Wynton Marsalis's Blog, page 43

Watch the exclusive first trailer for ‘Bolden,’ a jazzy movie from Wynton Marsalis

Buddy Bolden (Gary Carr, center) performs with his band in the biopic “Bolden”

Cornet player Charles “Buddy” Bolden was a father of jazz, the first king of New Orleans music and largely a mystery of a man. Now a new film from another icon, Wynton Marsalis, is paying tribute to the legend.

Directed by Dan Pritzker, “Bolden” (in theaters May 3) reimagines the life, music and passions of the influential instrumentalist (played by Gary Carr of “Downton Abbey”) against the social backdrop of turn-of-the-20th-century America. USA TODAY exclusively debuts the first trailer for the film, which co-stars Erik LaRay Harvey (“Luke Cage”) as Bolden’s manager Bartley, Yaya DaCosta as wife Nora Bolden, Ian McShane as the politician Judge Perry, Michael Rooker as Perry’s enforcer Pat McMurphy, and Reno Wilson as Louis Armstrong.

Now seen as a mythic character, Buddy Bolden (born on Sept. 6, 1877) was a rock star of his time, says executive producer Marsalis, who wrote, arranged and performed music for the movie. (He’s the man playing the glorious notes coming from Bolden’s cornet and Armstrong’s trumpet.) But a lot about Bolden’s life is unknown: He was committed to a mental asylum in 1907, where he died 24 years later, and no recordings of him exist.

“Many mythologies have a hero that comes from the bottom of whatever the social construct is, because that puts people more in touch with their humanity and takes them out of their system,” Marsalis tells USA TODAY. “He created a coherent soul. He had a virtuosity of putting together the feeling of the church and the marches.”

Bolden also came from the street and “the bottom of the culture where everything is supposed to always be stamped out and be happy to be stamped out,” adds Marsalis, who had a key role creating the “Bolden” soundtrack (out April 19). “He wasn’t playing to let people know this is what we do on the bottom. He was saying this was what y’all need to be doing on the top. And when he started to play, you thought, ‘Man, could we do that?’ “

by Brian Truitt

Source: USA Today

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.

Both are magnets for performers, fans, students, booking agents, concert promoters, radio programmers and an array of other music-industry professionals from around the globe.

“The word ‘jazz’ means so many things to so many people. When you go to Jazz Congress, you realize just how broad it is,” said San Diego-based singer Allison Adams Tucker, who since 2009 has done six concert tours of Japan and five of Europe. For the past six years, she has attended both annual events in New York and — this year — remained there an additional week to record her upcoming fourth album, “Retro Trilogy.”

“Jazz Congress is hugely influential in introducing me to a collective thought for jazz. This year was jam-packed with information I can use that is right on target for me,” continued Adams, who sings fluently in six languages. “And Winter Jazzfest helps me to further develop my ear and my understanding of music. It also lets me watch how other artists are branding themselves, putting themselves out there and aligning themselves with other musicians.”

Winter Jazzfest celebrated its 15th anniversary from Jan. 4 to 12. It drew 14,000 attendees of all ages, an especially impressive number for an event that features at least as many young new artists as it does older established ones. Winter Jazzfest performers appeared in six lower Manhattan nightclubs for the event’s first weekend (the Half Marathon) and in 11 venues (the Marathon) for its second weekend.

In between came individual marquee concerts by such top attractions as sax greats Gary Bartz and Pharoah Sanders, trumpeter Terence Blanchard (a 2019 Oscar nominee for his “BlacKkKlansman” film score) and the genre-leaping trio The Bad Plus, which will perform Feb. 12 at the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library in La Jolla. All told, nearly 150 different bands and solo artists performed over Winter Jazzfest’s nine-day 2019 run.

The two-day Jazz Congress was held for the second consecutive year at Jazz at Lincoln Center, after launching in 2013 as Jazz Connect Conference at the nearby New York Hilton.

