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Wynton’s Decade: Creating a Canon
Ten years ago, young players in crispy pressed suits were not yet being signed by major labels; Lincoln Center in New York was not yet presenting an 11-month jazz season; the Ravinia Festival near Chicago had not yet begun its ground-breaking Jazz. Keep reading »
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Wynton: Prophet in standard time - Downbeat (September 1990)
A rainy afternoon in Arlington Heights, IL. – just a mile up the street from the Italian-American Sports Hall of Fame – the photographer and his assistant convert one corner of Wynton’s hotel suite into a studio while he fiddles with his trumpet. Somebody tripped over it a couple days before and one valve sticks. “Do you have a name for your trumpet?” the photographer asks. “Johnson” Wynton replies, chuckles, and adds, “No, not really.” Keep reading »
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The Wynton Marsalis Interview: 1987
We last interviewed Wynton Marsalis in 1984. Since that time his popularity and notoriety have, if anything, grown and, as can be seen in the following interview, he views his position with the utmost responsibility and seriousness. Keep reading »
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The Wynton Marsalis Interview
Wynton Marsalis is still the wunderkind, a 22-year-old son of the Crescent City, bowing to accolades from the jazz world with a trumpet in his hands, noddmg towards the European classical tradition with equally serious vision. Keep reading »
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A Common Understanding (Wynton and Branford Marsalis interview): Downbeat December 1982
Nineteen eighty-two was the year of Wynton Marsalis – down beat readers crowned him Jazz Musician of the Year; his debut LP copped Jazz Album of the Year honors; and he was named No. 1 Trumpet (handily defeating Miles in each category). Keep reading »
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Profile: Wynton Marsalis (Downbeat 1982)
When Wynton Marsalis was six years old, his father, Ellis Marsalis, was playing in Al Hirt’s band. At that time, Hirt gave young Wynton a horn. Fourteen years later, Wynton has completed one jazz album, plans to record a classical album, is a full scholarship student at Juilliard, and the winner of the 1981 down beat Critics Poll for talent deserving wider recognition in the trumpet category. Never let it be said that Al Hirt doesn’t know potential when he sees it. Keep reading »