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The Devil Is in Details of ‘Soldier,’ ‘Fiddler’ Tales
It was a winter of rains and floods. But Royce Hall was full for a performance of Stravinsky’s “Histoire du Soldat” (Soldier’s Tale). The concert began an hour late because the trombonist was stranded on a flooded street. Keep reading »
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Tapestry in Jazz
Wynton Marsalis looked uncharacteristically apprehensive when he stepped on stage at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion Thursday night. “I’m nervous,” he acknowledged, looking out at the audience still streaming into seats for the West Coast premiere of his jazz oratorio, “Blood on the Fields.” Keep reading »
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The Freedom to Create
Wynton Marsalis learned plenty while writing ‘Blood on the Fields,’ a jazz oratorio reflecting on the slave era. But perhaps the most important lesson was about himself. Keep reading »
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Wynton Marsalis Presents His Spin on World of Jazz
“Jazz,” Wynton Marsalis says in the opening scenes of Bravo’s “South Bank Show,” “prizes individuality. It teaches you how to project your personality, and how to discover the positive and negative things about yourself.” Keep reading »
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The Pied Piper of Jazz
The Pied Piper of Jazz : You can call Wynton Marsalis an accomplished musician, a great teacher or a respected bandleader, but his friends just call him Hoghead. Keep reading »
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Marsalis Turns a Page in His Career: The trumpeter turned author packs bookstores to plug his latest release, which isn’t available on CD
“Remember what I told you, now. Take a deep breath and blow.” It was a moment too good to have been scripted. Wynton Marsalis, a jazz artist viewed by some members of the New York media as a difficult, thorny personality, seated at a table in a little bistro next to Book Soup on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood, gently giving an impromptu trumpet lesson to a 14-year-old. Keep reading »
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Going a Round With Wynton Marsalis
How do you conduct an interview with Wynton Marsalis? Very carefully. The jazz trumpeter and artistic director for Jazz at Lincoln Center has had a long and sometimes contentious relationship with the press. Keep reading »
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Wynton Rebels by Playing It Straight : Marsalis Scores the Garth Fagan Dance Company, Funk-Free
Don’t let the tailored suit and natty tie fool you. Wynton Marsalis sees himself as a rebel. Arriving in town this week for three performances of his “Griot New York” ballet score with the Garth Fagan Dance Company, Marsalis doesn’t understand why he is viewed by many as a jazz traditionalist. Keep reading »
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A Red, White and Blues Evening at the White House
Her’s was the opening salvo Friday evening at the White House in a heady two-hour mix of entertainment and artistry. It was one of those magic evenings when the blues in the night met the green of the lawn—specifically the South Lawn, where a large area was covered with a canopy, under which 30 artists tried to encapsulate much of the music’s history. Keep reading »
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The Young Lions’ Roar : Wynton Marsalis and the ‘Neoclassical’ Lincoln Center Orchestra
Halfway through condemning the electronic jazz-funk Miles Davis played in his later years, Wynton Marsalis stops himself. “Don’t print that, all right?” the trumpeter says suddenly. “When (Miles) was alive, I made it clear what I felt about what he was doing, and now that he’s dead I don’t feel I have to say any more about it. Keep reading »