Co-presented by JALC and Jazz Times magazine, this year’s edition on Jan. 7 and 8 drew nearly 1,100 attendees from 42 North American cities and 19 countries. Apart from an all-star, four-hour tribute concert to recently deceased trumpet star Roy Hargrove, Jazz Congress focused almost entirely on panel discussions. All of it was live-streamed.

Topics ranged from “Presenting Jazz on the West Coast,” “The Importance of Artist Credits in the Digital Age” and “Women Big Band Leaders” to “Jazz Down Under: Spotlight on Australia,” “Making Space in Jazz for Transgender Voices” and “Jazz, Swing, Race and Culture,” which featured Terri Lyne Carrington, Christian McBride, Myra Melford, Nicholas Payton and trumpet star and JALC artistic director Wynton Marsalis.

Fellow trumpeter Payton — who performs at the Feb. 16 “Jazz in the Key of Ellison” concert at San Diego’s Balboa Theater — got things off to a provocative start.

“My first question is: ‘What is jazz?’ ” Payton said to the overflow audience. “At the root of it, it is black music created by enslaved Africans who were not allowed to speak their native tongue…”

Marsalis responded a few moments later: “The music doesn’t have a racial identity, because race was a false construct created to oppress people. All black people can’t jump, dance, swing… I think — because the DNA tells us everybody comes from Africa — jazz puts you in a mobile environment…

“An art form does not come from all of the people at once, but from some of the people over time. The ethnic construct of a group obliterates the concept of ‘I,’ ‘us,’ ‘them.’ All dominant cultures see themselves as dominant. But culture goes beyond money and dominance. We have a problem with identity as a nation. Whatever our differences are, certainly we have a lot more in common.”

Honoring one of the ‘masters of the universe’

Marsalis and his saxophonist brother, former “Tonight Show with Jay Leno” band leader Branford Marsalis, also took part in “The Art Blakey Centennial Celebration.”

It was held in honor of the late drum legend, Art Blakey, whose fabled band, The Jazz Messengers, served as a graduate school for a host of young jazz artists over a period of several decades. Thanks to Blakey’s savvy mentoring skills, a good number of them later went on to achieve musical prominence on their own.

In addition to the two Marsalis siblings, about two dozen other alums of the Jazz Messengers participated in this massive panel discussion. Three rows of seats were required to accommodate them all.

The opportunity to see such a large number of former Jazz Messengers together was unprecedented and historic. Alas, having so many musicians in a single panel discussion ensured that only some of them actually had a chance to field questions.

Among the luminaries on hand were such illustrious former Blakey collaborators as Kevin Eubanks, Randy Brecker, Reggie Workman, Billy Harper and Harold Mabern. (Blakey will also be honored at an April 20 San Diego Symphony “Jazz at the Jacobs” concert.)

“Art broke me into pieces. But after eight months (with him), I had the vision of how I should be,” said Branford Marsalis, who was still in his teens when he became a Jazz Messenger in the early 1980s.

Drummer Ralph Peterson beamed as he recalled a world tour with Blakey: “I played ‘A Night in Tunisia’ with him in Tunisia! Sometimes, I felt like I was playing with one of the masters of the universe.”

By design, Winter Jazzfest and Jazz Congress overlap. Together, the two events offered attendees a dizzying panoply of opportunities to gauge the current state of jazz and its potential future directions.

Both annual events coincide with the Association of Performing Arts Presenters convention in New York. Now in its 62nd year, APAP draws several thousand attendees from all 50 states and dozens of countries around the world to hear a multitude of showcase performances.

“What’s remarkable is that, every January, there is this constellation of different performing arts and music-related events in New York City,” said Daniel Atkinson, the Athenaeum’s veteran jazz program coordinator and the director of UC San Diego Extension’s Department of Arts, Humanities & Languages.

