Wynton Marsalis's Blog, page 2

Jazz at Lincoln Center’s New Season Highlights Ties to Africa

Jazz at Lincoln Center’s 38th season will celebrate jazz, Africa and the African diaspora with programs that pay tribute to genre greats like John Coltrane and Miles Davis, while others will spotlight vocalists, pianists and other trumpeters. It will also include a tour of Africa by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.

The new season opens on July 24 with a preview concert,, “Reflections on Africa,” in the Rose Theater. The program, with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and Vincent Gardner as the musical director, offers compositions reflecting the effect of African consciousness on music composed by jazz artists including Coltrane, Randy Weston, Jackie McLean and Horace Parlan.

The season continues on Sept. 18 with “Afro!,” a new composition by Wynton Marsalis, the managing and artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, which illuminates his meditations on the African continent. It will also feature the vocalist Shenel Johns, the djembe player Weedie Braimah and the drummer Herlin Riley.

On Oct. 3-4, Jazz at Lincoln Center will present a 91st birthday retrospective of the 75-year-long career of the Capetown-born pianist and composer Abdullah Ibrahim. (He was known as Dollar Brand when Duke Ellington first heard his trio in 1963 and sponsored his first recording.)

On Oct. 24 and Oct. 25, the Orchestra will feature another South African pianist, Nduduzo Makhathini, including a debut of new work that he has composed.

Works by Ellington take center stage Jan. 15-17, 2026, with “Duke in Africa.” The music directors for that program will be Chris Lewis and Alexa Tarantino, two of the Orchestra’s newest members.

On Feb. 13 and on Valentine’s Day, Dianne Reeves will explore the universal theme of love as she shares songs that highlight rapture, anguish, romance and heartbreak.

The Orchestra will feature works by Davis from May 14-16, 2026, in “Sketches of Miles: Miles Davis at 100.” Later that month (May 29-30, 2026), Jazzmeia Horn, the winner of the 2015 Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz International Vocals Competition, will present a program showcasing her vocal range and improvisation, with the Her Noble Force big band.

Etienne Charles, the Trinidad-born trumpeter and composer, will take on Anglophone Afro-Caribbean traditions in “Folklore LIVE Vol. 2” from June 5-6, 2026, in the Appel Room. Later that month, June 12-13, 2026, the Orchestra with Marsalis will also explore the African roots that help make up the genres of Brazil, with “Soul of Brazil,” featuring Hamilton de Holanda and the music of Moacir Santos, in the Rose Theater.

The full season is online at jazz.org/25-26

By Derrick Bryson Taylor
Source: New York Times

Jazz at Lincoln Center Announces Winners of the 30th Annual International Essentially Ellington High School Competition & Festival

New York, NY (May 12, 2025) – Jazz at Lincoln Center announced the three top-placing high school jazz bands in the world and more than 40 individual and section awards during the prestigious 30th Annual International Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition and Festival final concert and awards ceremony on May 11 at the Metropolitan Opera House.

From May 7-10, at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall, students participated in section-specific masterclasses, jam sessions with Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra members, pre-performance rehearsals, a celebratory dinner, and more. The competition culminated in an afternoon concert and awards ceremony on Sunday, May 11 at the Metropolitan Opera House where each top-placing band performed with its choice of Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra member as a featured soloist.

In honor of the milestone 30th anniversary, Jazz at Lincoln Center expanded the hallmark program, doubling the number of competing bands, and included international bands for the first time. A three day competition in years past, the 2025 Essentially Ellington Competition & Festival took place over five days.

Wynton Marsalis, Managing and Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, presented awards to the top bands. Memphis Central High School from Memphis, Tennessee took home the first place trophy and an award of $10,000. Sant Andreu Jazz Band from Barcelona, Spain earned second place honors and a prize of $7,500. Osceola County School for the Arts from Kissimmee, Florida accepted third place with an award of $5,000. Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts from West Palm Beach, Florida was awarded an honorable mention and $2,500. The remaining bands were each awarded $1,000. All monetary awards will go toward improving the jazz education programs of each respective high school.

Members of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and Essentially Ellington alumnus presented 40 individual and section awards which included recognition for outstanding rhythm section, outstanding trumpet section, outstanding trombone soloist, outstanding piano soloist, and the new outstanding pep section. Below is the full list of awardees.

“Congratulations to all our bands who performed this week,” said Marsalis. “We recognize your sacrifice and commend you on your commitment. One of the things I’m most proud of about this festival is how it brings together parents, children, administrators, and communities around something truly worthwhile — the inner development of our kids.”

In addition to highlighting the best high school jazz bands in the world, the event also recognized Ethan Liao, a freshman at San Francisco University High School in San Francisco, CA, for winning the 13th Annual Dr. J. Douglas White Essentially Ellington Student Composition and Arranging Contest. On May 8, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra recorded his original composition,“By Candlelight.” On May 11, at the Metropolitan Opera House, Liao joined the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra on piano as they performed his winning composition. Additionally, Liao received a $1,000 cash prize, a composition lesson with GRAMMY Award-winning saxophonist Ted Nash, and a free trip to New York City for the week.

“The past five days have shown us that music, and especially jazz music, still has resonance in our culture. And that resonance can transcend the barriers that we are told exist between us,” said Todd Stoll, Vice President of Education at Jazz at Lincoln Center. “_Essentially Ellington_ brings together a diverse group of young people all with one specific goal: to play jazz at the highest level-not as an act of nostalgia, but as the living embodiment of the highest ideals of our shared humanity. Congratulations to all the participants, and we shall swing again next year!”

Since its inception in 1987, Jazz at Lincoln Center has produced an extensive range of jazz educational and advocacy programs for all ages, including Essentially Ellington. This year’s finalists were selected from 127 schools, a record number, that submitted recordings of select tunes from Jazz at Lincoln Center’s R. Theodore Ammon Archives and Music Library. The program continues to spread the message of Duke Ellington’s music, leadership, and collective orientation, providing high school ensembles with free transcriptions of original Duke Ellington recordings – accompanied by rehearsal guides, original recordings, professional instruction, and more – to thousands of schools and community bands in 58 countries. To date, more than 7,100 high school bands have benefitted from free charts and resources.

Assets, including photos and videos of the three finalist bands, can be found here=. Attribute image credit to Gilberto Tadday for Jazz at Lincoln Center and video credit to Jazz at Lincoln Center.

Complete list of 2025 Essentially Ellington Awardees

HONORABLE MENTION RHYTHM SECTION

Garfield High School

Susan E. Wagner High School

Sant Andreu Jazz Band

OUTSTANDING RHYTHM SECTION

Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts

New World School of the Arts

Newark Academy

Memphis Central High School

HONORABLE MENTION SAXOPHONE SECTION

Roosevelt High School

Stanford Jazz Workshop

Blackburn High School

Hoover High School

Bothell High School

OUTSTANDING SAXOPHONE SECTION

Agoura High School

Garfield High School

Orange County School of the Arts

Plano West Senior High School

William H. Hall High School

OUTSTANDING CLARINET SECTION

Newton South High School

HONORABLE MENTION TROMBONE SECTION

Blackburn High School

OUTSTANDING TROMBONE SECTION

Byron Center High School

Orange County School of the Arts

New World School of the Arts

Memphis Central High School

HONORABLE MENTION TRUMPET SECTION

Celia Cruz Bronx High School of Music

King Philip Regional High School

Newark Academy

OUTSTANDING TRUMPET SECTION

Orange County School of the Arts

Sant Andreu Jazz Band

Memphis Central High School

Osceola County School for the Arts

HONORABLE MENTION BRASS SECTION

Stanford Jazz Workshop

OUTSTANDING BRASS SECTION

Orange County School of the Arts

Plano West Senior High School

OUTSTANDING PEP SECTION

Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts

Tomisato High School

Susan E. Wagner High School

HONORABLE MENTION PIANO

Jose Morales (Celia Cruz Bronx High School of Music)

