-
Wholly Wonderful (If Not Whole) Jazz
JAZZ AT Lincoln Center, the most ambitious American attempt yet to give jazz an institutional base comparable to a major opera company or symphony orchestra, has been the center of controversy ever since it was launched in 1991. Keep reading »
-
Got them low-down Lincoln Center blues
THE PROGRAM for “What Is the Blues?,” latest concert in Lincoln Center’s “Jazz for Young People” series, contained a full-page advertisement for the home video version of Leonard Bernstein’s Young People’s Concerts. Keep reading »
-
Wynton Marsalis Septet and Garth Fagan Dance at Royce Hall
All of the hype that broke out over Wynton Marsalis when he first appeared on the scene may have been 10 years premature. Only now has he finally become a genuine jazz giant, signs of which were amply displayed in, of all places, Royce Hall’s orchestra pit. Keep reading »
-
Wynton Rebels by Playing It Straight : Marsalis Scores the Garth Fagan Dance Company, Funk-Free
Don’t let the tailored suit and natty tie fool you. Wynton Marsalis sees himself as a rebel. Arriving in town this week for three performances of his “Griot New York” ballet score with the Garth Fagan Dance Company, Marsalis doesn’t understand why he is viewed by many as a jazz traditionalist. Keep reading »
-
Wynton Marsalis, THE PROFESSOR OF SWING
City after city, night after night, it’s the same. The concert ends, the houselights come up. Slowly, as if heeding some selectively intelligible signal, come the kids - _how do they always know to come?_ - one or two to a half dozen, lugging instrument cases. Keep reading »
-
American Majesty
It’s an attractive idea. There in the great fastness of American music, in the still, tranquil centre, stands not a singer or a rapper or a guitarist but a trumpet player. He has a lot on his mind. Great issues such as integration, education and development crowd in on him. Keep reading »
-
Jazz at the White House (Home of a Serious Fan)
It had to happen, and when it did, it wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been. After President Clinton gave his final remarks tonight at the White House jazz festival, the saxophonist Illinois Jacquet handed him a saxophone, and off the band went into Miles Davis’s blues waltz, “All Blues.” Happy to say, the President (who in his early career as a saxophonist had committed Mr. Jacquet’s landmark improvisation on “Flying Home” to memory), didn’t equivocate, change his mind or buckle to pressure, though he did look a bit uncomfortable. Keep reading »
-
A Red, White and Blues Evening at the White House
Her’s was the opening salvo Friday evening at the White House in a heady two-hour mix of entertainment and artistry. It was one of those magic evenings when the blues in the night met the green of the lawn—specifically the South Lawn, where a large area was covered with a canopy, under which 30 artists tried to encapsulate much of the music’s history. Keep reading »
-
Joyfull Jammings at The Blue House
At night’s end, the First Saxophonist contributed a cool solo to what could be a signature tune for a president—“Every Day I Have the Blues.” Luckily, it’s already the signature tune of jazz vocalist Joe Williams, and while a poll-conscious Bill Clinton clearly might empathize with lyrics like “nobody seems to love me,” his presence last night on a stage with several dozen jazz greats was not weary confession but jubilant confirmation of his regard for the form. Keep reading »
-
Masters of Improvisation Marsalis, Mulligan Kick off Festival
Trumpeter-composer Wynton Marsalis set the tone for the evening with a version of “The Star Spangled Banner” that was steeped in New Orleans parade tradition. Keep reading »
Home»
News Updates