He is also the treasurer of the nonprofit Western Jazz Presenters Network. The network’s annual January conference in New York is timed to coincide with APAP, Winter Jazzfest and Jazz Congress, which Atkinson regards as “the annual homecoming of the international jazz community.”

‘Jazz is really thriving’

The confluence of all these events can be overwhelming and exhausting, but in a very good way.

“It provides a unique opportunity for me to hear music and network with other presenters, festivals, artists, managers and agents,” Atkinson said. “Basically, anyone involved in this industry is here. So it’s an extremely rich opportunity to share information and learn about what is coming down the pike, in terms of new music products and artists.”

Those sentiments were seconded by Molly Clark, the associate director of artistic planning and education for UC San Diego’s 15-year-old ArtPower performance series.

“I attended the second weekend of Winter Jazzfest and I’ve gone for five of the six years that I’ve been at ArtPower,” Clark said.

“It benefits me directly, because I curate our jazz series and it’s an incredible opportunity to hear so many great artists at one time. Last year, we presented trumpet phenom Keyon Harrold — and that was a direct result of me seeing him at Winter Jazzfest three years ago. I didn’t know who Keyon was then and he’s probably one of the best performers we’ve presented at UCSD.

“You sometimes hear these conversations that ‘jazz is dying,’ just like ‘classical music is dying.’ But Winter Jazzfest is a place where you can see that jazz is really thriving. And it is thriving across demographic lines with audiences of all ages and races. It’s always interesting to see who will be the breakout star. And, sometimes, you don’t who that is until you show up and the line of people waiting to get in goes down the block.”

Other San Diegans were on hand for the Jazz Congress and Winter Jazzfest, including tireless area jazz champion Arlene Damasco, who works closely with Young Lions Jazz Academy founder and Jazz at the Jacobs’ curator Gilbert Castellanos.

Also on hand was KSDS Jazz 88.3 FM general manager Ken Poston and three staff members from the San Diego radio station, which has won multiple national awards for its all-jazz programming. The four took turns staffing a booth at Jazz Congress, where they provided promotional materials about KSDS.

“I want to see us getting more recognition on a national basis, especially now that we can be picked up by anybody, anywhere, via streaming,” Poston said.

“We’re going to start doing some national programs, which we’ll distribute to PBS stations. We’re doing a lot of artist interviews while we’re here in New York and we’ll launch in early 2020 with a multi-part series on jazz and civil rights. We’re in the beginning of the process.”

Poston chatted with the Union-Tribune following the arresting panel discussion “Jazz in Troubled Times.” It featured pianist and 2017 Ojai Music Festival music director Vijay Iyer, noted singer René Marie and Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra leader Arturo O’Farrill, who last May led his band and a slew of guests in concert last May on the Tijuana side of Friendship Park at the U.S.-Mexico border. It resulted in “Fandango at the Wall,” a live album, film and book.

“We have never not known troubled times and oppression, and this music we call ‘jazz’ has always reflected that,” noted Iyer, who is also a music professor at Harvard University and performs March 7 at UC San Diego.

O’Farrill agreed, adding: “It’s not physical realities or political realities that separate us — it’s us. ‘The wall’ is cultural and socio-political. … Nationalism is anathema to our music.”

by George Varga

Source: San Diego Union Tribune

Saint Lucia Jazz Festival and Jazz at Lincoln Center announce first-ever collaboration

New York, NY (January 25, 2019) – Through a first-time, one-of-a-kind collaboration, Saint Lucia Jazz Festival and Jazz at Lincoln Center today announced plans for the 2019 Saint Lucia Jazz Festival Produced in Collaboration with Jazz at Lincoln Center. Renowned as the premier jazz festival in the Caribbean, the 2019 Saint Lucia Jazz Festival Produced in Collaboration with Jazz at Lincoln Center will feature the finest names in modern jazz performing in intimate venues and public settings throughout Saint Lucia from Sunday, May 5 through Sunday, May 12, 2019. Details about performances and more can be found on www.stlucia.org.

