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Jingle Bells and jazz
Wynton Marsalis, one of the most important American musicians of the past 50 years, is on the phone from his home in New York City. We’re talking about “Jingle Bells.” The conversation started rather awkwardly, on my part, anyway. I mean, this is a guy who has dedicated much of the past four decades ensuring that jazz is recognized as a true American art form, perhaps the American art form … and I’m asking him if he and his extraordinary Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra play “Jingle Bells.” Keep reading »
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Nicola Benedetti: the violin virtuoso teams up with jazz titan Wynton Marsalis
It’s a gorgeous, breezy day in mid-August in the little lakeside community of Chautauqua in the north-western corner of New York state. Inside the modest concert hall there’s music emanating from the large orchestra on the platform, which is intriguingly hard to place. The trombones are giving vent to a throaty moan but they are surrounded by sophisticated harmonies, in strings and woodwinds, from a later era. And soaring above it all is the silvery sound of a solo violin, played by a young woman of glowing Italianate good looks, with a cascade of unruly hair spilling over bare shoulders. She looks ready for a day on the beach, except that she plays with a concentrated frown. Keep reading »
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10 Questions for Nicola Benedetti and Wynton Marsalis
He’s an American jazz giant; she’s a Scottish doyenne of the classical violin. Anyone familiar with one more than the other – and that’s more or less everyone – would do a double take to see their names on the same bill. But this week at Barbican Hall, a new concerto by Wynton Marsalis will be premiered by Nicola Benedetti and the London Symphony Orchestra. Keep reading »
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The leading man of jazz
In 1994, when Wynton Marsalis was only six years into his tenure as artistic director of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Ed Bradley did a 60 Minutes profile on the New Orleans jazz man. “Not long ago, people were saying jazz was dead and nobody wanted to hear it anymore,” Bradley said, “but then Marsalis and his trumpet came along and breathed new life into the music.” Keep reading »
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10 Questions to Wynton Marsalis by Sinfini Music
Wynton Marsalis is the Grammy Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning trumpeter-composer behind some of the 21st century’s greatest jazz works. A seasoned classical performer and composer, too, he will next week oversee the world premiere of his new violin concerto, written for Nicola Benedetti. So what makes him tick? Keep reading »
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Wynton Marsalis and Nicola Benedetti on creation of a new concerto
On Friday 6 November, the LSO and Nicola Benedetti perform the world premiere of a new Violin Concerto by Wynton Marsalis, the result of a collaboration between the violinist and composer that has spanned over eleven years. We spoke to Nicola and Wynton to find out how they ended up working together, the inspirations behind this new piece, and what to expect from the concert in November. Keep reading »
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For Wynton Marsalis’ 54th birthday an Essay-Interview Written on the Occasion of Blood on the Fields
For Wynton Marsalis’ 54th birthday, I’ll reclaim a piece that’s been on the internet since 2001 via the Jazz Journalist Association website. I put it together in 2005 at the instigation of Steve Cannon and Gathering of Tribes on the occasion of the premiere performance of Blood On The Fields. It contains an essay-review, followed by a long composite interview. Keep reading »
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Wynton Marsalis and Nicola Benedetti: across the divide
They might have gone a lifetime without meeting. She is a Scottish violinist, a Yehudi Menuhin School alumna, something of a poster-girl for the British classical music industry. He is a legendary New Orleans-born jazz trumpeter, composer and teacher whose impression of playing an imaginary violin is passable at best. In fact the two musicians happened to meet 10 years ago at New York’s Jazz at Lincoln Center — and in the past few months Nicola Benedetti, 28, and Wynton Marsalis, 53, have become a double act. Keep reading »
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The mad and maddening genius of Wynton Marsalis gets to the heart of the true all-American genre
Jazz is about what is,” says Wynton Marsalis. The declaration, found in his excellent 2008 ode to jazz, Moving to Higher Ground: How Jazz Can Change Your Life, is open to as many interpretations as there are notes in a Charlie Parker bebop riff. Keep reading »
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Marsalis offers his take on Trump’s tune
When the tycoon-turned-presidential candidate’s name comes up in conversation, the jazz veteran, who as an artist and advocate has long championed great American traditions, is both pointed and nonchalant in his response. Keep reading »