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Marsalis and Ward Join Becker for Final Morning Lecture
Longtime friends Geoffrey C. Ward and Wynton Marsalis joined in conversation reflecting on the events of the week and discussing the significance of jazz to American culture and the work they’ve done. President Tom Becker acted as moderator during the 10:45 a.m. Friday morning lecture in the Amphitheater. The lecture closed the season and this week’s theme “America’s Music with Wynton Marsalis and Jazz at Lincoln Center.” Keep reading »
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Wynton Marsalis Gave an American Music History Lesson, Complete with Song
Since America’s founding in 1776, the arts have been representative of American culture. The tempo of music runs through the United States, connecting it in a way nothing else can, Wynton Marsalis said. A nation torn apart by politics and race and identity can be restored through the freedom the arts bring — a freedom that teaches the American people who they are. Keep reading »
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Nicola Benedetti Performs Wynton Marsalis’s Violin Concerto in LA Phil Premiere
Jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis’s new “Concerto in D” for violin is a brainstorm from a genius brain, but it’s a storm that may yet need more taming. The piece was written for Scottish violinist Nicola Benedetti, who performed it with enthusiasm and stunning technique at her Los Angeles Philharmonic debut Thursday night at the Hollywood Bowl, with Cristian Macelaru conducting. Keep reading »
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The short and the long of the American conversation in Wynton Marsalis’ Concerto in D at the Bowl
Every election year is about competing visions of America and what it means to be an American. Political parties this summer are particularly divided between and among themselves. The Hollywood Bowl, however, has offered to help with the vision thing. Keep reading »
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Benedetti, CSO give Marsalis premiere impassioned advocacy at Ravinia
It’s a sign of the times that even at a summer escape destination like the Ravinia Festival audience members now get wanded by security as they enter the park. Keep reading »
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Wynton Marsalis’ “Concerto in D” revels in Americana
Wynton Marsalis long ago established his fluency in multiple musical languages, jazz and classical chief among them. But blues, gospel, spirituals, tango, African chant and other idioms also course through Marsalis’ large works, such as the symphonic-choral “All Rise,” the sanctified “In This House, On This Morning” and the vocal-orchestral epic “Blood on the Fields” (the first jazz composition to win a Pulitzer Prize, in 1997). Keep reading »
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Jazzfest review: Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis in Ottawa
On a day when the leaders of Canada, the United States and Mexico were engaged in high-level talks in Ottawa, a more informal international jazz summit took place in Confederation Park. Wednesday night on the TD Ottawa Jazz Festival’s main stage, Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra invited members of the Moscow Jazz Orchestra, who have their own festival concert Thursday, to play with them. Keep reading »
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9th Annual Inside the Jazz Note Education Fund Benefit Concert + Conversation
On Thursday evening, the Alexander Kasser Theater at Montclair State University was buzzing with anticipation, as two of today’s leading jazz icons –Wynton Marsalis and Christian McBride– prepared to meet onstage for a candid one-on-one. Keep reading »
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Wynton Marsalis Quintet at The Palace Theater
There are expectations baked into a live performance from the caliber of a Wynton Marsalis. An artist who has won a Pulitzer Prize for Music, nine GRAMMY awards, serves as the Director of Jazz studies at Juilliard and is actively involved in a number of humanitarian activities, Marsalis is as much a brand name as any musician in modern history. Keep reading »
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Wynton Marsalis’s Spaces, Jazz at Lincoln Center, New York — ‘Lil Buck moved on a pillow of air’
With Spaces, Wynton Marsalis has created a jazz Carnival of the Animals. The trumpeter-composer conjures a snake from the slide of trombone, the shimmer of cymbal and the snare drum’s dry tick. Four trumpets, three trombones and five saxes render the clucking cacophony of barnyard chickens as well as their jerky gait. Frogs croak in and out of phase, like Steve Reich. Keep reading »