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Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra Septet: The Democracy! Suite — an activist musical metaphor
Wynton Marsalis’s previous project, the orchestral The Ever Fonky Lowdown, examined distortions in American democratic processes through a detailed spoken-word narrative delivered by actor Wendell Pierce. Keep reading »
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Wynton Marsalis: how music makes a difference
There is, unsurprisingly, no hint of lockdown sloppiness as the image of Wynton Marsalis appears on the screen of my laptop. The jazz maestro is noted for the sharpness of his appearance as well as his playing, and here he is wearing a suit and tie for our early evening conversation, sitting purposefully next to a piano. Keep reading »
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Wynton Marsalis’s Abyssinian Mass brings joy to the Lincoln Center, New York
It was odd to hear the apocalyptic terror of Verdi’s Requiem one night before the sunny exuberance of Wynton Marsalis’s Abyssinian Mass. While the Marsalis, shaped like a black church service, is bracingly diverse in its evocation of jazz and gospel styles, its underlying spirit is New Orleans joy — New Orleans being where the Marsalis clan comes from. Keep reading »
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JLCO with Wynton Marsalis in London - Bernstein’s compassionate generosity
Leonard Bernstein’s optimistic modernism united showtune, symphony and jazz into a single, outward-looking musical vision. This concert, part of the Barbican’s celebration of Bernstein’s centennial year, captured the compassionate generosity of Bernstein’s work through the opulent reeds, luxurious brass and rhythmic spring of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (JLCO). Keep reading »
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Wynton Marsalis’s Spaces, Jazz at Lincoln Center, New York — ‘Lil Buck moved on a pillow of air’
With Spaces, Wynton Marsalis has created a jazz Carnival of the Animals. The trumpeter-composer conjures a snake from the slide of trombone, the shimmer of cymbal and the snare drum’s dry tick. Four trumpets, three trombones and five saxes render the clucking cacophony of barnyard chickens as well as their jerky gait. Frogs croak in and out of phase, like Steve Reich. Keep reading »
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Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, Barbican, London — ‘Flamboyant’
Wynton Marsalis promised that the final evening of JLCO’s three-night Barbican residency would “capture the impact of George Gershwin’s music on the jazz tradition”. This was accomplished in flamboyant style. The trumpeter’s introductions were as concisely eloquent as his few short solos, while JLCO’s ability to conjure earlier jazz styles remains unrivalled. Over the evening they referenced late ragtime, cool-school modernism and most points in between. Keep reading »
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Marsalis Concerto in D, Barbican, London — ‘Vivid, restless’
Contrary to some preconceptions, classical music has always opened its arms to outside influences. In the US, jazz and classical have enjoyed a particularly fruitful courtship. If there ever were boundaries that mattered, they disappeared long ago. Gershwin, Copland and Bernstein have all been there, so Wynton Marsalis is in good company. Keep reading »
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Wynton Marsalis and Nicola Benedetti: across the divide
They might have gone a lifetime without meeting. She is a Scottish violinist, a Yehudi Menuhin School alumna, something of a poster-girl for the British classical music industry. He is a legendary New Orleans-born jazz trumpeter, composer and teacher whose impression of playing an imaginary violin is passable at best. In fact the two musicians happened to meet 10 years ago at New York’s Jazz at Lincoln Center — and in the past few months Nicola Benedetti, 28, and Wynton Marsalis, 53, have become a double act. Keep reading »
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Wynton Marsalis Quintet, Ronnie Scott’s, London – review
Wynton Marsalis doesn’t have much truck with amplification, and played the entire first house of his short Ronnie Scott’s residency off-mic at the level of an animated conversation. Occasionally voices were raised, sometimes they fell to a whisper and once there was a brief shouting match. Keep reading »
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Swing Symphony World Premiere, JALC’s Barbican Residency Reviewed
During the dates June 9-13, 2010 Wynton and the JLCO premiered “Swing Symphony” (Symphony No. 3) with Sir Simon Rattle and the Berliner Philharmoniker at the Berliner Philharmoniker.
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