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Rise up
For more than 30 years, trumpeter, composer, bandleader, advocate for the arts, and educator Wynton Marsalis has helped propel jazz to the forefront of American culture. In 1997, Marsalis was the first jazz artist to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize in music for his work, “Blood on the Fields,” and he’s been instrumental in keeping jazz on the mind of all generations. Today, he serves as the director of jazz studies at the Juilliard School and is managing and artistic director of jazz at Lincoln Center. Keep reading »
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Can Wynton Marsalis and Lincoln Center Save Jazz Music?
Research says that people imprint on music in their dating years, and carry those tastes with them through the rest of their lives. Lately, this has spelled trouble for jazz music, which is failing to attract new and younger fans in a competitive musical landscape. With its listenership in steep decline, jazz legend Wynton Marsalis is looking to rebrand the genre and engineer its comeback, with the help of Professor Rohit Deshpande. Keep reading »
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Style Icon: The Maestro Wynton Marsalis
Acclaimed musician Wynton Marsalis hits all the right notes as the leader of the impeccably dressed jazz at Lincoln center orchestra. Here, he sits down with writer Darrell Hartman to talk about jazz as a uniquely American art form and share his own style improvisations. The 54-year-old jazz legend seeks harmony in his style, too, and dresses to the nines whenever he performs. His reasoning is simple: “It’s to show respect for the art.” Keep reading »
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Jonathan Kelly on the “Concerto in D” by Wynton Marsalis
Jonathan Kelly works as a music supervisor for Wynton Marsalis. In previous blog posts he explained how he got his enviable gig and shared some details of a collaboration between Wynton and the Garth Fagan Dance Company. Recently Jonathan and Wynton have been hard at work on a violin concerto, “Concerto in D,” in collaboration with Scottish violinist Nicola Benedetti. This project has been captured in a documentary film titled “Nicky and Wynton: The Making of a Concerto” by producer/director Chris Eley. Keep reading »
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Wynton Marsalis and his Quintet perform at Wyoming Seminary Friday
One of the greatest living jazz composers and musicians is bringing his renowned performance reputation and his positive message to the Wyoming Valley. Wynton Marsalis and his Quintet performs at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 11 at Wyoming Seminary’s Kirby Center for Creative Arts. Marsalis, the managing and artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center and its orchestra, is an advocate for expanding a global community through jazz education, and his quintet tours with the same mission. Keep reading »
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Wynton Marsalis: trumpeting controversial ideas of classicism
In June 1986, Wynton Marsalis and Miles Davis were booked to play at the inaugural Vancouver international jazz festival, when the 24-year-old trumpeter took it upon himself to gatecrash Davis’s gig, trumpet in hand and ready to play. Keep reading »
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For Wynton Marsalis, jazz is substance — and democracy
Pondering last weekend’s U.S. presidential debate, Wynton Marsalis expressed surprise that anyone would be startled by the low level of discourse on display. Sunday’s town hall-style debate was notable for its vulgarity, vitriol and overall lack of class (at one point Donald Trump referred to Hillary Clinton as “the devil”). In Marsalis’s view, this merely reflects a contemporary American culture gone downhill in recent years. Keep reading »
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Wynton Marsalis talks music, sports and jazz as a religion
How busy is Wynton Marsalis? So busy that the Pulitzer Prize-winning jazz trumpeter, composer and band leader had to skip the Sept. 22 White House ceremony honoring him and this year’s other National Medal of Arts and Humanities recipients. Instead, he was preparing for that night’s 2016/2017 season-opening concert of Jazz at Lincoln Center, where he has served as artistic director since its inception in 1988 and has collaborated with countless jazz greats, as well as with Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Willie Nelson and Crosby, Stills & Nash. Keep reading »
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Wynton Marsalis has graduated from young star to respected eminence
Back in the 1980s, when he was one of the most exciting faces of the new generation of post-bop jazz, Wynton Marsalis was anointed a “Young Lion.” Now, he’s an eminence. Keep reading »
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Wynton Marsalis: Bending to the Music
“He’s a bad cat, man,” saxophonist Branford Marsalis once commented to me about his trumpet-playing younger brother, Wynton. The adjective was, of course, complimentary. “But I don’t want to be as disciplined as him,” the saxophonist sibling continued. “That just ain’t fun.” Keep reading »