The week-long festival will feature world renowned artists who have performed on Jazz at Lincoln Center’s season concerts, touring initiatives, and global outposts, as well as throughout Saint Lucia Jazz Festival’s 27-year history.

For this inaugural year of collaboration, Jazz at Lincoln Center has programmed a stellar lineup. Christian McBride, Ledisi, Etienne Charles, Russell Hall, and Patrick Bartley will serve as artists-in-residence in Saint Lucia during the week-long festival. Artists Gregory Porter, Dianne Reeves, Catherine Russell, Somi, The Baylor Project, Veronica Swift, members of the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, and a host of musicians and collaborators from the Caribbean will perform throughout the week. In addition to world-class performances, the 2019 Saint Lucia Jazz Festival will feature “Artists In Education” initiatives including master classes, professional development, and live performance collaborations with Saint Lucia School of Music students and local jazz artists.

“This collaboration between Saint Lucia and renowned Jazz at Lincoln Center reflects Saint Lucia’s exceptional reputation for consistently producing a world-class festival. The 2019 Saint Lucia Jazz Festival Produced in Collaboration with Jazz at Lincoln Center marks another monumental chapter in our small island’s history. We are excited to begin this partnership which will bring together some of the world’s best jazz artists in the world’s most beautiful destination,” remarked Minister for Tourism, Hon. Dominic Fedee.

“We are proud to support the re-establishment of the Saint Lucia Jazz Festival as the premier jazz festival in the Caribbean,” said Wynton Marsalis, Managing and Artistic Director, Jazz at Lincoln Center. “This collaboration reflects our shared commitment to presenting music at the highest level of artistic integrity and quality, while also offering festival-goers a profoundly good time. Jazz has a unique power to bring people of all ages together and lift up communities.”

Saint Lucia has been hosting a vibrant jazz festival annually since 1992. For more than 27 years, the festival has attracted visitors from around the world for events and concerts celebrating multiple forms of international, Saint Lucian and Caribbean jazz music. For more information, go to www.stlucia.org

Wynton Marsalis to join Bethany Baptist, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Celebration

NEWARK, NJ (January 7, 2019) — 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. Reverend Timothy L. Adkins-Jones is excited to welcome a “preacher-scholar of his caliber to our pulpit…No doubt that he will bring a poignant, powerful and prophetic message rooted in scholarship and the faith that will ignite our collective imaginations as we press forward with seeing King’s dream become reality.”

Dr. King spoke of the power of music, specifically, jazz, as integral to the struggle and survival of “American Negroes”, he said, “Jazz speaks for life.” Jazz and democracy are based on the same principles. World-renowned, trumpeter, bandleader, composer and the Managing and Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, Wynton Marsalis, will read excerpts, of his choosing, from various King speeches. Jackie Harris, president of the Lecture Committee, stated; “Wynton is a cultural ambassador, known humanitarian who is a student of King and his work.

Music will be provided by the Bethany Baptist Church Choir under the direction of Minister Rev. Karlos Nichols and Charisa, The ViolinDiva.

Program

Wynton Marsalis will read experts from various speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Obery M. Hendricks, Jr., Ph.D., Keynote Speaker

Music, Bethany Baptist Church Choir under the direction of Rev. Karlos Nichols and Charisa, The ViolinDiva

Bios

Obery M. Hendricks, Jr., Ph.D.