James Pakhomou (Jazz House Kids)

Joshua Gargett (Roosevelt High School)

OUTSTANDING PIANO

Ben Collins-Siegel (Newark Academy)

Zach Michalec (Ann Arbor Huron High School)

Sophie Ionitsa (Mountlake Terrace High School)

Pau Garcia (Sant Andreu Jazz Band)

Atticus Coen (Sun Prairie High School)

HONORABLE MENTION GUITAR

Charlie Debski (Youth Jazz Ensemble of DuPage)

Joel Cooper (Rio Americano High School)

Giacomo Messina (Newark Academy)

OUTSTANDING GUITAR

Ryu Chan (New World School of the Arts)

Sydney Law (Byron Center High School)

Justin Ho (Mountlake Terrace High School)

OUTSTANDING BANJO

Sydney Law (Byron Center High School)

HONORABLE MENTION BASS

Julia Brideau (King Philip Regional High School)

Mac McRae (Hoover High School)

Ishow Hatakeyama (Tomisato High School)

OUTSTANDING BASS

Jacoby Bethea (Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts)

Sam Konin (Jazz House Kids)

Ted Crall (Newark Academy)

Laesio Littlejohn (Plano West Senior High School)

Zeke Hirsh (Tucson Jazz Institute)

HONORABLE MENTION DRUMS

Killian Donovan (Celia Cruz Bronx High School of Music)

Ryan Weaver (Youth Jazz Ensemble of DuPage)

Evan Khaw (Blackburn High School)

OUTSTANDING DRUMS

Luc Randall (Roosevelt High School)

Cameron Payne (Ann Arbor Huron High School)

Elijah Lawler (Ann Arbor Huron High School)

Kiki Melick (William H. Hall High School)

OUTSTANDING DOUBLER (DRUMS & PERCUSSION)

Joeily Pena (Susan E. Wagner High School)

HONORABLE MENTION FLUTE

Aidan Gardner (Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts)

HONORABLE MENTION CLARINET

Nathan Tokunaga (Stanford Jazz Workshop)

Sophia Kidwell (Carroll Senior High School)

Luis Fernandez Guzman (Osceola County School for the Arts)

Akane Doi (Tomisato High School)

OUTSTANDING CLARINET

Leila Mostaghimi (Newton South High School)

Gabriel Huang (Rio Americano High School)

Akane Doi (Tomisato High School)

HONORABLE MENTION ALTO SAXOPHONE

Benji Riggio (New World School of the Arts)

Michael Shebar (Youth Jazz Ensemble of DuPage)

Nathan Tokunaga (Stanford Jazz Workshop)

Ace Aure (Blackburn High School)

Seth Langford (Bothell High School)

OUTSTANDING ALTO SAXOPHONE

Harrison Chisolm (King Philip Regional High School)

Jackson Hankins (Memphis Central High School)

Paolo Zulueta-Lomanno (Osceola County School for the Arts)

Quinn Knox (William H. Hall High School)

Julian Dominguez (Youth Jazz Ensemble of DuPage)

HONORABLE MENTION TENOR SAXOPHONE

Daniel Goodwin (Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts)

Elijah Boyd (Hoover High School)

Jay Thatte (Newark Academy)

Michael Fradkin (Carroll Senior High School)

OUTSTANDING TENOR SAXOPHONE

Chloe Madrak (William H. Hall High School)

Samuel Chung (Orange County School of the Arts)

Kiara Rouse (Osceola County School for the Arts)

Ryan Kaplan (New World School of the Arts)

Lola Peñaranda (Sant Andreu Jazz Band)

Ben Sherman (Jazz House Kids)

HONORABLE MENTION BARITONE SAXOPHONE

Bernat Benavente (Sant Andreu Jazz Band)

Yuta Horiuchi (Tomisato High School)

Aliah Bragg (Bothell High School)

OUTSTANDING BARITONE SAXOPHONE

Nicollette Sollis (Susan E. Wagner High School)

Jaxon Hirsh (Tucson Jazz Institute)

HONORABLE MENTION DOUBLER

Garett Ames (Agoura High School)

OUTSTANDING DOUBLER

Daniel Tauhert (Plano West Senior High School)

Sky Van Scoyoc (Roosevelt High School)

Samuel Chung (Orange County School of the Arts)

OUTSTANDING MULTI-INSTRUMENTALIST

David Nguyen (Tucson Jazz Institute)

HONORABLE MENTION TROMBONE

Thomas Holmes(Bothell High School)

Robert Ford (King Philip Regional High School)

Isaiah Bunderson (Sun Prairie High School)

Jasmine Richards (Blackburn High School)

Andrew Krivenko (Susan E. Wagner High School)

Bennet Harvey (Mountlake Terrace High School)

OUTSTANDING TROMBONE

Jordan Klein (Agoura High School)

Sidney Kitchen (Ann Arbor Huron High School)

Eric Collins (King Philip Regional High School)

Marqese Cobb (Memphis Central High School)

HONORABLE MENTION TRUMPET

Rudradip Ray (Ann Arbor Huron High School)

Gerard Peñaranda (Sant Andreu Jazz Band)

Braeden Jackson (Hoover High School)

Timothy Park (Garfield High School)

Mia Rousseau (Rio Americano High School)

Ayden Retcheski (Sun Prairie High School)

OUTSTANDING TRUMPET

Miri Izenberg (Orange County School of the Arts)

Allie Molin (Orange County School of the Arts)

Matthew Harper (Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts)

Zach Balding (New World School of the Arts)

Adam Sheena (Newton South High School)

Marti Costalago (Sant Andreu Jazz Band)

Elsa Armengou (Sant Andreu Jazz Band)

Kingston Grandberry (Memphis Central High School)

OUTSTANDING LEAD TRUMPET

Maggie Kester (Carroll Senior High School)

Pedro Fregoso (Orange County School of the Arts)

Sam Tschopp (Youth Jazz Ensemble of DuPage)

OUTSTANDING VOCALS

Clàudia Rostey (Sant Andreu Jazz Band)

ELLA FITZGERALD AWARD

Akshra Yagnik (Newark Academy) – vocals

Xavier Anderson (Osceola County School for the Arts) – trumpet

The top-placing bands were chosen by a judging panel comprising distinguished jazz musicians and historians, including Randy Brecker, Carmen Bradford, Rich DeRosa, Joseph Jefferson, Ingrid Jensen, Sherrie Maricle, Branford Marsalis, Wynton Marsalis, Ulysses Owens Jr., Catherine Russell, Reggie Thomas, Camille Thurman, Bijon Watson, Liesel Whitaker and Todd Williams.

