-
Marsalis Mass Honors Harlem Church
A young institution pays tribute to a venerable one with Wynton Marsalis’s “Abyssinian 200: A Celebration.” It was written for the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, founded in 1988, in honor of the 200th anniversary of the Abyssinian Baptist Church, a bulwark of African-American New York City. The orchestra introduced the work last week at its own Rose Theater. Keep reading »
-
Wynton to be interviewed for New York Times Arts and Leisure Weekend
On January 11, 2007, Wynton will be interviewed by John Rockwell during The New York Times Arts and Leisure Weekend.
Keep reading » -
Sounds That Remain Miles Ahead
In the best of Gil Evans’s work, nothing signifies a finished style. Achieving his kind of openness took stubborn drive: The ease with which his arranging and composing came to connect Maurice Ravel, George Gershwin, Duke Ellington, Kurt Weill, Claude Thornhill, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Gerry Mulligan, Charles Mingus and Jimi Hendrix didn’t indicate a path of least resistance. His work, from the 1940s to the 1980s, represents jazz’s thousand limbs, its endless reach. Keep reading »
-
Jazz Master’s Signature, Written in Sax and Brass
Benny Carter spread his aesthetic throughout jazz from the 1920s to the 1960s, and he did it in a number of ways. Jazz exists first in the public imagination through its soloist stars, and from the mid-’20s onward Carter was a great improviser — first on alto saxophone, then on trumpet — though he didn’t satisfy anyone’s picture of a jazz genius as a troubled, mercurial man-child; he was private and professional. Keep reading »
-
Say Amen, Everybody, 15 Years Down the Line
When Wynton Marsalis unveiled his sanctified long-form composition “In This House, on This Morning” 15 years ago, it marked a breakthrough for him as well as for Jazz at Lincoln Center, where he had recently begun his tenure as artistic director. So it might be tempting to view the piece’s revival this week as an act of misty nostalgia, the equivalent of dusting off a scrapbook, or a treasured hymnal, and gingerly turning pages.
Keep reading » -
A Record Label’s Legacy Is Celebrated and Reimagined
The legacy of Blue Note Records cuts a wide swath through music history, from the boogie-woogie bustle of Meade Lux Lewis to the folk-stirred pop of Norah Jones. But the label’s core identity rests on a remarkable body of recordings made in the 1950s and ’60s. It’s only natural that “Legends of Blue Note,” a concert presented by Jazz at Lincoln Center on Thursday night, would focus chiefly on that era, if only as a ratification of its enduring appeal.
Keep reading » -
The Band Strikes Up to Play a Few of Its Favorite Things
Some concerts by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra adhere to thematic prescriptions: the legacy of a single composer, for instance, or the sound of a specific place and time. “The Songs We Love,” which the band performed in more than a dozen cities leading up to a three-night stand at the Rose Theater, advanced a somewhat less focused agenda.
Keep reading » -
Wynton announces the new Jazz at Lincoln Center 2007/2008 season
In an interview for the New York Times, Wynton announced the 2007/2008 season at Jazz at Lincoln Center.
Keep reading »
Read the complete article on the New York Times -
In the Mood for Festivals at Jazz at Lincoln Center
A theme of romance threads through the 2007-8 season for Jazz at Lincoln Center, Wynton Marsalis, its artistic director, said in an interview yesterday. Keep reading »
-
Brush Strokes of Sound: Art That Keeps Changing
One morning last July, the saxophonist Ted Nash took a spin through the fourth- and fifth-floor galleries at the Museum of Modern Art. It was a visit studded with small realizations, in the placid hour before crowds arrive. Ann Temkin, MoMA’s curator of painting and sculpture, was there to answer questions, of which Mr. Nash had a few. Keep reading »