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Pop Classics for Horn
Jazz musicians rarely get credit for keeping Tin Pan Alley standards current through the rock era. Yet they continue to honor that repertory, both by reclaiming pop melodies with eloquent phrasing and by evading them to reveal ingenious harmonic structures. Keep reading »
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With Hampton and Marsalis, the 40’s and Today
Lionel Hampton and Wynton Marsalis, respectively the last active band leader from the big band era of the 1940’s and the currently most publicized young jazz musician, shared a JVC Jazz Festival Concert on Wednesday evening at Avery Fisher Hall. Keep reading »
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Devilishly Entertaining
Igor Stravinsky’s “L’Histoire du Soldat” (“The Soldier’s Tale”) endures as one of the most haunting works in the 20th Century chamber repertory for at least two reasons. First, its startling dissonance and brittle instrumental writing sum up radical musical ideas that were emerging during the years of World War I (Stravinsky completed the piece in 1918). Second, its storyline—which traces the devil’s seductions and the consequences his victims must face—clearly holds universal appeal. Keep reading »
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Marsalis’s success not a 1-man effort
It’s easy to hear the music of Wynton Marsalis and focus on the seven Grammy awards the trumpeter has won. But no small part of the horn man’s success in jazz rests on the strengths of his band – and those strengths were more than evident last night. Keep reading »
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The School of Hard Bop
He was young, only 17, and though there was bravado in his stride as he took the stage, the professional musicians said nothing to him. Watching him seat himself at the piano, they smiled at one another. They knew he had set a trap for himself, and now he would have to pay. They had done this themselves once. Long ago. Keep reading »
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New Wynton, No Wonderland
ON THE RECENT ALBUM “Carnaval,” jazz superstar Wynton Marsalis joins Donald Hunsberger and the Eastman Wind Ensemble in the kind of program that an American band might have played at the turn of the century from the bandstand in the town park. Marsalis plays technically showy cornet on this precisely arranged, nostalgic set of light classical and folk tunes. Keep reading »
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Marsalis Brilliant but Predictable in Orange County Center
The most amazing thing about Wynton Marsalis’ appearance at the Orange County Performing Art Center on Sunday night was the fact that the brilliant young trumpeter—the most visible new jazz musician of the ‘80s—played virtually nothing that could have startled anyone. Keep reading »
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Marsalis displays his warm side at jam session
A piece of Montreux-Detroit Jazz Festival history went down in the wee hours of Sunday morning when trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and his band showed up to play at the New Rapa House Jam sessions in the Hotel Pont-chartriin. The moment revealed a rarely seen side of Marsalis and confirmed his dedication to these disintegrating proving grounds of traditional jazz. Keep reading »
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Wynton Marsalis Shows His Ability As Innovator
ACCLAIMED trumpet player Wynton Marsalis displayed his incredible instrumental technique and talent for improvisation in a most appropriate setting Tuesday evening – a nightclub filled with appreciative jazz fans. Keep reading »
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Wynton Marsalis returns
Wynton Marsalis was only 17 when he first set foot on Tanglewood’s grounds as a Fellow at the center. “It was the first time I had ever left New Orleans,” said the young classical and Jazz trumpeter, who performed at Tanglewood Saturday night. Keep reading »