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Inspired By Injustice, Wynton Marsalis Reflects On His Music
Wynton Marsalis has always been deeply engaged in the subject of American race relations. The issue was a crucial part of his education as a young musician in New Orleans, and it has been a core preoccupation of his own work going as far back as Black Codes (From the Underground), a trailblazing album from 1985. Keep reading »
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Wynton Marsalis Finds Solace in the Optimism of the Blues
Marsalis, the artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, puts his late father, Ellis Marsalis Jr., as well as Frederick Douglass and young musicians on his list of what’s important. Keep reading »
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Jazz Congress and Winter Jazzfest draw international crowds to New York
The increasingly broad world of jazz seemed broader than ever at the 2019 editions of Jazz Congress and Winter Jazzfest in New York earlier this month. Keep reading »
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Wynton Marsalis to join Bethany Baptist, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Celebration
Noted, life long social activist, Dr. Obery Hendricks, Jr. will deliver the keynote address at the annual Martin Luther King, Jr. day celebration at Bethany Baptist Church, 275 West Market Street, Newark, NJ on January 20, 2019 at 2:30PM Keep reading »
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Wynton Marsalis Provokes Again With Head-Scratching ‘Ever Fonky Lowdown’
It had been a while since Wynton Marsalis — the famously provocative trumpeter and Jazz at Lincoln Center patriarch — had stirred controversy on the level that he did in May. Keep reading »
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Read the Libretto for Wynton Marsalis’ The Ever Fonky Lowdown
Mr. Game, here at your everlasting service. I’m here for your edification, elucidation and your education. Here’s the situation. I run a game of numbers, though I’m not a numbers man. I inspire and sell confidence. Don’t laugh—-confidence determines the direction of the markets. And there’s nothing in the world more important than money, especially if it’s yours. Keep reading »
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Jazz musician Wynton Marsalis says rap and hip-hop are ‘more damaging than a statue of Robert E. Lee
“My words are not that powerful. I started saying in 1985 I don’t think we should have a music talking about niggers and bitches and hoes. It had no impact. I’ve said it. I’ve repeated it. I still repeat it. To me that’s more damaging than a statue of Robert E. Lee.” Keep reading »
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Wynton Marsalis & Ethan Iverson: A Conversation on Jazz & Race
At the inaugural Jazz Congress, co-produced by Jazz at Lincoln Center and JazzTimes in New York City on Jan. 11-12, among the most anticipated events was a conversation on jazz and race featuring JALC managing and artistic director Wynton Marsalis and Ethan Iverson, a founding member of the Bad Plus, an important jazz blogger and a pianist with a deep reverence for jazz history. Moderated by artist manager/consultant Andre Guess, the hour-long conversation in JALC’s the Appel Room moved swiftly through ideas and anecdotes while never losing its feeling of diplomacy and mutual respect. Here are some highlights. Keep reading »
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World Premiere of Wynton Marsalis’ (The Ever Fonky Lowdown)
In 1994, Wynton Marsalis premiered his first big band composition commissioned by Jazz at Lincoln Center, Blood on the Fields, about a couple’s journey from slavery to freedom. Nearly 25 years after the premiere of this powerful work which earned him a Pulitzer Prize in Music in 1997, Marsalis will premiere (The Ever Fonky Lowdown), the latest entry in his renowned canon of music exploring America’s relationship to racial matters. (The Ever Fonky Lowdown) will premiere on June 7 ─ 9 at 8pm in Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater at Frederick P. Rose Hall, located on Broadway at 60th Street, New York, New York. Keep reading »
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Behind the decision to remove a statue of Robert E. Lee
Last May, a crane removed a 16½ foot-tall bronze statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee from its perch 60 feet above New Orleans. The statue was one of four Confederate monuments the city’s mayor, Mitch Landrieu, had removed last year. “In a city that I represent that’s 67 percent African American, to have a young African-American girl pass by that statue and look at it every day, I ask myself, ‘Am I really preparing her for a really good future? Is she feeling like she’s getting lifted up by the government, or is she being put down?’” Landrieu tells Anderson Cooper this week on 60 Minutes. “I mean, I think the answer’s pretty clear.” Keep reading »