arrived looking the elder statesman at 42, and touring with his quartet in support of their new Blue Note CD, “The Magic Hour,” an album more fun and accessible than those immediately preceding it. Keep reading »
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Marsalis teaches the meaning behind the music
Wynton Marsalis is at his best playing the trumpet, but he’s hardly at his second best when he is talking to young people. Relaxed as he ambles around the stage, he addresses them without notes, using meaningful language, speaking without condescension, and rising to genuine inspiration.
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Kurt Masur talks about Wynton and “All Rise”
“Here is Kurt Masur,” the eminent German conductor said when he telephoned to talk about Wynton Marsalis’s oratorio “All Rise.” This greeting prompted thoughts about how often Masur has been there to make sure that interesting things would happen.
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Commissioning a major work from Marsalis for the New York Philharmonic and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra—two of the major constituents of New York’s Lincoln Center—was Masur’s idea in the first place. And the groundwork for the idea was laid long before Masur had ever heard of Marsalis; indeed before Marsalis was born. More than a half-century ago, as a young musician studying in Leipzig, then sealed off in East Germany, Masur was fascinated by jazz. -
Marsalis tries out new works in Boston
CAMBRIDGE - Consider the late addition of Wynton Marsalis to the Regattabar schedule like the local stop of a Broadway bound show. The trumpeter will officially premier an extended composition, “In This House, On This Morning” at New York’s Lincoln Center next Wednesday, and is using the five-night Cambridge stay in part to test-run the commission into final shape. Keep reading »
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Marsalis at Symphony Hall: A show of authoritative lyricism
Wynton Marsalis has always seemed confident - he has, after all, received the adulation usually reserved for more startlingly original artists. Keep reading »