The 2025 Essentially Ellington Competition Finalists (in alphabetical order)

Agoura High School (Agoura Hills, California)
Directed by Robert Hackett

Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts (West Palm Beach, Florida)
Directed by Christopher M. De León

Ann Arbor Huron High School (Ann Arbor, Michigan)
Directed by Robert Ash

Blackburn High School (Victoria, Australia)
Directed by Andrew O’Connell

Bothell High School (Bothell, Washington)
Directed by Matt Simmons

Byron Center High School (Byron Center, Michigan)
Directed by Marc Townley

Carroll Senior High School (Southlake, Texas)
Directed by David Lown

Celia Cruz Bronx High School of Music (Bronx, New York)
Directed by Penelope Smetters-Jacono

Garfield High School (Seattle, Washington)
Directed by Jared Sessink

Hoover High School (Hoover, Alabama)
Directed by Sallie White

Jazz House Kids (Montclair, New Jersey)
Directed by Nathan Eklund

King Philip Regional High School (Wrentham, Massachusetts)
Directed by Michael Keough

Memphis Central High School (Memphis, Tennessee)
Directed by Dr. Ollie Liddell

Mountlake Terrace High School (Mountlake Terrace, Washington)
Directed by Darin Faul

Newark Academy (Livingston, New Jersey)
Directed by Julius Tolentino

New World School of the Arts (Miami, Florida)
Directed by Jim Gasior

Newton South High School (Newton, Massachusetts)
Directed by Lisa Linde

Orange County School of the Arts (Santa Ana, California)
Directed by John Reynolds

Osceola County School for the Arts (Kissimmee, Florida)
Directed by Jason Anderson

Plano West Senior High School (Plano, Texas)
Directed by Preston Pierce

Rio Americano High School (Sacramento, California)
Directed by Josh Murray

Roosevelt High School (Seattle, Washington)
Directed by Hannah Mowry

Sant Andreu Jazz Band (Barcelona, Spain)
Directed by Joan Chamorro

Stanford Jazz Workshop (Stanford, California)
Directed by Michael Galisatus

Sun Prairie High School (Sun Prairie, Wisconsin)
Directed by Matt McVeigh

Susan E. Wagner High School (Staten Island, New York)
Directed by Paul Corn

Tomisato High School (Chiba, Japan)
Directed by Masaki Shinohara

Tucson Jazz Institute (Tucson, Arizona)
Directed by Brice Winston

William H. Hall High School (West Hartford, Connecticut)
Directed by Phil Giampietro

Youth Jazz Ensemble of DuPage (Wheaton, Illinois)
Directed by Robert Blazek

For more information, please visit jazz.org/eee

Wynton Marsalis is coming to town, and bringing ‘Louis’

When it comes to the life and legacy of Louis Armstrong, Wynton Marsalis is a natural expert. A Grammy-winning jazz trumpeter, composer, and bandleader, Marsalis is Jazz at Lincoln Center’s longtime artistic director and president of the Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation.

He’s also the son of Ellis Marsalis Jr., an influential jazz pianist and educator, who taught Marsalis about the jazz forefather from a young age. By 18, Marsalis recognized Armstrong as the “Shakespeare” of trumpet players. As he’s grown, his reverence for Satchmo’s musical approach and “basic human goodness” has only deepened.

“He’s a genius,” Marsalis said. “He’s the ultimate Horatio Alger story, like a person who really grew up with absolutely nothing and rose to be the most popular person in the world just through the strength and delivery of his message. And that message was the timeless message of: We are all connected in some way, and our mandate is to love one another.”

In late May, Marsalis will be in the Seattle area to support two screenings of the silent film Louis, a fictionalized retelling of Armstrong’s childhood written and directed by Dan Pritzker. Marsalis, who put together the music for Louis, will perform his score live with classical pianist Cecile Licad and a jazz orchestra. The screenings will take place at Port Townsend’s McCurdy Pavillion on May 27 and Seattle’s Paramount Theater on May 28. Notably, these appearances mark the first time in 23 years he’s come to the area without the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.

“We did a whole tour on the East Coast and [Pritzker] felt like, ‘Hey, it’s been a while. Let’s see if we can put together a tour on the West Coast and people can see the film live,’” Marsalis told KNKX.

An immersive homage to Pops
Louis, which was shot by the late, Oscar-winning cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond and originally released in 2010, is set amongst the Storyville brothels, alleys, and cemeteries of early 20th century New Orleans.

The energetic film follows a young Louis and his enthusiasm for the trumpet, which gets him into questionable, often comical, circumstances, particularly after he meets a young single mother and her baby. Along the way, Pritzker highlights additional New Orleans’ cultural icons, including cornetist Buddy Bolden, and classical composer and pianist Louis Moreau Gottschalk.

When Pritzker approached Marsalis to do the score for the film, Marsalis was immediately impressed by the project, which conveys a deep understanding and respect for New Orleans’ cultural history and the roots of jazz.

“I just read the script that he had and when I started to hear about Gottschalk and the stuff he was saying about the music, I mean, when do you ever hear those kinds of things? Neither before or since have I met with a person who talked about the things that are in the film,” Marsalis said.

Marsalis’ score for Louis oscillates between the music of Gottschalk, which Marsalis describes as “Liszt and Chopin mixed with the Caribbean,” and his own spirited original compositions performed by a jazz orchestra. His compositions draw on New Orleans cultural elements like the music of Jelly Roll Morton, a local great regarded as the first true jazz composer; the banjo, a prominent instrument brought over by enslaved Africans; and the bamboula dance, a foundational rhythm that suffuses the city.

“It’s just an interesting intersection of music from that time and music that I had written in our time,” Marsalis said.

Lending Centrum a hand
The show on the Olympic Peninsula is a special one. After the screening and live performance, Marsalis will take the stage at McCurdy Pavilion as the featured artist for the interdisciplinary arts nonprofit Centrum’s Benefit Concert & Gala.

Each year, Centrum provides over $150,000 in scholarships for artists of all ages so they can access Centrum’s programs, including the lauded Jazz Port Townsend workshop, with reduced tuition. This annual event is the single most important source of scholarship funds. For Marsalis, who’s dedicated much his career to jazz education, mentorship, and community work, supporting this effort is a no-brainer.

“I’m in favor of any organizations when they have an impact on the community,” he said, later adding that Centrum’s Jazz Port Townsend creates an environment for learning jazz that is “life changing” for many kids.

Marsalis would know. Many of the kids who attend Jazz Port Townsend are the same ones who participate in the jazz programs at Garfield, Roosevelt, and other local high schools. For more than twenty years, the jazz bands from our region have dominated Jazz at Lincoln Center’s prestigious Essentially Ellington high school band competition.

“My father was a teacher and he was always talking about the music and showing a certain type of love and respect for the creativity of younger people. That’s what I believe in,” Marsalis said.

Jazz is democracy
At the same time, it’s no secret to Marsalis that there are many forces at play today that seek to undermine jazz education as well as the values jazz stands for.

Over the last few years, issues like COVID recovery, state budget deficits, music teacher workforce issues, lack of advocacy, and the perception that music is non-essential learning, have led K-12 schools across the country — including in the Seattle area — to cut their music program budgets and eliminate jazz programs. But Marsalis isn’t balking, and he asserts that parents, students, and community members who care about music education shouldn’t either.

“Agitate, agitate, agitate. You, your parents and everybody has to say, ‘This is important to us. Let’s make this happen.’ And you can only do that with agitation,” Marsalis said.

Marsalis believes that protecting access to jazz education is about more than passing down the wisdom of legends like Louis Armstrong, it’s also about safeguarding our democracy. Jazz at Lincoln Center’s mission statement reflects this value, stating that through its encouragement of individual expression, finding common ground with others, and resilience in the face of adversity, jazz is “a metaphor for democracy.”

At a time when some experts say U.S. democracy is in decline, Marsalis says uplifting this American music and legacy—through his work at Lincoln Center, and through projects like Louis—matters more than ever.

“The fact that we’re in trouble…part of the reason is because we don’t listen to jazz,” he said. “We listen to mainly commercial products, and those products are not designed to teach you anything mythical about America. It’s just a hustle.”

Luckily, locals get two chances to meaningfully engage with jazz music and history when Marsalis is in town with Louis. And afterwards, you might just bump into him at one of his favorite Seattle pitstops—the Owl N’ Thistle.

