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Letting Jazz Have a Turn Interpreting the Poets
Jazz at Lincoln Center did something really self-assured last week. It presented two major large-ensemble pieces by members of its orchestra, neither very well known as composers, for a three-night run at the Rose Theater: “God’s Trombones,” by the trombonist Chris Crenshaw, and “Inferno,” by the saxophonist Sherman Irby. Keep reading »
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Away From His Desk, Up on the Bandstand
Wynton Marsalis has been making albums for the last 30 years, since the release of his self-titled Columbia debut. Through all but the first six of those years, he has been not only a celebrated trumpeter and composer but also the public face of Jazz at Lincoln Center, an organization built around his vision, and in many ways still propelled by it. Keep reading »
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In Havana, Jam Sessions With a Master Trumpeter
HAVANA — Wynton Marsalis pulled a young Cuban trumpeter aside as he left the Mella Theater here on Wednesday after a Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra concert. The band was here for a residency that ended over the weekend, and Mr. Marsalis had seen 17-year-old Kalí Rodríguez play a few nights earlier at an official reception for the American musicians. Keep reading »
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Five City “LOUIS” Tour Reviewed
From August 25th through August 31st Wynton, Cecile Licad and a 10-piece jazz ensemble premiered Louis, a silent film directed by Dan Pritzker. The sold out tour reached five cities and was reviewed by press from around the world.
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At Trumpeter’s Home, the Door’s Always Open
On Thursday evening, Joey Pero walked past Lincoln Center and stepped into the lobby of a luxury high-rise apartment building on West 66th Street and told the doorman, “We’re here to see Wynton.” Keep reading »
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Remembering Walter Cronkite and What He Stood For
Before a hall filled with his friends, protégés and occasional competitors, the late CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite was remembered at a memorial service on Wednesday for upholding a journalistic standard that is, President Obama said, “a little bit harder to find today.” Keep reading »
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At the White House, a Blend of Jazz Greats and Hopefuls
It was not the full-force, let-a-thousand-saxophones-bloom, this-is-our-music festival that some might have wished from a White House where the language of jazz seems to have a place, at least in the president’s iPod. But it was a good start. On Monday afternoon, Michelle Obama invited about 150 high school jazz students to the White House for a program called Jazz Studio. There was a student clinic including five members of the Marsalis family and the clarinetist Paquito D’Rivera, and then a short concert introduced by the first lady. Keep reading »
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Experiencing America, With Foot and Instrument
The climax of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s 50th-anniversary season, which has emphasized live music, has arrived in the middle of its run, with two programs whose first two-thirds are each to music by Duke Ellington. To play these, Wynton Marsalis (on trumpet) and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (conducted by Eric Reed, some 19 musicians in all) occupy the back of City Center’s stage. Keep reading »
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Bicoastal Swing and Stomp in a Lively Onstage Face-Off
In Jazz at Lincoln Center’s business model of jazz, competition brings heroism. Particularly group heroism: a band, preferably being challenged by another band, is its preferred symbol of jazz’s health. Keep reading »
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A Pianist Fully in Charge of Everything He Surveys
Ahmad Jamal stood up repeatedly from the piano at the Rose Theater on Thursday night, almost always during a song. His reasons had to do with the act of management, which plays an important role in his music. Sometimes he turned to face the rest of his rhythm section, as if to observe its progress or pass silent judgment. Sometimes he was making an announcement, or cuing the big band onstage. It was the kickoff for Jazz at Lincoln Center’s new season, but the timing felt almost incidental. Mr. Jamal had the floor, unequivocally, and he wasn’t interested in behaving like a guest. Keep reading »