-
JazzTimes: Wynton Marsalis’ From the Plantation to the Penitentiary
The infuriating thing about Wynton Marsalis is that he is so incredibly talented that you can never simply dismiss him and yet he is so wrong-headed about so many things that you can never wholly embrace him either. Nothing brings this dilemma into sharper focus than his new album, From the Plantation to the Penitentiary. Keep reading »
-
Wynton Marsalis Checks In on The Land That Never Has Been Yet
I’ve been listening to Wynton Marsalis’ new disc From the Plantation to the Penitentiary a lot. It’s got the music—a neat jazz combo running through a variety of styles. It’s just enough bop and bebop so it doesn’t put one to sleep like a Kenny G. solo, but it’s not an avalanche of sound like those from Coltrane’s thundering Ascension either. Then there’s the vocals. Yes, the vocals. Mr. Marsalis is putting some lyrics to his tunes on this one, and he’s got plenty to say.
Keep reading » -
JALC Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis: The Songs We Love
One of the most intriguing jazz concerts in memory occurred at Jazz at Lincoln Center this past weekend. The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, at this point the most versatile group of big band musicians anywhere, tackled a repertoire of songs which are just as notable for the arrangements made of them as their compositional excellence. Because the selections came from different eras, styles and traditions, only a band with uncanny versatility could deliver truly authentic performances of each one. The JALC orchestra achieved this and, in doing so, set a new standard for big band jazz. Keep reading »
-
The Band Strikes Up to Play a Few of Its Favorite Things
Some concerts by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra adhere to thematic prescriptions: the legacy of a single composer, for instance, or the sound of a specific place and time. “The Songs We Love,” which the band performed in more than a dozen cities leading up to a three-night stand at the Rose Theater, advanced a somewhat less focused agenda.
Keep reading » -
A Few of Our Favorite Things
When Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra climaxed their concert Thursday night at the Rose Theater with “Rhapsody in Blue,” they were, in a very literal sense, settling an old score. The last time the JALCO played the “Rhapsody” was in November, at an all-Gershwin Gala. That treatment featured the pianist Marcus Roberts as star soloist, but, through no fault of the orchestra or Mr. Roberts, it had to be the worst version of Gershwin’s classic that I’ve ever heard. Keep reading »
-
One more lesson from Marsalis: masterclass at Onondaga Community College
Wynton Marsalis shared so many insights during his visit to OCC on Tuesday morning that even after yesterday’s Listen Up item and today’s story in The Post-Standard, I have one more observation jumping out of my notebook.
Keep reading » -
Marsalis and company play ‘Songs We Love’
If you were lucky enough to score a ticket to Saturday night’s Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis concert, then you heard a pristine performance from a group of world-class musicians. The program presented by the orchestra was called “The Songs We Love,” and it was filled with well-known Jazz and Big Band standards.
Keep reading » -
Revolution: Wynton Marsalis’ From the Plantation to the Penitentiary
Let’s say you could live to be 200 years old, you came in, in 1800. You are 165 years old before you even legally could do a lot of basic things. But like with a child, man, that first 65 years – whew, just think about that first 65 years… America was like: welcome, this is what we got for you. Keep reading »
-
A lesson in loving jazz
School was in session at Massey Hall last night, when the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra rolled into town.
Keep reading »
Billed as The Songs We Love, the show consisted of tunes that anchor the Great American Songbook, such as “Tea for Two” and “My Favourite Things.”
“These are all songs that you know ... we’re going to play them so well up here, we’re going to make you love them again,” declared Wynton Marsalis as the band launched into “On the Sunny Side of the Street.” -
WYNTON MARSALIS: “From the Plantation to the Penitentiary”
From his landmark album “Black Codes (From the Underground)” through his Pulitzer Prize-winning oratorio “Blood on the Fields,” the trumpeter Wynton Marsalis has always found avenues for social critique. But his new quintet album delivers a fresh jolt to the system, by blowing apart the refuge of allegory. Oh, and he raps. But we’ll get to that. Keep reading »