“I love it there,” he said. “It’s a soulful place.”

by Alexa Peters
Source: KNKX

Marsalis leads orchestra in live jazz film score

Acclaimed jazz artist Wynton Marsalis took the time to talk to The Leader about his upcoming benefit concert for Centrum this month, during which he’ll be leading a 13-piece jazz orchestra in performing the score to the 2010 silent film “Louis,” directed by Dan Pritzker.

Although the benefit concert at McCurdy Pavilion on Tuesday, May 27, will mark Marsalis’ first performance for Centrum, he noted that a number of musicians with whom he’s familiar have taken part in Centrum programs, so he was drawn by the esteem they’d given it.

This concert also marks Marsalis’ first public appearance in the Pacific Northwest in 23 years without the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra.

Marsalis also acknowledged that he tends to be sparing in providing soundtracks for films, having done so for only six films, besides “Louis,” between 1990-2019.

“It’s not my strongest suit,” Marsalis said of movie soundtracks.

Marsalis nonetheless felt compelled to work on “Louis,” in part due to the rapport he developed with Pritzker, to the extent that Marsalis also wrote, arranged and performed original music for Pritzker’s 2019 film “Bolden,” about historic jazz musician Charles “Buddy” Bolden.

Although “Louis” offers a fictionalized account of a 6-year-old Louis Armstrong in 1907 New Orleans, Anthony Mackie puts in a cameo appearance as Bolden, alongside Jackie Earle Haley as a corrupt judge and Michael Rooker as his strong-arming henchman.

Marsalis explained that he was fascinated by “Louis” as a film that “showed jazz being born,” while also playing with the Charlie Chaplin-esque conventions of the original silent films.

“I love that early era of jazz,” said Marsalis, who credited Pritzker with demonstrating a keen ear for selecting musical pieces to help animate the film’s action. “He has very good musical taste. He’s very discerning. Dan’s creative vision expresses many of my values. I’ve come to trust his taste, and I’m not known for biting my tongue when I disagree with people.”

Marsalis not only appreciates that Pritzker shares his affinity for early 20th century Americana, but the musician also complimented the filmmaker for achieving “a silent film with a modern look,” as well as for demonstrating a considerable knowledge of music history.

“This film is about expressing the American-ness of this music, which still possesses a power and a presence to this day,” Marsalis said. “In one sense, it’s a timeless myth, but it’s also about the myth of New Orleans.”

Although Marsalis has already played the score to “Louis” live during its screenings on the East Coast, he noted that the Centrum benefit concert on May 27 marks the West Coast debut of “Louis” with a live soundtrack, which means the orchestra will remain engaged throughout the film’s 70-minute runtime.

“The whole time the film is playing, the orchestra is concentrating on meeting its marks,” Marsalis said. “It’s not easy work.”

Ultimately, Marsalis hopes films like “Louis,” as well as his own music, can help inspire creativity in other artists, in part by familiarizing them with the historic roots of art forms such as jazz.

Marsalis expressed gratitude to have been part of the communities of jazz and music overall.

“If I can give people an experience that enriches them, then it’s been worth it,” Marsalis said. It’s been a blessing to be able to play for this long, and the best advice I could give to other musicians would be to listen to the person next to you. I believe in Centrum’s mission, so I’m proud to support it.”

What to know:

The Tuesday, May 27, event includes both the 5 p.m. benefit concert and film screening at the McCurdy Pavilion, and the 7:30 p.m. gala dinner and auctions at the Fort Worden Commons.

by
Source: The Leader

Wynton Marsalis invites you to join him for a (not so) silent film

Wynton Marsalis is looking snazzy in a suit and tie as our Zoom video call gets underway, having just returned from a faculty meeting at The Juilliard School in New York.

We immediately catch up a bit, noting that the last time we spoke — or, more accurately, Zoomed — was right after his “The Ever Fonky Lowdown” album with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra came out in 2020. Of course, Zoom was the standard form of communication back in those days, just months into a COVID-19 pandemic that sent much of the world into lockdown and social distancing mode.

“Well, we’re still here,” the 63-year-old New Orleans native asks. “How you feeling?”

I’m feeling good — and about to feel even better as I get to spend the next 20 minutes chatting with this living jazz legend about his latest endeavor, which, in a way, is also an old endeavor.

The acclaimed trumpeter/composer/bandleader is Zooming into my living room on this particular afternoon to discuss “Louis: A Silent Film,” coming May 24 to Paramount Theatre in Oakland. The show, which is presented by SFJAZZ, features a screening of the 2010 offering “Louis” with live accompaniment from Marsalis, pianist Cecile Licad and an 11-piece jazz ensemble. Showtime is 8 p.m. and tickets are $65-$150, sfjazz.org

The film, which features an original score by Marsalis as well as music from 19th-century New Orleans composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk, tells a fictionalized tale of young Louis Armstrong growing up on the streets of Crescent City in the early days of the 20th century. It’s a silent film that draws heavy inspiration from the works of Charlie Chaplin and features well-known actors Jackie Earle Haley and Michael Rooker.

“Louis” was directed by Dan Pritzker, who also was at the helm for “Bolden,” a film about the legendary Fat City cornetist Buddy Bolden. Marsalis wrote and performed music for “Bolden” as well.

Here’s my chat with Marsalis, who sounded happy to have the opportunity to revisit “Louis” with a West Coast trek that also includes a date on May 25 at Luther Burbank Center for the Arts in Santa Rosa (lutherburbankcenter.org).

Q: How did you first get involved with the “Louis” project?

A: Well, Dan (Pritzker) approached me (first) with the script for “Bolden” — talking about the film about Buddy Bolden. Then he said he wanted to make a silent film. He had seen a Charlie Chaplin film with his mother where the score was played by the Chicago Symphony.

When Dan said he wanted to do that, of course, I wanted to do it. I had the same aspirations that he had — like I feel like (silent film) is still a medium that can be very powerful and speak to people.

Q: It’s definitely a powerful medium when done right.

A: I also liked (Dan’s) vision of the music of Gottschalk, the music of Jelly Roll Morton, ragtime, all the kind of music from the mid-1800s to 1900 when jazz was born, when New Orleans was such a major part in the incubation of certain types of American music. And you know (the film) ended up being something that was really interesting to do. I’m happy that we worked together and did it.

Q: This isn’t the first time that you’ve taken the “Louis” show out on the road. You did some dates way back when the film was originally released.

A: We did it only on the East Coast. We didn’t go on the West Coast.

Q: Why did you want to revisit the project now — some 15 years after the film came out?

A: Dan wanted to do it. It was originally his vision and he asked me what would I feel about doing that. Yeah, I thought it would be good to do it because we didn’t play that many shows. And the music is difficult to play, so, for (the musicians), it’s always a challenge. It’s interesting, if you have stuff that’s kind of difficult to play, they (musicians) always want to do it.

Q: Does the difficulty come from having to sync the live score with what’s happening in the film?

A: The challenge for us is not playing with the click track or being in time with the film. It’s just our parts are difficult to play, so that’s the challenge.

Q: Fortunately, you have the great Cecile Licad onstage to handle the Gottschalk piano work.

A: It’s good to hear Cecile play Gottschalk’s music. It’s not a music that is commonly played. It deserves a wider listening just because of his significance to the development of American music.

Q: How much of the project’s draw for you — as a music historian, a New Orleans historian — was the chance to share with people what it was like for Armstrong to grow in your hometown?

A: The film is not really necessarily biographical. But it is a certain type of American history and I think Dan and I don’t both have a kind of love for the incubation period of American music. (The draw) was more to work with him and to realize the vision of it.
Me being from New Orleans, of course, there are all the New Orleans themes — marching band music, ragtime, Jelly Roll, the mythic fabric of the American arts music, including Gottschalk music. It’s important to constantly retell those stories.