Widely sought lecturer and media spokesperson, Dr. Hendricks’ appearances include CNN, CBS, Fox News, Fox Business News, the Discovery Channel, PBS, BBC, NHK Japan Television and the Bloomberg Network. Hendricks’ bestselling book, The Politics of Jesus**: Rediscovering the True Revolutionary Nature of Jesus’ Teachings and How They Have Been Corrupted (Doubleday, 2006), was declared “essential reading for Americans” by the Washington Post. Social commentator Michael Eric Dyson proclaimed it “an instant classic” that “immediately thrusts Hendricks into the front ranks of American religious thinkers.” The Politics of Jesus was the featured subject of the 90-minute C-SPAN special hosted by the Center for American Progress, “Class, Politics and Christianity.” Former Chair of the Democratic National Committee, Governor Howard Dean has pronounced his most recent book, The Universe Bends Toward Justice: Radical Reflections on the Bible, the Church and the Body Politic (Orbis, 2011), a “tour de force.” He is currently a Visiting Scholar at Columbia University in the Department of Religion and the Institute for Research in African American Studies; a Visiting Professor at Union Theological Seminary, and Emeritus Professor of Biblical Interpretation at New York Theological Seminary. An Ordained Elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Hendricks holds the Master of Divinity with academic honors from Princeton Theological Seminary, and both the M.A. and Ph.D. in Religions of Late Antiquity from Princeton University.

Wynton Marsalis

The Managing and Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center and a world-renowned trumpeter, bandleader and composer. Born in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1961, Marsalis began his classical training on trumpet at age 12, entered The Juilliard School at age 17, and soon after joined Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. He made his recording debut as a leader in 1982, and has since recorded more than 80 jazz and classical recordings, which have won him nine GRAMMY® awards and sold over 7 million copies worldwide. In 1983, he became the first and only artist to win both classical and jazz GRAMMYs® in the same year, repeating the distinction the following year. Today Wynton is the only artist ever to win Grammy Awards® in five consecutive years (1983-1987). He helped lead the effort to construct Jazz at Lincoln Center’s home — Frederick P. Rose Hall — the first education, performance, and broadcast facility devoted to jazz, which opened its doors in October 2004. It is his commitment to the improvement of life for all people that portrays the best of his character and humanity.

Rev. Karlos Nichols

Karlos Nichols is a young, multi-talented preacher, singer, director, musician, songwriter, educator and clinician. Born in Memphis, TN, Rev. Nichols is an Alumnus of The American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York City where he received certification in Musical Theatre Performance Technique. He also holds a Bachelors of Fine Arts Degree from The New School University of New York City and a Masters of Science Degree in Education from Walden University. Rev. Nichols is currently pursuing a Masters of Arts Degree in Preaching, Arts, and Worship from Union Theological Seminary in NY.

Charisa the ViolinDiva

Charisa Rouse, soul jazz violinist and vocalist has devoted her career to challenging every preconception of what the violin (and violinist!) can accomplish in contemporary music. Classically trained, her diversity has allowed her to travel the world, recording and performing alongside such artists as Kim Burrell, Cyndi Lauper, William McDowell, Diana Krall, and Quincy Jones, to name a few. More than just a performer, Charisa fundamentally recognizes the importance of string programs in American public schools as an active educator. She has developed “the New Urban Strings Curriculum” targeted at reaching young minority string players; a curriculum which she uses regularly in the two NYC public school programs she founded a decade ago, reaching 200 black and Latino students annually. Charisa is a native of Washington DC where she acquired a Bachelor and Master Degree.

For more information about this program, visit the Bethany Baptist website: http://bethany-newark.org.

*It shall be the mission of the Lecture Committee to provide a forum to engage the church and community at large on matters it deems of interest for the betterment of our community. Pursuant to our Christian commitment of outreach, we propose to inform, educate, inspire and participate in matters of public policy; including but not limited to matters which are social, political, economic, religious, or educational.

Classical Up Close: Nicola Benedetti and Wynton Marsalis

Join WQXR for an exclusive evening with two of the world’s greatest living musicians: award-winning Scottish violinist Nicola Benedetti — whose extraordinary service to music and education has been recognized by Queen Elizabeth II — and legendary American trumpeter, composer and educationalist Wynton Marsalis, Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center.

After the huge success of the violin concerto Marsalis wrote for Benedetti in 2016, they have teamed up on a new artistic and educational collaboration. In this intimate event, we’ll get exclusive insight into that process as well as a live performance by Benedetti. Hosted by broadcaster and WQXR’s new Creative Director Clemency Burton-Hill.

