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Marsalis’ music best thing since sliced (nut) bread
In Biblical terms, finding fault with God is virtually an impossible task. In jazz terms, Wynton Marsalis is God. Take the hint. If there is such a thing as musical perfection, Marsalis and his dazzling quartet showed it last night at Vanderbilt’s Langford Auditorium. Keep reading »
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Imitating Armstrong As a Form Of Praise
The two programs of Louis Armstrong’s music on Saturday and Monday nights, presented by Jazz at Lincoln Center as part of its series The Armstrong Continuum, clearly represented an enormous amount of work. Nearly 40 pieces were played, with Monday night’s program at Avery Fisher Hall digging deep into Armstrong’s rarely performed orchestral works and Saturday’s at Alice Tully Hall working through the revolutionary early works of Armstrong and King Oliver, among others. It is difficult music, and not just for Armstrong’s trumpet parts; the pre-swing rhythms are hard to make come alive, and the orchestral works, even the barest ones, were often complicated by show-biz virtuosity. Keep reading »
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Marsalis Turns a Page in His Career: The trumpeter turned author packs bookstores to plug his latest release, which isn’t available on CD
“Remember what I told you, now. Take a deep breath and blow.” It was a moment too good to have been scripted. Wynton Marsalis, a jazz artist viewed by some members of the New York media as a difficult, thorny personality, seated at a table in a little bistro next to Book Soup on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood, gently giving an impromptu trumpet lesson to a 14-year-old. Keep reading »
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It’s the End of the Riff for Wynton Marsalis’s Septet
Wynton Marsalis made news in his first set on Tuesday night at the Village Vanguard. Before he began to play, the trumpeter and band leader announced that this week’s engagement would be the last for his septet, one of the most influential and active bands in jazz. Keep reading »
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An OffBeat Interview With Wynton Marsalis
Wynton Marsalis is a very prolific writer, but most of compositions have been of the musical variety—notes on staffs rather than words on paper. Until now. The New Orleans-born, multiple Grammy-winning trumpeter, widely considered the most influential jazz musician of his generation, has expanded his repertoire by authoring a 192-page hardback book, Sweet Swing Blues on the Road, in collaboration with photographer Frank Stewart. It is due in bookstores on Dec. 12. Keep reading »
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Wynton Marsalis trumpets the importance of classic jazz
Wynton Marsalis starts off with a simple, definitive statement: “I never use interviews to publicize myself. I like to keep my comments to the music,” he says by phone from his home in New York City. And that he does. Keep reading »
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Going a Round With Wynton Marsalis
How do you conduct an interview with Wynton Marsalis? Very carefully. The jazz trumpeter and artistic director for Jazz at Lincoln Center has had a long and sometimes contentious relationship with the press. Keep reading »
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Marsalis Takes Jazz To Church
Years from now, they’ll still be talking about the concert that lit up a grand old church on the South Side of Chicago. They’ll reminisce about the jazz band that dared to offer a three-hour show from the pulpit of a 19th Century house of worship. They’ll recall how brilliantly the seven musicians played, how frequently the congregation sprang to its feet, how often it fell silent during passages of mystery and reverie. Keep reading »
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Ellison Recalled as an Artist of Great Range
Hundreds of people who cared about the novelist Ralph Ellison traveled to Washington Heights yesterday to pay their respects to his life and art. They received in return glimpses, small and affectionate, of the man’s expansive soul. Keep reading »
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Wynton Marsalis Takes a Long Look at Slavery
Wynton Marsalis’s skills have grown as fast as his ambition, and he is the most ambitious younger composer in jazz. On Friday night at Alice Tully Hall, he led the world premiere of his first work for big band, “Blood on the Fields,” a large composition—nearly three hours of music—about a vast topic, slavery. The piece was commissioned by Jazz at Lincoln Center, of which Mr. Marsalis is the artistic director. Keep reading »
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