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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 »
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Jazzed up about music education, Marsalis comes to Castleton
Wynton Marsalis is a superstar in the jazz world: He has won nine Grammys, was the first jazz composer to win a Pulitzer Prize and has even graced the cover of Time magazine. Keep reading »
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Jazz at Lincoln Center, Sony Launch Blue Engine Label
Jazz at Lincoln Center has teamed up with Sony to create a new label, Blue Engine Records. Managing and Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis made the announcement at JALC’s performance complex in New York City during a July 1 launch party. Keep reading »
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Jazz at Lincoln Center and Sony Music Team Up for Blue Engine Records
Jazz at Lincoln Center has shelves upon shelves of recordings from concerts it has presented since its founding in 1987, including a studio recording featuring the pianist Chick Corea, a musical Mass with a gospel choir written for the 200th anniversary of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York and concerts with the saxophonists Sherman Irby and Ted Nash. Keep reading »
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In ‘Bessie’ the Empress of the Blues Finds New Audience on HBO
In the opening minutes of ‘Bessie,’ the HBO biopic about blues legend Bessie Smith premiering Saturday, May 16th, the titular character absorbs the warmth of a single spotlight with an air of faint applause surrounding her. Draped in the glamour of the roaring 20s and with a life far from her Chattanooga roots, Bessie never seems to escape the pain of an ever haunted past and like any artist of her time she channels that struggle in brilliant performance. Keep reading »
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The Gig: JALC Takes Over Jazz.org
What’s in a name? How about a domain name? That rhetorical question has hung in the air, at least for some among us, since it came to light that Jazz at Lincoln Center had changed its web domain from jalc.org to jazz.org. Keep reading »
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A New Era for Juilliard Jazz | The Juilliard School
From the beginning one of Juilliard Jazz’s main goals was to give all the students a foundation in the history of the music so they could find their voice as a performer. That’s still key today, Marsalis said in a recent interview with The Journal. In addition to knowing the history of the music, he noted, “we want the students to be able to play with the same type of emotional impact and intelligence as the musicians who established jazz as a great art form.” The program also wants its graduates “to be leaders, able to represent our music all around the world.”
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Wynton Marsalis reaches out to the young
No event in Orchestra Hall’s jazz season generates greater anticipation or larger audiences than a residency by Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.
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And none of this year’s three concerts, starting Friday, will make a bigger impact on the future than the Saturday matinee, a Jazz for Young People program. For during the course of this event, Marsalis won’t just play with his formidable ensemble but also will discuss the music, aiming his commentary at young listeners unfamiliar with jazz, as well as those already smitten.