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  • The 10 Best Wynton Marsalis Albums

    Posted on February 9th, 2021 in Review

    Trumpeter and composer : love him or resent him. But Marsalis is one of the most prolific instrumentalists of the last 40 years. A virtuoso in both jazz and Western classical music, he has recorded as many as 75 times as a leader, including his long discography leading the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.   Keep reading »

  • Review - Wynton Marsalis: He and She

    Posted on March 29th, 2009 in Review

    I do not know what fire burns in Wynton Marsalis’s belly, but it drives him to amazing and strange feats. Once upon a time, it drove him to learn and play his horn as no trumpeter had before him. It led him to master, truly, both jazz and classical styles, and then it led him to study and emulate the great compositions of Duke Ellington, eventually earning him a Pulitzer Prize for Blood on the Fields. It even led him to become an international leader in music education.   Keep reading »

  • Ahmad Jamal at JALC’s season opening concert

    Posted on September 25th, 2008 in Review

    When Ahmad Jamal mentioned that it’s been 50 years since “that” recording in Chicago—the renowned At the Pershing: But Not For Me which he recorded as a member of the Pershing Hotel’s house trio in 1958—his longevity and scope as a pianist quickly came into perspective and overwhelmed me. Few pianists, let alone jazz musicians, can claim such an expansive career. That the majority of this setlist came only from the latter 20 years of his repertoire was an additional testament to his continuing presence as one of jazz’s great pianists and innovators. But at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s season opening concert series in Rose Hall Jamal humbly eschewed his celebrated stature, opting to cherish the Hall’s demure acoustics, his quartet’s deft phrasing, and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra’s superb arrangements and soloing.   Keep reading »