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Marsalis and his trumpet get jazz fest rolling on intense note
Those who still doubt that trumpeter Wynton Marsalis has found a voice all his own probably were not at Grant Park on Thursday night, when Marsalis played a mesmerizing set for the opening of the Chicago Jazz Festival. Keep reading »
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Wynton Marsalis Gets Kind Of Blue
There’s a recurring song on Wynton Marsalis’s formidable new trilogy, “Soul Gestures in Southern Blue,” called “So This Is Jazz, Huh?” It is both a challenge and a history lesson. Yeah, the song argues, this is jazz: a system of African-American mythmaking guided by the blues, with a rhythmic chain stretching back to pre-Civil War New Orleans and beyond. Keep reading »
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NEW RELEASES : Eclectic ‘Blues’ From Wynton Marsalis
In the introduction to the incredibly prolix liner notes by Stanley Crouch, this three-CD set is called a “blues cycle.” A better description: a richly rewarding series of compositions, all but three by Marsalis, notable for the evocative, suspensefully moody character of the music rather than any strong blues essence. Keep reading »
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Wynton Marsalis, Immersed in the Deep Blues
Some 100 years after its development, the blues and its distinctly American tonality still roll on. The impact has been astounding: a humble 12-bar, 3-chord repeating cycle, made popular by the repressed black minority, has given definition to some of the most important musical developments of the 20th century. Keep reading »
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Young Musicians Find A Future in the Past
The trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, who is 29 years old, was the seasoned elder at Avery Fisher Hall on Saturday’s double bill of Mr. Marsalis’s septet and Jazz Futures, an alliance of musicians in their 20’s. Keep reading »
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(Most of) The Marsalis Family in Concert
There’s no generation gap in the musical taste of the Marsalis family of New Orleans. From the 55-year-old patriarch and pianist, Ellis Marsalis, down to the 13-year-old drummer Jason, the hard-bop of the late 1950’s and 60’s is the pinnacle of jazz, and they have led a revival of the style among young musicians. Keep reading »
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Some Respect for Jackie McLean
A tribute to the alto saxophonist Jackie McLean on Saturday night at Alice Tully Hall really began two songs in, with the arrival of the trumpeter Wynton Marsalis. Keep reading »
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Review: The Wynton Marsalis Septet at Wolf Trap
Wynton Marsalis began to redefine and redeem his career with last year’s album, “The Majesty of the Blues,” which connected his commanding jazz technique to the humor, sensuality and passion of the blues. Keep reading »
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Pearl Bailey’s Pop and the Blues of Wynton Marsalis
Seriousness and shtick shared the stage of Avery Fisher Hall on Wednesday night in one of those peculiar jazz festival double bills: the trumpeter Wynton Marsalis opening for the singer Pearl Bailey. Keep reading »
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Marsalis proves to be bigger hit before concert
We interrupt this review for a public service announcement: Wynton Marsalis isn’t such a stuffed shirt after all. He joshed playfully with a group of kids from the Boys and Girls Clubs of Chicago at a reception before they went to his concert Monday night at Orchestra Hall. Keep reading »