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Tunes of ‘Glory’
Ten years ago, the leaders of a South Side church came up with a bold idea: Engage great gospel and pop artists to perform in a holiday concert, invite the public to attend for free and put the show on TV on Christmas day, so that all Chicago could see the glories that unfold at 63rd and Dorchester. Keep reading »
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Paying Tribute to a Master With His Own Hard Music
The drummer Art Blakey, who died in 1990, ushered Wynton Marsalis into a contender’s position in the jazz world, bringing him into the dynastic Jazz Messengers group at the age of 17 in 1979. So when Mr. Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra paid tribute to Blakey at Alice Tully Hall on Friday night, there was bound to be more sentiment than in the usual jazz repertory concert. Keep reading »
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Review: ‘Comin’ Home to Harlem’
Host Whoopi Goldberg recalled the tradition and legacy of the historic venue, “where jazz was made and loved, and where swingin’ is revered.” Goldberg contributed an abbreviated history of the Harlem Renaissance, and the innovations in jazz, blues and swing through the last half-century. Keep reading »
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A Lincoln Center Gala With a Lively Latin Beat
Jazz at Lincoln Center doesn’t have to present new programming at its gala fund-raisers; it could sail by on what’s now a decade-deep catalog of repertory and original work. Keep reading »
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Jimmy Heath Gets His Due
The October 19 and 20 Jazz at Lincoln Center tribute to Jimmy Heath, commemorating his 75th birthday, was called “He Walked With Giants” - a title typical of that series, and also of its unduly modest guest, whose superlative Riverside LPs were once anthologized as Fast Company and who himself titled a later album _Peer Pleasure. Keep reading »
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Wynton Marsalis: Enhancing the spirit
Near the end of his first set Wednesday at the Zellerbach Theatre, after his sextet had restated the melody of Thelonious Monk’s “Four in One” and was ready to send it home, Wynton Marsalis stepped up to the microphone looking like he had some unfinished business. Keep reading »
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A Self-Conscious Celebration of Life in ‘All Rise’
Anyone who hadn’t before appreciated the phenomenal resolve of New Yorkers does now, watching the city pull together with heroic spirit in the wake of its terrible tragedy. That ingrained New York confidence may also explain why the New York Philharmonic developed an extreme case of millennium fever. Keep reading »
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Review - Popular Songs: the Best of Wynton Marsalis
Popular Songs: The Best of Wynton Marsalis celebrates Wynton Marsalis’s 40th birthday, which is also, coincidentally, the 40th anniversary of the death of jazz. Wynton Marsalis was born in ‘61, just when Ornette Coleman, Don Cherry and Cecil Taylor were “fucking up everybody” (Miles Davis) on the NY scene. Keep reading »
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Marsalis speech offers graduates trumpet call to ‘Pursue And Find’
Wynton Marsalis unzipped his black trumpet bag, and the nearly thousand gathered at Connecticut College’s graduation ceremony Saturday prepared to be serenaded. Keep reading »
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Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra Looks to Link Jazz and Tango
Jazz at Lincoln Center has always had an educational edge to its concerts, but now Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra are teaching more obscure lessons. Keep reading »