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Wynton Marsalis’ spectacular ode to the urban jungle of New York
It’s been 21 years since Wynton Marsalis last brought the Jazz at Lincoln Centre Orchestra to Melbourne. The ensemble’s line-up has changed significantly since then but the JLCO’s unwavering focus on both the legacy and future of jazz remains unchanged. Keep reading »
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Wynton Marsalis takes audience on a classic journey through jazz history
In 2016, when the New York Philharmonic Orchestra premiered Wynton Marsalis’s fourth symphony, The Jungle, the orchestra’s short rehearsal schedule, combined with the score’s length and intricacy, meant it performed only five of the six movements. Keep reading »
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Marsalis and the SSO unleash New York’s manic energy
Two visions of New York about 100 years apart provided the springboards for music of unbounded energy in this joint program by the SSO and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra directed and managed by legendary jazz and classical trumpeter Wynton Marsalis. Keep reading »
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‘Excellence is a form of protest’: Wynton Marsalis
When Wynton Marsalis helped found the jazz wing of the storied Lincoln Center in New York City, he became the most powerful man in jazz. And like all powerful men, he has his detractors. Keep reading »
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Wynton Marsalis takes us on a Jungle prowl
New York is a helluva town and it features strongly in Sydney’s arts and entertainment scene at the moment with trumpet superstar Wynton Marsalis here leading his Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra for a series of concerts with the Sydney Symphony, and operagoers preparing for the open-air production of West Side Story in March. Keep reading »
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Wynton Marsalis: Jazz king of the jungle
In 1979, trumpeter Wynton Marsalis arrived in New York from his home town New Orleans to study at the Juilliard School. Since then his career achievements are legion: prolific recordings, several Grammys, successful international tours, a major influence as an educator and a reputation as one of the finest living jazz musicians. Keep reading »
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Review: Swing Symphony (Sydney Symphony Orchestra)
Engaging head and heart is a laudable goal, frequently aimed for, less than frequently achieved, and to that end programming is something of a dark art. That old black magic, however, was definitely in the air at the Sydney Opera House as Chief Conductor David Robertson started his 2016 season with a heady brew concocted out of two perfectly complementary composers: Leonard Bernstein and Wynton Marsalis. Keep reading »
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Swing Symphony review: The strings swing in Wynton Marsalis’ jazz history
Jazz, like all improvisational idioms, is a dialogue, and it is this element that Wynton Marsalis especially emphasises in his Swing Symphony – that and the rhythm implicit in the title. Marsalis’ third symphony is a seven-movement work for unamplified jazz band and orchestra, and the dialogue begins by having the 15-piece Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra embedded in the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the former’s horns a nugget of gold amid the strings. Keep reading »