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Finale, Jonathan Kelly, and the Wynton Marsalis Septet
The Wynton Marsalis Septet recently collaborated with the Garth Fagan Dance Company on a new piece titled Lighthouse/Lightning Rod. The world premiere performance also included excerpts from Griot New York, the 1991 collaboration between Wynton and Garth Fagan.
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Forces of Nature: Lightning, Water, Music and Movement
A lighthouse guides a ship to safety. A lightning rod diverts a bolt from a structure by providing a direct path to the ground. Still, the opening images of “Lighthouse/Lightning Rod,” a new work by the choreographer Garth Fagan, with loose, exuberant music by the jazz composer and trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, hint at danger as much as at security. Dancers, wearing aquatically themed purples and blues, move spontaneously, as if caught in a riptide: with little warning, they change direction, hopping forward on one leg while taking freestyle strokes in the air with a single arm or collapsing and dangling their fingers toward the floor. Without being too heavy-handed, Mr. Fagan shows that the waters surrounding his “Lighthouse,” as the first section is named, are anything but tranquil.
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Dance Review: Fagan collaboration with Marsalis debuts with fanfare
Garth Fagan and Wynton Marsalis joined forces for their second collaboration, premiering a new work and revitalizing excerpts from a famed repertory piece at the Brooklyn Academy of Music Thursday night to a packed audience that included Brooklyn Nets players and composer Philip Glass.
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The concert celebrated a number of milestones: BAM’s 150th anniversary year, its Next Wave Festival’s 30th anniversary and the end of Garth Fagan Dance’s 40th anniverary celebration. The company will bring the concert to Rochester from Nov. 27 to Dec. 2 at Nazareth College Arts Center (although the Wynton Marsalis Septet’s music will be a recording). -
Two Old Friends Prepare a Three-Part Premiere
ROCHESTER — Last week the jazz trumpeter and composer Wynton Marsalis walked into an office building here that once housed a Knights of Columbus chapter, rode an elevator to a high-ceilinged studio and discovered his septet, a 12-member modern dance company, a giant spatula and a 21-foot-tall woman.
Mr. Marsalis had a cold, but he wasn’t hallucinating. The studio is the home of Garth Fagan Dance, and Mr. Marsalis was there to rehearse. “Lighthouse/Lightning Rod,” his first collaboration with Mr. Fagan since “Griot New York” in 1991, opens at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on Thursday. The spatula was one of Martin Puryear’s set pieces for “Griot,” excerpts from which fill out the program in Brooklyn. The sculpture of the woman was a conception of a lighthouse by the artist Alison Saar.
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Garth Fagan, Wynton Marsalis pair for new work
About 25 years ago, choreographer Garth Fagan was walking down East Avenue and saw something out of the ordinary. The famous jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis was strolling around, looking rather blue. Marsalis had just performed in Rochester and was having a few band quibbles.
“I picked him up and took him to the studio to see a performance,” says Fagan.
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Garth Fagan and Wynton Marsalis reunite for the world premiere of Lighthouse/Lightning Rod
Brooklyn, NY/August 28, 2012—For the first time since their BAM debut more than 20 years ago, Garth Fagan and Wynton Marsalis return to premiere their new piece, Lighthouse/Lightning Rod along with excerpts from their first work, the beloved Griot New York.
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Lighthouse/Lightning Rod is set to an original score by Wynton Marsalis, is performed live by the Wynton Marsalis Septet, and features scenic design by celebrated visual artist and Guggenheim fellow Alison Saar. The Wynton Marsalis Septet is comprised of Dan Nimmer, Piano; Reginald Veal, Bass; Ali Jackson, Drums; Victor Goines, Saxophone, Clarinet; Wess “Warmdaddy” Anderson, Alto Saxophone; and Eliot Mason, Trombone in addition to Marsalis. -
Released today: The Music of America: Wynton Marsalis
From “Hellbound Highball” to “Happy Feet Blues,” this collection of works is the greatest retrospective of Wynton as a composer.
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For the first time, Wynton Marsalis brings you this self-curated 2-CD set featuring ONLY his compositions.
Performed by a diverse group of artists including musicians from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Orion String Quartet, Mark O’Connor, members of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, and Danny Barker. -
Free Download from Christmas Jazz Jam
Enjoy this free track from Christmas Jazz Jam: “Good King Wenceslas”
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Happy Holidays!
Love, Wynton. -
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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Jazz Jam: Wynton Marsalis Small Groups
Wynton Marsalis is a man who wears many hats: trumpeter, composer, Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, and music director of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. But it's too often forgotten… Keep reading »