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Race in America: The Historical Monuments Debate
Good afternoon. I’m Jonathan Capehart, opinion writer for The Washington Post, and welcome to Washington Post Live. You are in for a fun and provocative conversation on race with two outspoken men I’ve interviewed on this subject before. Keep reading »
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Jazz musician Wynton Marsalis says rap and hip-hop are ‘more damaging than a statue of Robert E. Lee
“My words are not that powerful. I started saying in 1985 I don’t think we should have a music talking about niggers and bitches and hoes. It had no impact. I’ve said it. I’ve repeated it. I still repeat it. To me that’s more damaging than a statue of Robert E. Lee.” Keep reading »
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NSO offers exuberant Marsalis concerto
Wynton Marsalis, the jazz artist, has made repeated forays into art-music composition — writing, that is, notated music for large ensembles, like “Blood on the Fields,” a jazz oratorio that won the 1997 Pulitzer Prize. In the last year he’s had a couple of significant orchestral performances in the Washington area: Washington Performing Arts presented a revision of his Blues Symphony at the Kennedy Center, in 2015, and the National Symphony Orchestra offered its first performance of his new violin concerto, which the orchestra co-commissioned, on Thursday night. Keep reading »
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Jazzed up about music education, Marsalis comes to Castleton
Wynton Marsalis is a superstar in the jazz world: He has won nine Grammys, was the first jazz composer to win a Pulitzer Prize and has even graced the cover of Time magazine. Keep reading »
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Wynton Marsalis debuts a stirring ‘Blues Symphony’
You can’t accuse Wynton Marsalis of lacking ambition. It’s right there in the title of his “Blues Symphony,” which the composer debuted in its entirety Wednesday night at Strathmore. And that says nothing of its scale. The piece is for 100 musicians (here, the Shenandoah Conservatory Symphony Orchestra), in six discrete movements charting the evolution of the blues throughout the Americas.
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At Kennedy Center, Marsalis’s ‘Abyssinian’ makes musical and human connections
By just about any standard, Wynton Marsalis’s “Abyssinian: A Gospel Celebration” is a huge work. Vast in scope and mighty in forces, it’s a journey through the history of African American music, weaving everything from New Orleans blues to hard-driving bop into a seamless whole. Keep reading »
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When Marsalis and his orchestra go to Washington, big-band returns with a bang
Who says jazz can’t draw an audience? On Sunday, Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra presented a performance of uncompromising big-band jazz to a wildly appreciative audience at the sold-out Kennedy Center Concert Hall.
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Five City “LOUIS” Tour Reviewed
From August 25th through August 31st Wynton, Cecile Licad and a 10-piece jazz ensemble premiered Louis, a silent film directed by Dan Pritzker. The sold out tour reached five cities and was reviewed by press from around the world.
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Ellis Marsalis and Sons Plan Rare Family Performance at Jazz Festival
Except in their living room back home in New Orleans, there have been only a few times when the entire Marsalis family has gathered in one spot to make music together. On Monday, Ellis Marsalis—the father and guiding spirit of America’s first family of jazz—and his four music-playing sons will appear at the Kennedy Center for their first joint appearance in Washington. Keep reading »
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From Marsalis, a Master Class in ‘That Swing’ and an Ellington Exhortation
It was pressure enough when the Springbrook High School jazz ensemble was asked to play the Duke Ellington standard “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing)” for perhaps the most prominent Ellington fan in contemporary jazz, Wynton Marsalis, who visited the Silver Spring school last week. Keep reading »