Q: Some of the moments in “Louis” are clearly fantasy/dream segments. But how much of the film is based on actual events in the young Armstrong’s life?

A: It’s invented. So, that way, (Dan) didn’t have to deal with people saying, “Well, it wasn’t that. It was like this. That’s not the kind of coronet he played.” So, it’s kind of mythic.

If you look at the themes that it has — the whole kind of juxtaposition of light and dark skin people; brothels, the tradition of prostitution; political corruption; the judge and his position in it; Louis Armstrong and how he’s looking at the world as a kid and what what shaped his kind of understanding and gave his music a certain type of depth and of beauty; and also the way people looked out for one another — it has an ugliness and a beauty in it, side by side. It has a religiosity and decadence.

Q: Right, right. I can see that.

A: The film is not saying a right or a wrong. It’s saying this is the environment at that time — this is Louis Armstrong’s environment — and these are the conclusions he came to. The kind of shining and deeply spiritual nature of his playing let you know what he concluded about being in that type of environment with the political and the sexual corruption and all the different things and all the great music that they played and had.

by Jim Harrington
Source: The Mercury News

Wynton Marsalis on music, Louis Armstrong, and his early funk band days

Louis Armstrong? Or Parliament-Funkadelic, Earth, Wind & Fire, and proto-rap group The Last Poets?

It is perfectly logical to assume New Orleans-bred trumpeter and Pulitzer Prize-winning jazz composer Wynton Marsalis grew up as a fan of jazz pioneer and fellow New Orleans trumpeter/composer Armstrong, the subject of the national “Louis” silent-film-with-live-music-tour Marsalis and his 13-piece band are now embarked upon.

Logical, but wrong, since Marsalis’ first band of note as a teenager, The Creators, was a funk and R&B band that catered to young, dance-happy audiences eager to get their groove on.

“I always knew about Armstrong,” said Marsalis, who will perform “Louis” on May 18 at downtown San Diego’s Balboa Theatre.

“But coming up during and after the Civil Rights movement — and the killings of President John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. — you didn’t look kindly on Armstrong. A lot of things were left out of Black Culture then. A lot of people didn’t really know who he was then and were embarrassed by his antics and by his smiling and grinning.

“I knew about Armstrong because my father taught a history course about him. But it was so antithetical to Malcolm X and the post-Civil Rights movement. The music we were doing in The Creators by The Last Poets, Earth, Wind & Fire and P-Funk, that stuff was very remote from Armstrong.’’

Marsalis was 17 when he began developing an abiding passion for Armstrong, whose profound impact on American music continues to be felt around the world and whose storied legacy Marsalis happily discusses later in this interview.

Stevie Wonder, The Meters
He was similarly enthusiastic recounting his three-year stint as a teenage member of the New Orleans funk band The Creators, whose repertoire included songs by Stevie Wonder. Earth, Wind & Fire, The Commodores, War, Ohio Players and The Meters. The band, whose lineup featured Wynton’s saxophone-playing brother, Branford, also performed songs by the George Clinton-led Parliament-Funkadelic.

“I can still play P-Funk horn parts right now!” Marsalis said, speaking by phone from his home in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood.

“I wonder if I can still play (Wonder’s) ‘Sir Duke,’ which I was playing when I was 13. Let me see how much I remember. Let’s see.”

Marsalis picked up his trumpet and began playing “Sir Duke’s” snaking horn lines.

“There you go!” he said triumphantly.

Putting down his horn, Marsalis began to sing a snippet of “P-Funk Wants To Get Funked Up,” the opening selection from that band’s landmark mid-1970s album, “Mothership Connection.”

“I want my funk uncut, make my funk the P-Funk, I want to get funked up!” he sang, laughing with delight.

“I can remember some of their horn parts, too,” said Marsalis, who picked up his trumpet again and began playing some brassy bursts.

His palpable zeal for revisiting his funk-fueled teenage musical pursuits will surely come as a surprise to many, or at least to anyone who did not grow up alongside him in New Orleans.

This, after all, is the same Wynton Marsalis who in 1983 — at the age of 22 — became the first artist to ever win Grammy Awards in both jazz and classical music. It was a feat he handily repeated the following year.

In 1997, Marsalis became the first jazz artist to win a Pulitzer Prize for music. That honor was accorded to him for “Blood on the Fields,” his sweeping jazz oratorio, which was inspired equally by slavery and the quest for freedom. It was commissioned by Jazz at Lincoln Center, the New York nonprofit arts organization for which Marsalis has been the artistic director since its inception in 1986.

A champion of jazz as both a form of vital artistic expression and as an exemplar of musical democracy in action, he has not hesitated to voice his opinions about popular culture. When accepting one of his two awards during the 1983 Grammys telecast, he denounced “enforced trends” and “bad taste.”

In a 2018 Facebook post, Marsalis lamented hip-hop’s propensity for “the perpetuation of negative imagery and stereotypes (that) are self-inflicted for a paycheck… At 56, I’m pretty sure I will not be alive when our country and the world (of all races and persuasions) no longer accepts being entertained by the pathology of Black Americans and others who choose to publicly humiliate themselves for the appetites of those who don’t share the same ongoing history and challenges. Over the years, I have come to accept this, but that doesn’t mean I have to like and endorse it. So I don’t.”

His disdain for much (but not all) hip-hop did not prevent Marsalis from rapping on “Where Y’All At,” a song from his 2007 album, “From The Plantation to the Penitentiary.” Set to a snappy New Orleans second-line drum beat, it opens with him declaring:

“You got to speak the language the people are speakin′ / Specially when you see the havoc it’s wreakin′ / Even the rap game started out critiquin’ /Now it’s all about killing and freakin′ / All you ′60s radicals and world beaters / Righteous revolutionaries and Camus readers / Liberal students and equal rights pleaders / What’s goin′ on now that y’all are the leaders?”

Not a ‘jazz nerd’
Marsalis has been the president of the 56-year-old Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation since 2018. He received the National Medal of the Arts In 2005 and has written or co-authored seven books, including 2008’s “Moving To Higher Ground: How Jazz Can Change Your Life.”

But Marsalis is quick to challenge the long-held contention that he grew up in a bubble as a jazz purist or “jazz nerd,” a point contradicted by his tenure as a teenage trumpeter in the New Orleans funk bands The Creators and Killer Forces & The Crispy Critters.

“Me growing up as a ‘jazz nerd’ is far from the truth, because that didn’t even exist at the time I was growing up,” Marsalis said.

“So few young people were into this music, and I was one of the few saying: ‘You can play real jazz and not this, not funk.’ Of course, cats didn’t want to hear any of that. It was always an uphill battle for jazz. But when you played funk, you didn’t have to fight for it.

“I said if you play funk that doesn’t make you a jazz musician, and I wanted to play jazz. Now, once I started saying that, it became a thing for writers — critics — who wanted to turn jazz into rock or funk. Why can’t jazz be itself? No disrespect to funk, but it’s not jazz.”

But funk is the music Marsalis happily performed for several years in his teens.

“It was just what everybody was doing then and it was fun,” he said “We had a lot of funk bands in New Orleans then. And me and Branford were the youngest musicians on that scene. We played with older musicians in The Creators who were in their late teens and 20s. We did three gigs a week all over the city, proms, weddings, police department talent shows.

“We played at so many dances and we had such a good time. And we played a lot of slow songs, like The Commodores’ ‘Easy’ and Heatwave’s ‘Always and Forever,’ because we wanted girls from our high school to come see us play. In terms of playing and really learning how to play, it wasn’t about that. We did horn parts, dance steps and background vocals, and it was a lot of fun. But nobody in those funk bands was playing (John Coltrane’s jazz classic) ‘Giant Steps’ because nobody knew what that was.”

