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Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra: Live in Swing City Swingin’ With The Duke
What a responsibility, what an inspiring challenge, what an honor it is to have the opportunity to replicate and help preserve the greatest body of music America has yet given to the world! Intimidating and awesome, to be sure, but that is exactly what the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra has undertaken in its endeavor to keep the majesty of Duke Ellington’s music alive. Although sometimes assailed for a perceived conservatism by those who equate anarchy and iconoclasm with esthetic quality or “progress,” the LCJO is actually maintaining an honorable and ancient tradition, as exemplified by man’s innate need to revere and perpetuate by ritual the memory of his ancestors. Keep reading »
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Marsalis Swings Aboard His ‘Big Train’
Wynton Marsalis apparently wants to begin the New Year with a new slate. In the latter half of this year, no fewer than eight albums bearing the name of the Pulitzer Prize-winning trumpeter and composer will reach stores under the banner of “Swinging Into the 21st.” Keep reading »
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Wynton, Not Long Ago
When I asked Wynton Marsalis to define swing last week, he said, with characteristic wit, “It’s a matter of extreme coordination.” The same can be said for how this singular figure manages his remarkably demanding career. Keep reading »
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Homage to the Duke
Wynton Marsalis, they say, is somewhat exasperated by his reputation for proselytising seriousness and would like the world to know him more as a man with a mission who nevertheless knows how to have a good time. Keep reading »
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Maybe jazz can’t go home again
If jazz is America’s classical music, why aren’t there more groups like the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra? Keep reading »
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Ellington: The Keys To a Life
Toward the beginning of “Swingin’ With Duke,” Wynton Marsalis suggests that “when you start to play Duke Ellington’s music, you start to feel how he lived in the world.” Keep reading »
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PBS: An Interview with Wynton Marsalis
People often say that the best improvised music sounds composed and the best compositions sound improvised. Well, Duke Ellington embodied this principle, as his compositions, when played with integrity and soul, have a freshness to them that captures the improvisatory nature of jazz—even the ones that don’t have any improvised sections. Keep reading »
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An Ellington of Short Takes
The career of Duke Ellington is wonderfully logical; each successive step brings more resources to the music, so that it becomes richer and more varied, sometimes in surprising ways. Keep reading »
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Ellington At 100: Reveling in Life’s Majesty
IN Duke Ellington’s world, people are smiling, they are dancing and they are making love. They’re having a good time because his music’s most basic concern is uplift of the human spirit. It’s a music that celebrates freedom of expression, freedom of choice. That’s why we love it. It wants us to love being ourselves and to revel in the majesty of life. Keep reading »
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Talkin’ trumpeters with Wynton Marsalis, part II
In our first installment of “Talkin’ Trumpeters With Wynton Marsalis” (May ‘98), we gave the trumpeter an opportunity to accentuate the positive aspects of his fellow hornblowers. His initial list covered Jon Faddis, Terence Blanchard, Wallace Roney, Nicholas Payton, Marcus Printup, Roy Hargrove and Russell Gunn. We ended with a brief mention of Ryan Kisor, a section man in several big bands and repertory orchestras, including Marsalis’ Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. Keep reading »
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