Wynton Marsalis’s Seasonal Confections

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(Photograph by Dan Winters for The New Yorker)

Accompanied by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, the trumpeter offers a program of holiday favorites.

Last month, the distinguished trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and his quintet (with a lift from his daughter) ushered in the Christmas spirit with a swinging recording of “Winter Wonderland.” Now Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, along with the promising vocalists Vuyo Sotashe and Veronica Swift, offer “Big Band Holidays,” a program brimming with seasonal confections, both classic and reimagined. The series arrives on Dec. 19, with dollops of carefree nostalgia and abundant cheer, like all good traditions.

This article appears in the print edition of the December 24 & 31, 2018, issue, with the headline “This Week.”

by Susan B. Glasser

Source: The New Yorker

Big Band Holiday Cheer With The Jazz At Lincoln Center Orchestra

JAZZ NIGHT IN AMERICA: THE RADIO PROGRAM

The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra featuring Wynton Marsalis is back with lively arrangements of holiday classics like “Jingle Bells” and “White Christmas.” Catherine Russell joins the orchestra as a guest vocalist.

CONCERT:

JLCO with Wynton Marsalis in New York – December 13, 2017

PERFORMERS

Wynton Marsalis (music director, trumpet), Greg Gisbert (trumpet), Kenny Rampton (trumpet), Marcus Printup (trumpet), Vincent Gardner (trombone), Chris Crenshaw (trombone), Sam Chess (trombone), Sherman Irby (alto saxophone), Ted Nash (alto saxophone), Victor Goines (tenor saxophone), Walter Blanding (tenor saxophone), Paul Nedzela (baritone saxophone), James Chirillo (guitar), Dan Nimmer (piano), Carlos Henriquez (bass), Marion Felder (drums), Catherine Russell (vocals).

SET LIST

“White Christmas” (Irving Berlin) arranged by Victor Goines
“What Will Santa Claus Say (When He Finds Everybody Swingin’?)” (Louis Prima) arranged by Chris Crenshaw
“Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” (Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane) arranged by Victor Goines
“Brazilian Sleigh Bells” (Percy Faith) arranged by Carlos Henriquez
“Here Comes Santa Claus” (Gene Autry) arranged by Walter Blanding
“Cool Yule” (Steve Allen) arranged by Sherman Irby
“Jingle Bells” (James Lord Pierpont) arranged by Ernie Wilkins

Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Orchestra play joyful Yuletide jazz

The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra made the holiday season swing Monday night at Symphony Hall with an upbeat concert of favorite Christmas songs both sacred and secular. Led by trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, the 17-piece “big band,” plus guest vocalists Veronica Swift and Vuyo Sotashe, performed two colorful, energized sets to an enthusiastic sold-out house. Marsalis emceed and directed the show from his central seat in the trumpet section at the back of the band.

It was the kind of music that touches upon fond memories, in particular for those boomer generation adults who grew up with the music of classic Christmas television specials. That mood was set from the outset as the band opened with the cheerful “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” Written for the 1963 Christmas special of NBC’s popular television variety program The Andy Williams Show, the song celebrates gatherings of friends and families for holiday festivities — ideal for the coming together of band and audience for musical celebration.

The remarkable vocalist Veronica Swift joined the band for “(Everybody’s Waitin’ For) The Man With The Bag,” a jazzy song from 1950 about old Mr. Kringle dropping off gifts to people who are “extra special good.” The song gave Swift opportunity to show off her considerable scat-singing skills. Swift and the band then cranked down the tempo for a soothingly sentimental waltz-ballad, “Christmas Time Is Here,” from the 1965 TV special A Charlie Brown Christmas.