Marsalis left The Creators when he was 16 to focus on jazz. He was 17 when he began studying classical trumpet in New York at the Juilliard School and 18 when he joined Art Blakey’s fabled band, The Jazz Messengers.

“I was always studying jazz and I was always trying to learn how to play it,” said Marsalis, who has been the director of Juilliard’s Jazz Studies Department since 2014. “I was always playing with older guys in New Orleans. I did weekly gigs there at Tyler’s Beer Garden with guys in their 20s and 30s.”

Marsalis was still in high school when he began his deep dive into Armstrong, a music giant whose peerless trumpet playing and infectious singing earned him a worldwide following and set an enduring standard.

“I was 17 and had a tape of Armstrong’s music,” Marsalis recalled. “My father said I had to learn (Armstrong’s 1938 classic) ‘Jubilee.’ At the time I was learning solos by Freddie Hubbard, complicated things. ‘Jubilee’ was simple — and I couldn’t play it.

“Learning to play it made me understand I really had to study his songs. So, I started learning Armstrong’s music and his style. Being from New Orleans, I was aware of his style when I was young, from marching band and all the experiences he had, but I certainly didn’t know this was something you needed to study.

“Whereas we knew you had to study ‘Giant Steps,’ or Charlie Parker, or a Thelonious Monk song. We didn’t know the history well enough so we felt like Lous Armstrong was fashioned. We had a preconceived notion of him that kept us from appreciating how significant he was then and is now.”

Big-screen tribute
Armstrong died in 1971, shortly after celebrating his 71st birthday. His greatness has been increasingly recognized and celebrated in the decades since then, on recordings and in books and films.

One of those films is “Louis,” the 2010 silent movie that was inspired by Armstrong’s pre-teen years in New Orleans and boasts a soundtrack by Marsalis. Filmed in black and white, the R-rated “Louis” has a quaintly old-fashioned aesthetic. Its antagonist is a Charlie Chaplin-esque villain, Judge Perry, a corrupt White politician running for higher office while trying to hide having fathered a child with a Black New Orleans prostitute.

The cast features Anthony Coleman as the young Armstrong, Shanti Lowry as the prostitute, Jackie Earle Haley, as Judge Perry and Anthony Mackie as Buddy Bolden, who was Armstrong’s jazz forerunner.

Many of the songs heard in the film were composed by Marsalis. He also wrote new arrangements of such gems as Jelly Roll Morton’s “Black Bottom Stomp,” Charles Mingus’s “Boogie Stop Shuffle” and Duke Ellington’s “Happy Go Lucky Local,” along with several pieces by the 19th-century Creole composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk.

Directed by Dan Pritzker, a former member of the rock band Sonia Dada, “Louis” debuted in 2010. The same year saw Marsalis and his band take to the road to perform the soundtrack live at screenings of the film in theaters across the East Coast, Mexico, Europe and in Havana, Cuba.

When “Louis” screens in San Diego at the historic Balboa Theater, a formed silent movie house, Marsalis and his band will be present but not be on stage.

“We’re going to be performing in the orchestra pit because the focus is on the film, not on us,” he said.

“The score is hard to play! Believe me, we have our hands full performing it. I’m practicing for the tour right now. We have to hit the marks with the film. But because it’s music I wrote, it has room for improvisation. So, we improvise within the structures of the songs.

The band for this year’s “Louis” tour features pianist Manila-born classical piano star Cecile Licad and Marsalis’ youngest brother, Jason, on drums. While the elder Marsalis was not present when “Louis” was shot in New Orleans more than 15 years ago, he immediately recognized each of the locales featured in the film.

“New Orleans is not that big,” he noted, “especially the downtown area.”

Like Armstrong before him, Marsalis has become synonymous with jazz and the trumpet. His schedule of constant touring, recording and advocating for the music he has devoted his life to appears to be virtually nonstop, but he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Man, my work is such a blessing,” Marsalis said. “For me, my work has been like a calling. I have practiced a lot since i was 12 and I’ve been blessed to have this opportunity. People still come out to support our concerts and that means a lot to me. And I’ve been blessed to play with such great musicians in my bands and in my student groups.

“I am always grateful. And I always tell my students: ‘Be engaged, take yourself seriously and make the right statement for what you want to accomplish and how you want to accomplish it.”

“Louis: A Silent Film with Live Music by Wynton Marsalis and Cecile Licad.”
When: 7 p.m. Sunday, May 18
Where: Balboa Theatre, 868 Fourth Avenue, Gaslamp Quarter
Tickets: $76.35-$108.05
Online: theconrad.org

by George Varga
Source: San Diego Union-Tribune

Review: The JLCO’s CONTEMPORARY JAZZ MASTERPIECES at Jazz At Lincoln Center

Wynton Marsalis is a longtime legend of contemporary jazz. His 1997 work Blood on the Fields, a three-disc-long oratorio about slaves escaping to freedom, was the first jazz composition (and first non-classical composition) to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music, paving the way for subsequent winners such as Henry Threadgill’s In for a Penny, In for a Pound, legendary saxophonist Ornette Coleman’s Sound Grammar, as well as the only non-classical, non-jazz winner, Kendrick Lamar’s DAMN. Since the start of his career in 1981, he has recorded over 100 albums of jazz and classical music, performed in over 60 countries, over 800 cities, and played over 4,700 concerts.

As a trumpeter, Marsalis’ playing is as sharp as it’s ever been. He can command the room with an expertly controlled instability, serenading the audience with frenetic New-Orleans-infused grooves. Other moments, he opts to play more to swing styles. At times he dips into his considerable familiarity with classical music, lending a more traditional sound to certain pieces. One can hear echoes of Sweets Edison and Ray Nance in Marsalis’ musicianship. The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (JLCO) was in fine form under his music direction. (Marsalis is also the Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center). Marsalis and the co-music director of the night, Steven Feifke (who also served as the concert’s pianist), used the evening to showcase contemporary composers and their works, fitting them neatly into traditional jazz sensibilities. Duke Ellington and Charlie Parker loom large as influences on Marsalis as a bandleader, and nowhere is that more pronounced than the concert’s opening number, “Philadelphia.”

Named after the home city of its composer, “Philadelphia” is a jaunty tune featuring some energetic bebop-esque horn work and an excellent saxophone solo. There’s a sense of possibility in the piece, evoking that feeling of strolling down a city street on a brisk day, fitting for a late April concert. Another piece of a similar theme is “Revived Mind,” a composition from Korean composer Jihye Lee. The song, inspired by springtime, is perhaps the highlight of the show. It’s a warm piece, full of lush horns and soft woodwinds. The performance masterfully evokes a sense of calmness, a feeling of being in nature. The use of flute in particular adds a lightness that elevates the composition wonderfully. Marsalis and Feifke wisely placed the piece as the last song before the evening’s intermission, furthering that theme of renewal.

“Charles,” written by George DeLancey and named as a tribute to his son, is a more contemplative piece, although not a somber one. Bassist Carlos Henriquez takes an excellent solo, driving the original groove to new and exciting places before bringing it back in line, enabling the rest of the ensemble to come back smoothly before finishing it. Another more contemplative note in the evening is “Ali Dell’Angelo,” composed by Feifke. The work is inspired by the idea of a fallen angel. It seeks to explore that dichotomy, that change, that idea of a fall from grace and becoming something new. Winding piano arpeggios climb into the instrument’s upper ranges as if ascending a mountain before and crashing against the low rumble of the bass, as if to represent up and down, heaven and hell. The composition’s Italian name would translate into English as “angel wings,” appropriate for the epic composition.

