Wynton Marsalis's Blog, page 45

Rubén Blades Swings Big Band Jazz And Rumba On New Album

We all knew vocalist Rubén Blades knew his way around the clave, the rhythmic pattern that propels the Afro-Cuban dance music he’s known for.

But I bet you didn’t know he could swing a big band jazz tune with an easy flair that recalls past masters like Mel Tormé, Tony Bennett or Frank Sinatra.

Una Noche Con Rubén Blades by the Jazz At Lincoln Center Orchestra, with Wynton Marsalis and featuring Rubén Blades, introduces a side of Blades that expands his vocal prowess while acknowledging that jazz and Afro-Cuban music have always been very close cousins.

While he is from Panama, Blades makes his home in New York where, in the 1940s and ’50s, Latin musicians literally rubbed shoulders with African-American and white jazz musicians and created what we know as Latin jazz (it had other nicknames, like Cubop or Afrobop, but the term Latin jazz stuck). That style went on to influence the music that became known as salsa in the 1970s, which is when Blades made a name for himself with the fabled Fania Records label.

So singing in front of a jazz big band is really bringing the music full circle. The singer tells NPR that he has been a fan of big band swing ever since he was a kid in Panama, when his dad brought home a record player and some jazz albums.

Of course, no man is an island and a jazz singer doesn’t exist without a jazz band. On Una Noche Con Rubén Blades, the Jazz and Lincoln Center Orchestra sparkles, as usual, under the direction of trumpeter Wynton Marsalis. In this case, significant credit also goes to the orchestra’s bassist, Carlos Henriquez, who helped Blades conceive the album, did the musical arrangements and so expertly lays down the jazz walking-bass musical figure, as well as a deeply infectious Afro-Cuban tumbao. By echoing both jazz masters like Ray Brown and the unheralded Afro-Cuban bassist Bobby Rodriguez, Henriquez is a living example of the compatibility of the two genres.

It all comes together flawlessly in the new album, which explores a bit of musical history and features yet another talent from an already-multifaceted musical icon.

by Felix Contreras

Source: NPR

Kerns: LSO sponsors unforgettable show by Marsalis, Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra

It may have taken a touch of clever marketing — a few unexpected BOGO (buy one, get one free) days — to guarantee a music lover for every seat at Monday’s concert at the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center. Afterward, all present were standing, applauding and undoubtedly grateful that the sponsoring Lubbock Symphony Orchestra had booked a rare appearance by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. It was, at the least, a concert no one could forget.

To a large point, the show was sold on the name of nine-time Grammy Award-winning trumpet player, composer and recording artist Wynton Marsalis.

If that’s what it takes to attract music lovers across the country to the 15-piece Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (which, yes, includes Marsalis), who can complain?

Monday’s audience figuratively exploded with appreciation, after already cheering literally countless times when introduced to incredible musicians who provided powerful solos when not expressing a common ground throughout the evening.

Marsalis was an entertaining emcee when not blowing his horn, in effect helping a marvelous visiting ensemble teach an entertaining class about the life of composer and band leader Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington.

Looking sharp enough to draw blood with common grey suits and striped ties, members of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra — let’s refer to it as the JLCO — appeared confident for good reason. This obviously was not their first rodeo.

Accented by the orchestra’s music, Marsalis provided facts about those who discovered Ellington, and how this musician gained a national profile, conquering venues such as the Cotton Club before expanding horizons to find influence in Europe and the Middle East, composing music influenced by gifted players from different cultures.

Quality was apparent early on, which allowed Marsalis to poke fun at himself, recalling when his father offered to take him to hear Ellington. Marsalis said he responded with, “Why would I want to go listen to something like that?” His no doubt disappointed dad left him at home. As the audience gasped, Marsalis concluded, “So make your kids come to concerts like this whether they want to or not.”

A funny line, sure, but Monday’s at times surprising and often powerful instrumentals had the ability to win over anyone, no matter the age.

Marsalis and the JLCO would try to expose listeners to five decades of Ellington, kicking things off with 1928′s “The Mooch.” It was easy to feel what Marsalis called a marriage of the era’s “sweet jazz” and “hot jazz from New Orleans” that had battled previously. It would not be the first time trombonist extraordinaire Chris Crenshaw would make his instrument seem to talk to listeners during the show. Clarinets never have sounded sweeter.

Marsalis introduced the ’30s with “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing),” composed and arranged by Ellington with contemporary trombonist Vincent Gardner setting his instrument aside while adding a scatapproach to Irving Mills’ lyrics. Monday found a wonderful intro provided by jazz pianist Dan Nimmer, drummer Charles Goold and Carlos Henriquez on standup bass.

And from there, Marsalis, seated with the trumpet crew on the back row, introduced “the classic of classics in Ellingtonia” — ”(Mood) Indigo.”

A highlight arrived with an Ellington composition which Marsalis claimed was played only once in the studio. One can just imagine the cheers back in 1938 in the Cotton Club when his band lit into the increased tempos of “Braggin’ in Brass,” a number Marsalis playfully described as “difficult for the trumpets and impossible for the trombones.” Monday’s ensemble obviously was up to the task.

The rhythms of Latin America could be heard within “Moving Over Cuba” from the 1940s, but Marsalis first pointed out the diversification of Ellington’s band, stating at one point that Puerto Rican trombonist and composer Juan Tizol “had to play with Duke in blackface.” That alone would be worth learning more about.