The music turned to a couple of traditional Christmas songs but with a jazzy twist: a busily shuffling “Jingle Bells” followed by the number that brought the smooth-voiced Vuyo Sotashe to the stage for “Greensleeves” (“What Child Is This?”). Sotashe was joined by a vocal quartet drawn from instrumentalists of the band for a slow, soulful tight harmony a capella introduction, after which the song picked up the pace and turned jazzy.

A vocal duet between Swift and Sotashe ended the six-pack set. Written in 1934, “Winter Wonderland” is often thought of as a Christmas song, though the lyrics never mention the holiday itself. This version bopped along with occasional syncopated rhythms that kept the song fresh and again gave Swift a great platform on which to scat.

Another favorite from an animated television special launched the second set: a stealthily slinky “You’re A Mean One, Mr. Grinch” from the popular 1966 cartoon special How the Grinch Stole Christmas! Next was a joyful jazzed up “Caroling, Caroling,” the best known of the 15 annual “family Christmas card” carols written by Alfred Burt between 1942 and his death in 1954, only one of which was heard outside of Burt’s circle of family and friends during his lifetime but which became immensely popular in the decades afterward.

Sotashe then sang “The Christmas Song” (“Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire”) in a higher tessitura than his other songs, resulting in a lovely but curiously androgynous timbre. It was hard to tell whether it was a high man’s voice or a low woman’s voice.

Swift was the singer for the up-tempo “Sleigh Ride.” Originally a seasonal light orchestra piece written by Leroy Anderson for Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops Orchestra in 1948, the song’s familiar lyrics by Mitchell Parish were not added until 1950. Sotashe then joined Swift and the band for the final number, a bluesy, forward-moving “Silent Night” played in kind of a good-time New Orleans mode that defied the typical lullabyish paradigms for the song, finishing off the evening in a buoyant holiday mood.

by Mark Gresham

Source: ArtsATL

The JLCO with Wynton Marsalis and the National Symphony Orchestra of Romania conducted by Cristian Macelaru perform The Jungle

January 11 – 12, 8pm – Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater

New York, NY (December 7, 2018) – The National Symphony Orchestra of Romania, conducted by Cristian Măcelaru, will join forces with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis for its first-ever performance in the United States. This special concert event will take place in Rose Theater at Frederick P. Rose Hall, on January 11 – 12, 2019, at 8pm. Frederick P. Rose Hall, home of Jazz at Lincoln Center, is located on Broadway at 60th Street in New York City.

The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis has a proud and longstanding tradition of collaborating with orchestras from all over the world, and this event begins an exciting relationship that will bring new art to audiences in both countries. The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis and National Symphony Orchestra of Romania, conducted by Cristian Măcelaru, will perform Wynton Marsalis’ acclaimed original work, The Jungle. Commissioned in 2017 for the 175th anniversary of the New York Philharmonic, The Jungle was originally performed to sold-out crowds for five nights straight. The Jungle is about what we see in our city today — the beautiful, the bleak, and the ever-present but often-overlooked commonalities of our shared humanity.

A free pre-concert discussion will take place nightly at 7pm. For additional information and to purchase tickets, visit jazz.org.

Ticket Information Rose Theater ticket prices are $40 and up, dependent upon seating section.

Single tickets can be purchased through jazz.org 24 hours a day or through CenterCharge at 212-721-6500, open daily from 10am to 9pm. Tickets can also be purchased at the Jazz at Lincoln Center Box Office, located on Broadway at 60th Street, ground floor. Note: Hot Seats — $10 seats for each Rose Theater performance (excluding Jazz for Young People® concerts and other performances as specified) and select performances in The Appel Room (excluding Jazz & Popular Song concerts) — are available for purchase by the general public on the Wednesday prior to each performance. Tickets are subject to availability; please call 212-258-9800 for available Hot Seats performance dates.