Mimi’s March is a lighter piece. Japanese composer Miho Hazama was inspired by the particularly unique gait of a friend’s cat, and the piece thus features a playful bass groove. It’s an incredibly fun work that the orchestra handle beautifully. The piece is intentionally meandering at times, wisely providing space for the individual musicians in the orchestra to throw in their own little flourishes. Hazama herself later made an appearance on stage, much to the crowd’s delight.

Leo Steinriede’s “Blues ‘25,” an aptly-named modern take on the classic 12-bar blues, is a perfect representation of the concert’s theme: the mixing of the contemporary and the traditional. The piece, commissioned by Jazz at Lincoln Center itself through the Arnhold Innovation Initiative, is fairly straightforward yet no less enjoyable. Notably, drummer Domo Branch gets a chance to shine with an excellent solo and some clever fills.

“Kinetic,” another piece from Feifke, is as lively as the name would suggest. Staccato piano hits bounce off the brass horns’ melodies for a delightfully invigorating number. Frenetic horn solos (including one from Marsalis himself) make this a standout of the evening. The performance keeps the audience on their toes, drawing attention from one musician to the next and to the next, before finishing up with an extended baritone sax solo that drew much applause.

Overall, Contemporary Jazz Masterpieces with Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Orchestra is an excellent concert, showcasing fresh works that pay their respects to the classics. In a genre with so many big names that have gone down in history, it’s important to remember that jazz, as Marsalis has demonstrated time and time again, is still evolving, still innovating, and still swinging.

by: Lydia. Rose
Source: BroadwayWorld

At Jazz at Lincoln Center, Dave Chappelle Rallies to Keep ‘Tradition Alive’

Outside the Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center on Wednesday night, hundreds of people in shimmering gowns and velvet tuxes waited for the program to begin. They snacked on popcorn from gold pinstriped bags and sipped cocktails in front of a wall lined with giant black-and-white photos of the jazz pianist and composer Duke Ellington.

“I love coming here,” said Alec Baldwin, as he posed with his wife, Hilaria Baldwin, who was wearing a plunging lilac gown and a cross necklace, on the red carpet at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s annual fund-raising gala, which celebrated Ellington’s 125th birthday.

The couple, who married in 2012, star in a TLC reality TV show, “The Baldwins.” Filmed as Mr. Baldwin faced trial for involuntary manslaughter, it focuses on their hectic family life with seven children, all age 11 and under, and eight pets. A judge dismissed the case in July.

“The kids aren’t necessarily into the music I appreciate,” said Mr. Baldwin, 67, who wore a navy suit and a burgundy button-down. “I like a lot of classical. I love Japanese jazz, too.” (Ms. Baldwin, 41, a fitness expert and podcast host, said she played a lot of Billie Eilish.)

Another jazz fan in the crowd was Michael Imperioli, the “Sopranos” star who recently played Dom Di Grasso, a smooth Hollywood producer, in the second season of “The White Lotus.”

He has not seen the new season yet, he said, but he plans to soon.

“I’m going to sit down and watch the whole thing in two days or something,” he said. “I’ve been binging British detective shows.”

The Baldwins and Mr. Imperioli were among a smattering of celebrities from the film, music and media worlds, including the journalist Joy Reid and Ellington’s granddaughter, Mercedes Ellington. The evening, which was hosted by the actor and comedian Dave Chappelle, honored the philanthropist H.E. Huda Alkhamis-Kanoo and the jazz pianist and composer Toshiko Akiyoshi.

Around 6:45 p.m., attendees began funneling into the theater. In front of the stage were two rows of table seating, topped with bags of popcorn and bottles of wine. The Baldwins shared a table with Chloe Breyer, the executive director of the Interfaith Center of New York, and Greg Scholl, the executive director of Jazz at Lincoln Center.

As they waited for the concert to begin, which featured the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, Ms. Baldwin sipped a glass of red wine, while Mr. Baldwin munched on a bag of popcorn and scrolled through his phone.

Around 7:15 p.m., Mr. Chappelle took the stage.

“Man, you would’ve never thought you’d see me at an event like this, would you?” said Mr. Chappelle, the famously firebrand comedian.

“Don’t worry, no bad words,” he joked. “Just here to help out.”

He then shared a lesser-known part of his biography: Before he was in the stand-up comedy scene, he attended Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, D.C., a public high school with a focus on arts education.

“That school profoundly, profoundly, profoundly changed my life,” said Mr. Chappelle, who is an amateur jazz pianist. “Duke Ellington was a guy who traveled all around the world just based off his talent. And as kids, we knew that it was possible, just because his energy was in the air.”

Though he mostly stuck to the teleprompter, Mr. Chappelle did throw in a few ad-libs. (“You can’t get one of the greatest comedians in the world to just read a teleprompter,” he said.)

He took light aim at President Trump.

“It’s up to us. We got to keep this tradition alive. This is one of the best things we got going in America,” he said. “You see what Trump did at the Kennedy Center? You’re next. He’ll come here, ‘I got to make jazz great again.’ Oh, no! Oh, no!”

Around 9:15 p.m., the members of the orchestra led a second-line procession that snaked through the atrium, as a dozen trumpeters, drummers and saxophonists played “When the Saints Go Marching In.” Afterward, a few hundred dinner guests tucked into plates of roasted branzino, chatting at tables with views of Columbus Circle.

Around 10 p.m., they began filtering down a hallway lined with a metallic gold curtain into Dizzy’s Club, an intimate space with bamboo walls and windows overlooking Central Park.

They danced until after midnight, as the Norman Edwards Jr. Excitement Band played swing standards like “Take the ‘A’ Train,” and the lights of Manhattan twinkled behind them.

“It’s heartening to see so many different generations here,” Ms. Ellington said. “Music is the only thing that’s going to really keep us going. We need it now more than ever.”

by Sarah Bahr
Source: New York Times

Wynton Marsalis Accompanies Silent Film Louis on Tour - The Syncopated Times

Before films began to talk, in the late 1920s, live musicians delivered the soundtracks for silent films. This was sometimes a single pianist or organist, sometimes a larger ensemble. We know that some jazz musicians, including Fats Waller and Count Basie, began their careers with this gig, which required both reading and improvising. Waller and Basie, by the way, retained a lifelong attachment to the organ.

The idea of providing live soundtracks to silent films has continued, with several ensembles and individuals providing sound for films by Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin and others. A new and ambitious effort of this kind is being undertaken by Wynton Marsalis, in conjunction with Dan Pritzker, writer-director of a film called Louis. Although not a “biopic,” the film, set in New Orleans, is based on the early life of Louis Armstrong. Pritzker and Wynton were also collaborators on the 2019 film Bolden, which I reviewed for this publication (TST, June 2019, “The Syncopated Cinema”).

Louis was actually released in 2010. The film is beautifully photographed in black and white by Oscar-winning cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond. There are title cards but no spoken dialogue. Marsalis recorded the soundtrack, which included some music he’d previously written and some things he wrote specifically for the film. In a video call I recently held with Marsalis, we discussed the genesis of the project and plans for an upcoming tour.

“He [Pritzker] had taken his mother to see a Charlie Chaplin film,” Marsalis told me, “and he thought it would be hip to do a silent film with music that could span the gamut of what was being played at that time [turn of the 20th century]—Gottschalk music, march music…And all the tributaries to jazz-Ragtime, European parlor tradition, the vernacular tradition.”

Apart from music written by Marsalis, there is a lot of music written by 19th century composer Louis Gottschalk. I asked Marsalis why he used music that was written so long before the early 20th century. “Dan was interested in the progression from Gottschalk to Joplin to Jelly Roll,” Marsalis told me. “In the silent film era, the piano soundtrack was not one style. It could be ‘railroad’ music, diminished chords, arias from operas, western style, pre-stride, whatever it would take to convey the action.”

