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Jazz at Lincoln Center announces 2013 Essentially Ellington Finalists
Jazz at Lincoln Center proudly announces the 15 finalist bands that will compete in the prestigious 18th Annual Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition & Festival (EE) at Frederick P. Rose Hall on May 10 - 12, 2013.
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The following finalists are among nearly 100 high school jazz bands across the country that entered the competition. Each school submitted recordings of three tunes performed from charts from Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Essentially Ellington library. -
Wall Street Journal: Jazzy Wynton Marsalis
ACCORDING TO WYNTON Marsalis, jazz “places a premium on originality and individuality.” Personal style has always has been a key element to the genre, to the music itself and beyond. “When people dress well, they play well,” said Mr. Marsalis, 51, in an interview at the gleaming new offices of Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York (JALC).
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‘Cotton Club Parade’ Will March Onto Broadway
After two popular engagements at City Center, “Cotton Club Parade” – a musical revue celebrating the Harlem nightclub during the Duke Ellington era – will move to Broadway this fall, its producers announced on Wednesday. With minimal spoken text, this 90-minute show recreates many of the big-band swing and blues numbers of the Cotton Club during the 1920s and ‘30s, with the score including works by Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields (“I Can’t Give You Anything but Love”), Harold Arlen (“Stormy Weather,” “I’ve Got the World on a String”) and Ellington (“Rockin’ in Rhythm,” “Cotton Club Stomp”).
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The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra rehearsing Royal Garden Blues
On May 5, 2012, Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra filmed an open rehearsal of Ellington’s “Royal Garden Blues.” This piece will be a part of the 2013 Essentially Ellington Program’s repertoire, and the open rehearsal discusses strategies for effectively performing the piece.
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Live Webcast Announced for Essentially Ellington 2012
Jazz at Lincoln Center announces the competition at the 17th Annual Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition & Festival will be video streamed live online. The free webcast from the Rose Theater at Frederick P. Rose Hall on May 5th and 6th will feature performances by the fifteen competing high school jazz band finalists, as well as the announcement of the top placing bands. The video will also be available online for one week following the Competition & Festival.
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A 2006 DownBeat Feature on Wynton Marsalis, Who Turned 50 Yesterday
I couldn’t attend Wynton Marsalis’s four 50th birthday concerts in which he presented repertoire from his 30+ years in the music business. All accounts state — no doubt accurately — that to witness them was an extraordinary experience. Keep reading »
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PBS NewsHour: Wynton Marsalis Pays Homage to Jazz’s Past by Investing in Its Future
Part-competition, part-celebration, 110 high school bands entered this year’s Essentially Ellington Jazz Competition, submitting recorded performances for the judges. Just 15 were chosen. Jeffrey Brown sits down with the man behind it all: jazz great Wynton Marsalis.
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White House Music Series Begins with Jazz Hosted by First Lady Michelle Obama
First Lady Michelle Obama will introduce the White House Music Series which will feature artists of all ages who will perform, educate and interact with young people. The series will begin with the Jazz Studio on Monday followed by country and classical music events this summer and fall.
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JALC Announces Winners of 14Th Annual Essentially Ellington
Three high school jazz bands took top honors on Sunday Night, May 10, in Jazz at Lincoln Center’s 14th Annual Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition & Festival. Each band was chosen by a panel of judges composed of distinguished jazz musicians and historians — WYNTON MARSALIS, Jazz at Lincoln Center Artistic Director; composer, conductor and Ellington authority DAVID BERGER; educator, clinician and pianist, REGINALD THOMAS; and legendary jazz trumpeter and composer/arranger, GERALD WILSON— from among the 15 finalist bands from the U.S. and Canada that came to the Competition & Festival in New York City…
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Finalists Announced for 14th Annual Essentially Ellington
Jazz at Lincoln Center announces the 15 finalist bands for its prestigious 14th Annual Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition & Festival (May 2009). The bands will compete and participate in workshops, jam sessions and more, during the three-day competition and festival in New York City. The top-placing bands perform with Wynton Marsalis, as guest soloist, followed by a performance by the 15-piece Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra - all of whom serve as mentors for the finalist bands throughout the weekend.
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