Additional information may be found at jazz.org | Facebook: facebook.com/jazzatlincolncenter | Twitter: @jazzdotorg | Instagram: @jazzdotorg | YouTube: youtube.com/jalc | Livestream: jazz.org/live

Jazz Diplomacy with Famed Musicians Wynton Marsalis and Igor Butman

The Sustained Dialogue Institute has been committed to transforming diplomatic relationships through thoughtful and honest dialogue since 2002. SDI works around the globe with governments, campuses, and communities to help people overcome their differences and reform relationships. Accordingly, at a time when relations between the United States and Russia have been on shaky ground, there is no better time for such a transformative experience than now.

This year, SDI celebrated the prestigious National Dialogue Awards Gala by honoring legendary jazz greats Wynton Marsalis and Igor Butman. Aside from their musical legacies, the two have made great efforts to promote cultural understanding and cooperation between the United States and Russia. At the Gala, the renowned musicians accepted their awards, remarked on the importance of sustaining a cultural dialogue, and put on a flawless musical performance. The night was an incredible demonstration of cultural diplomacy between the two nations, during a time when dialogue is so vital.

The first recipient of the National Dialogue Award was internationally-acclaimed musician Wynton Marsalis, who has been awarded nine Grammys, the National Humanities Medal, and a Pulitzer Prize. Marsalis has also used his extraordinary talents to give back to the community. Notably, he has co-founded Jazz at Lincoln Center, and has donated much of his time to fundraising efforts for numerous non-profit organizations and charities. Marsalis expressed that “Jazz is the sound of freedom, born of the quest for harmonious dialogue through the resolution of conflicting perspectives—under the pressure of time.”

Igor Butman was also honored by receiving the National Dialogue Award. Butman is famed for being a “jazz bridge between Moscow and New York” and has been a beloved jazz musician in both Russia and the United States since the 1980s. He has performed on talk shows, at festivals, and concert halls around the world, where he has delighted listeners with his soulful musical talents. According to Butman, “Art and especially music itself has no borders, and our mission as musicians is to build new humanitarian bridges between nations and countries. Jazz diplomacy and musical education is our tool to help people all over the world to overcome boundaries and erase barriers.”

Gala Chair Susan Carmel has dedicated much of her career to overcoming such barriers between the United States and Russia through culture and the arts. Carmel founded the Carmel Institute of Russian Culture and History at American University, which hosts events and exchange programs that allow students to experience Russian culture and arts first-hand. For Carmel, the arts have been a way to make connections, overcome stereotypes, and form relationships.

The artistic and cultural influence Russia has had on the United States is not hard to see. Everything from classical music, literature and architecture, to ballet, film, and of course jazz has been influenced by Russian artists and thinkers. Recognizing these connections can enable people to break free from stereotypes, judgement, and hate. “You have to take the time to see people and find ways to relate”, according to Carmel, “to form those cultural bonds where you can say, I’m like this person…I understand how this person feels.”

As a diplomat, religious leader, and humanitarian, Rev. Mark Farr also identified with this need to overcome stereotypes and foster authentic relationships. Farr expressed that genuine change comes from forming relationships before talking about the issues, and that these conversations cannot only happen when relationships are at their best. In fact, according to Farr, “When relationships are at their lowest, that’s not when you need to avoid talking, that’s the moment you need to talk.”

Although almost every issue is politicized and polarized to some degree, when people engage in thoughtful dialogue it can pull them from the extreme ends of the spectrum toward common ground. In these conversations, what’s more important than trying to convince people to take sides on a certain issue, is ensuring that each person has a voice and feels heard. “What we have”, Farr explained, “is a multiplicity of different inputs and outputs, which need to be threaded in such a way that you come to a successful conclusion that everyone feels…that their voice has had some effect.”

The Sustained Dialogue Institute describes dialogue as “listening deeply enough to be changed by what you learn.” This sentiment was certainly felt at this year’s National Dialogue Awards, through both the words and music of Marsalis and Butman. By bringing humanity to the forefront of the conversation, we can begin to mend relationships and have a productive, meaningful dialogue.

by Hannah Bergstrom

Source: Diplomatic Courier