The Gottschalk material was recorded by classical pianist Cecile Licad. “Licad became involved because she was friends with Pritzer,” Marsalis told me, “And as it turned out, I knew her as well, as we were both signed by CBS Masterworks in the early 1980s and had the same A&R, Christine Reed.”

Marsalis also includes Ellington’s (Black and Tan Fantasy) and (Happy Go Lucky Blues), Morton’s (Black Bottom Stomp) and (New Orleans Bump), Nick LaRocca’s (Tiger Rag), and King Oliver’s (West End Blues) on the soundtrack. Marsalis said: “That’s part of what made it interesting and what makes it interesting to do and to play.” I mentioned that some of the music in chase scenes reminded me of Raymond Scott and Marsalis said: “That’s not purposeful, but I like his music. It’s very colorful. I’m very interested in orchestration.”

“All of the music was put on the film by Dan,” Marsalis said. “He determined how it would flow into the sound track, and he has good taste and understanding of that.”

For this tour, Marsalis has put together a large ensemble, mostly composed of musicians different from those who played on the 2010 score. He acknowledges that performing the music live with the film will be a challenge. “That music was difficult to play in 2010 and it’s still difficult to play with any kind of authority…It’s not easy, but we have the same conductor, Andy Farber, and we have a click track for the drums. We have a way that we worked it out. We’ve all played together and know the styles. We’re gonna make sure we’re on top of it.”

I brought up the question of how Marsalis thought the known facts of Armstrong’s life jibed with how it’s portrayed onscreen. “I feel like we live inside of a mythic framework,” he said. “Like, what did Doc Holliday do? We don’t know what he did. Who was John Henry? I’m sure there was a John Henry, but I don’t know what he did. Now, with Louis, we know more about his life because he wrote about it. But I think that a silent movie that has a poetic take on it that features the music of Gottschalk and Jelly Roll, and, and… all this music people don’t hear in an active context. I was happy to do it.”

As far as future film projects, Marsalis doesn’t see it happening. “That’s not really my thing, to do films. I just wanted to do it with him [Pritzker]. Sometimes when people call me about films, I say, ‘Man, call Terence [Blanchard].’ It’s not really my skill set and I got plenty to do.”

He thinks jazz is very under-represented in film and when I ask him to tell me a film he likes, he’s hard pressed to come up with an answer. “The old ones have a romantic quality to them… A Man Called Adam was pretty good. “[Making a good film about jazz] still remains out there to be done, with people really playing. It needs a combination of intelligence and soul and the wit of jazz musicians-difficult to get it.”

Marsalis has been instrumental in trying to grow the audience for jazz and has been creative in finding new ways to accomplish that. “It’s important for our younger people to know about it. We have a lot of educating to do. And we have to educate ourselves, too.”

The live performance of the complex score to Louis will be a high-wire act. But given the quality and wide experience of the musicians involved, I’d say it will be an act worth catching.

Wynton Marsalis is a world-renowned trumpeter, bandleader, composer, and a leading advocate of American culture. He presently serves as Managing and Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Director of Jazz Studies at The Juilliard School, and President of the Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation. For more information on the Daniel Pritzker film Louis, please visit wyntonmarsalis.org

by Steve Provizer
Source: Syncopated Times

Youth Movement on Display at Jazz at Lincoln Center

Prior to Friday’s concert, I must confess, the phrase “Contemporary Jazz Masterpieces” kind of put me off. Of those three words, the only one that sparks any anticipation of something fun is the one in the middle; the title as a whole led me to expect something heavy and serious.

I needn’t have worried: Jazz at Lincoln Center wasn’t about to present a program of music that isn’t swinging enough to get my foot patting. The evening was put together by pianist and composer Steven Feifke, who, at 33, is by the far the youngest-ever recipient of the Grammy Award for Big Band Jazz and is probably also the youngest to serve as musical director for a program by the JALC Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, who served as co-host.

Then, too, newness was everywhere — there were three new faces in the rhythm section: pianist Adam Birnbaum, drummer Domo Branch, and guitarist James Zito. The reed section is now almost completely young players, with the only greybeard being the formidable Sherman Irby. He now shares the alto solos with Alexa Tarantino, who at 32 is also Mrs. Feifke.

The trombones had two newish players in Nate Jones and Marshall Gilkes, joining Elliot Mason with his familiar amish goatee. Only the trumpets section was entirely made up of Rose Hall stalwarts, with Ryan Kisor, Kenny Rampton, and Marcus Printup in their familiar chairs to the immediate stage left of Mr. Marsalis.

“Overture,” from a larger work called “The Philadelphia Suite” by Joshua Lee, opened the evening. The inspiration was clearly Duke Ellington’s many extended works, especially 1950’s “Harlem,” as well as Benny Carter’s “Kansas City Suite” for Count Basie.

“Overture” used a kind of Ducal form and structure; like nearly everything that followed, it was through-composed, not a repeating cycle of choruses based on familiar standard or blues harmonic patterns, and didn’t use any specifically Duke-ish tonal colors. Yet like Ellington and Carter, it swung like crazy, being essentially a musical depiction (at least to my ears and imagination) of Philadelphia or any big American city waking up in the morning.

Conversely, one piece played near the end of the evening, Leo Steinriede’s “Blues 25,” made a point out of being directly based on the old, reliable basic blues format, but was creative and inspired in its use of that foundation.

I might have thought that the second piece, Helen Sung’s “A Little Bird Watching,” was ornithologically driven, especially in that it opens with an innovative use of the classical technique sometimes known as hocket, which might handily depict canaries and cuckoos chirping back and forth. But it turns out that the piece was inspired by her mentor, a diminutive giant of jazz composition, Jimmy Heath, nicknamed Little Bird for his early allegiance to Charlie Parker.

“Charles,” a dedication by composer George DeLancey to his year-old son, began with cool sonorities that suggest the main title theme from a very hip late 1960s cop show, and gave us a blues-driven trombone solo by Mr. Gilkes and a high-energy trumpet chorus by Mr. Marsallis. Jihye Lee’s “Revived Mind” evidenced a distinctly Asian sensibility that made prominent use of flutes; it could have been a Korean composer’s direct response to Elington’s “Far East Suite.”

The second act was highlighted by a stunning ballad, “Radiant Flower (Zara)” by Xavier Nero, which was a feature for the big-toned tenor saxophone of Abdias Armenteros — warm and romantic in the tradition of Ben Webster. Darcy James Argue supplied “Single Cell Jitterbug,” but to parse the title it was more about dancing than elementary biology, being a catchy and swinging piece.

The host also offered two selections, the biblically-based “Ali Dell’Angelo” in the first act, with a resounding solo by Ms. Tarantino, as well as the evening’s climactic piece, “The Same River,” at the end of the second half. It had a kind of Gospel feel in a distinct 3/4 — marked by hand claps at several points — with Mr. Irby preaching on his alto saxophone. The piece ingeniously whirled and twirled in distinct patterns, never quite repeating itself.

Two other points: In the past, JALC’s presentations of newly written material have been traditionally less popular than its concerts of well-known jazz and songbook standards, but Friday night’s show was packed if not completely sold out. Also, clearly without intending to, the lineup of works presented what amounted to a completely organic demonstration of the virtues of diversity: there were African American, Caucasian, Asian, and Latinx composers, as well as a commendable portion of female writers.

Most of all, there was a significant concentration of that most elusive quality in 21st century jazz, namely youth. When Mr. Steinreider, composer of “Blues ’25,” stood up to take a bow at the end of the evening, we all realized that the title refers if not to his age then probably to the year in which he graduates from the Manhattan School of Music.

by Will Friedwald
Source: New York Sun