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Notes on music’s lessons
Jazz legend Wynton Marsalis met his audience at a tuneful crossroads at Sanders Theatre Monday night, exploring America’s diverse musical heritage. On Tuesday, the energetic trumpeter and composer met with members of the Harvard community at the intersections of music, education, ethics, and innovation during two far-reaching panel discussions. Keep reading »
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The melding of American music
A crossroad is a possible turning point, perhaps from the past, or from tradition, or from another direction. But to Wynton Marsalis, the legendary musician and artistic director of jazz at Lincoln Center, a crossroad is an intersection meant to be celebrated, which is exactly what he did in his combination performance and lecture at Harvard Monday evening. Keep reading »
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Wynton Marsalis returns to Harvard University for third lecture in series
Wynton Marsalis continues his two-year lecture series at Harvard with an exploration of root styles of American music in Sanders Theatre on Feb. 6. Currently the artistic director of jazz at Lincoln Center, Marsalis is an accomplished musician, composer, bandleader, and educator who has made the promotion of jazz and cultural literacy his hallmark cause.
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Fifteen Questions with Wynton Marsalis
Wynton Marsalis: In a jazz band, the drummer conducts. A leader must embody a spirit. The leader embodies the spirit, and the musicians choose to follow it. That’s how it goes ... but I rehearse the band, you know what I mean? That’s how I lead. There’s a hierarchy, a check down system built on mutual respect and understanding. My band has chosen to accept my leadership. Keep reading »
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When jazz captures the young
As a student at Boston Arts Academy, Faraday Fontimus, 16, sometimes feels a disconnect between himself and other teens. A trumpet player, he prefers listening to jazz, a form of music many of his friends can’t understand. Keep reading »
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Marsalis in motion
Using rhythm and music and motion, Wynton Marsalis took a rapt audience through the evolution of the American dance form at a packed Sanders Theatre Thursday night. Keep reading »
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Wynton Marsalis returns to Harvard University for second lecture in series
Marsalis’ second lecture, “The Double Crossing of a Pair of Heels: The Dynamics of Social Dance and American Popular Musics,” will be accompanied by live performances by acclaimed dance professionals, including Jared Grimes, Nelida Tirado, Eddie Torres Jr., Heather Gehring, and Lou Brockman.
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“In this lecture, I will address the dynamic relationship between American music and social dance in our culture,” Marsalis said. “It will focus on what our dancing and music tells us about our traditions, our sense of community, and our rituals of courtship.” -
“Wynton Goes to Harvard” - An Interview with the Wall Street Journal
Pulitzer-prize winning jazzman Wynton Marsalis considers himself both student and teacher of music, which is why it comes as no surprise that his newest undertaking is a two-year lecture series at Harvard University.
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Beginning on April 28, Marsalis will lecture and perform a class entitled “Music as Metaphor.” The nine-time Grammy award winner currently serves as the artistic director for Jazz at Lincoln Center, a role he will keep throughout the lecture series. Speakeasy talked with Marsalis about the coming series, his love of last-minute pressures and the concept of improvisation. -
Wynton Marsalis to kick off lecture series at Harvard University
Harvard University announced today that Wynton Marsalis will launch a two-year performance and lecture series on April 28, with an appearance at Sanders Theater. Currently the Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, Marsalis is an accomplished musician, composer, bandleader and educator who has made the promotion of jazz and cultural literacy his hallmark causes.
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“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.
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