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Hark! The Heralded Jazzmen Swing Some Familiar Melodies
Somewhere between ritual and remnant lies the jazz Christmas concert. As a manifestation of pure secular middle-class civility, it represents a vague and probably disappearing middle ground, even in Manhattan.
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Higher Ground CD reviewed by Washington Post
Hitting Katrina From Two Directions
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There are nearly 10 benefit albums with Hurricane Katrina on their minds, and doubtless more are coming. Bring ‘em on. In theory, at least, when it comes to raising relief funds through music, everyone wins. -
Lincoln Center’s Man With the Trumpet, With Orchestra
Just before the lights dimmed in the Rose Theater on Thursday night, a voice announced that while the use of cellphones was prohibited, hand-clapping, foot-stomping and cries of “Aw, yeah!” were all welcome forms of audience participation. It was a hokier introduction than one might have expected from a concert called “Wynton With Strings.” But in a way, it suited both subject and setting.
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From Marsalis, Jazz Profiles in Verse for Kids
Wynton Marsalis puts down his horn and picks up his pen for his latest project. It’s a book called Jazz ABZ: An A to Z Collection of Jazz Portraits, and in it, Marsalis shares his deep knowledge of jazz in all its forms with children. Keep reading »
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‘A Blue So Blue’ and ‘Jazz ABZ’: How Blue Can You Get?
The trumpet virtuoso Wynton Marsalis’s “Jazz ABZ” is not a child’s quest for the perfect musical note or the dreamiest jazz musician of the 20th century Keep reading »
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An Epic History of Black Experience, in Music and Movement
Garth Fagan and Wynton Marsalis have been friends for more than 20 years, and since 1991 have collaborated frequently. Wednesday night at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater, to open a run through Sunday of Garth Fagan Dance, Mr. Marsalis and his septet played live for a lovely revival of their first collaboration, “Griot New York,” first seen at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
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Marsalis plays hall to perfection
TROY—Wynton Marsalis is no fool. He knows how good the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall sounds.
He barely noticed the microphone put up in front of him Wednesday night, instead opting to play from any position on the stage he chose, with the sound still carrying to every corner.
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Marsalis, quintet shine
Wynton Marsalis skipped back to his 2004 CD, ‘‘The Magic Hour,” for most of the material his quintet played at Sanders Theatre on Sunday, passing over the covers that fuel the more recent ‘‘Live at the House of Tribes” in favor of the trumpeter’s whimsical originals.
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New JLCO’s album reviewed by All About Jazz
Six compositions by Charles Mingus give the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra something different to work with. The swing is still there, but each piece echoes with the emotional strength and ferocity that its composer espoused through his ensembles. As with the original, you get a powerful bass line that leads the way, and you get thrilling soloists who provide impeccable examples of musicianship. What’s missing is the passion that Mingus took with him everywhere he went.
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Combining Forces to Revive the Soul of New Orleans
Music is the soul of society, the heart of culture. So, at least, it was variously pronounced by the likes of Itzhak Perlman and Beverly Sills in the course of an evening devoted to bringing it back. “Bringing Back the Music” was the title of the New York Philharmonic’s joint benefit concert with and for the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra on Friday night at Avery Fisher Hall. New Orleans, of course, was the intended destination of this particular return: orchestral music in other American cities will have to continue to fend for itself.
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