Ellington never fired anybody, according to Marsalis, but that did not stop him from hiring whiz kid double bassist Jimmy Blanton when he was just 21, perhaps knowing his present bassist could not keep up. The JLCO performed “Jack the Bear” as a tribute to Blanton — and to current bassist Henriquez — but Marsalis also pointed out a fraction of what Blanton accomplished before tuberculosis claimed his life at age 23.

There would be more. With less than two hours to teach, Marsalis and the JLCO introduced more names, such as Billy Strayhorn, also revealing how Ellington could include an Iranian call-to-prayer within a composition. They would close with Greg Tardy excelling on tenor saxophone during two of the eight parts of “The Afro-Eurasian Eclipse,” which was recorded only three years before Ellington’s death in 1974 at age 75.

Also noted: Not once was Wynton Marsalis’ name mentioned on stage Monday, not even when he returned for a brief encore. Rather, he would say, “We are the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra”— and the true, undeniable stars throughout included trumpet players Marsalis, Kenney Rampton, Marcus Printup and Ryan Kisor; trombone section Crenshaw, Gardner and Elliot Mason; saxophonists/clarinetists Victor Goines, Ted Nash, Tardy, Sherman Irby and Paul Nedzela; Henriquez, bass; Goold, drums; and Nimmer, piano.

by William Kerns

Source: Lubbock Avalanche-Journal

After-Party with Wynton Marsalis Is Fun Opening Night

Wynton Marsalis and event sponsor Sara Miller McCune (photo: Kimberly Citro)

On September 29, UCSB Arts & Lectures (A&L) donors celebrated the start of its 60th season at a party in the Granada Theatre’s McCune Founders Room following a performance by Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis. Producers Circle members were joined by Marsalis, band members, and dance stars Charles Lil Buck Riley, Jared Grimes, and Myles Yachts.

Ticket holders to the main event were beckoned by searchlights beaming far and wide across the Santa Barbara sky and tunes by student musicians in front of the Granada Theatre. They then got to experience Spaces, a 10-part suite performed by the jazz legend Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and featuring Lil Buck, Jared Grimes, and Myles Yachts. The music and dance interpreted animals including snakes, monkeys, bees, lions, and penguins.

After the wildly entertaining performance, Producers Circle members retired to the McCune Founders Room, where they were joined by the stars. Miller McCune Executive Director Celesta Billeci welcomed and thanked donors and gave a special shout-out to John Arnhold for his tremendous support, which enabled the performance to happen. Billeci introduced her longtime friend, Marsalis, whose wide-ranging speech touched on the inspiration he drew from Yo-Yo Ma at a youth music camp and how difficult it is to survive in a career in the arts. He shared how blessed he feels to share his music with people all over and saluted the three dancers beside him as great geniuses. Afterwards, donors got to casually chat one-on-one with Marsalis, band members, and the dancers.

For these talented musicians, the main performance and schmoozing with donors were only two components of a packed itinerary that also included lots of time with students. The day before, about 1,400 area youth filled the Granada Theatre for a special performance of Thelonius Monk by Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. Goleta and S.B Unified 4th-6th graders and 7th-12th grade S.B. jazz music students enjoyed this special performance, which explored the fundamentals of jazz and the legacy of Monk. Marsalis and his orchestra also did jazz clinics at La Colina Junior High, Dos Pueblos, Santa Barbara, and San Marcos high schools, and at UCSB. In addition, Lil Buck and Myles Yachts met with UCSB Theater Dance students.

Major donors are critical to Arts & Lectures — ticket sales and support from UCSB covers less than half of A&L’s costs. Contributions make possible not just the main performances, but also the significant community outreach and education. About half of all visiting artists and lecturers engage in some form of outreach or educational activity. A&L already has at least 25 student workshops planned for this fall.

by Gail Arnold

Source: Santa Barbara Independent

Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis kicks off three-part salute to Miles Davis

New York, NY (October 5, 2018) – Jazz at Lincoln Center announces the first show in its three-part salute to Miles Davis: *The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis plays Miles Davis, November 8–10, 2018 at 8pm, in Rose Theater. *The evening will feature Davis’ groundbreaking music from the 1940s-60s, an output unparalleled in its stylistic range, impact, and enduring popularity. After demonstrating Davis’ early bebop stylings, as heard in songs like “Little Willie Leaps,” the JLCO will move on to the rich, textured arrangements of Birth of the Cool, showcasing the unconventional brass instrumentation that gave it its unique sound. Landmark pieces from Davis’ “first great quintet,” including his initial experiment with modal jazz in 1958’s “Milestones”—a style fleshed out further in Davis’ 1959 landmark, Kind of Blue—will also be featured in the evening’s repertoire. The JLCO will also perform an expansive arrangement of “Tout de Suite,” Davis’ first work with Chick Corea and Dave Holland.

Rose Theater will also host two additional Miles Davis-themed concerts in March 2019: Family Concert: Who is Miles Davis?, March 23 at 1pm and 3pm; and Marcus Miller: Electric Miles, March 29–30 at 8pm. The Jazz for Young People concert will be an hour-long narrated concert about Miles Davis, led by trumpet master and former Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra member Sean Jones. One week later, bassist *Marcus Miller*—himself one of Davis’ crucial collaborators—will lead an exploration of Davis’ “electric period” (1969–1992), one of the most influential and passionately debated eras in modern music. Much like Gil Evans and Wayne Shorter before him, Miller played an essential role in shaping Davis’ musical visions. Not only did he play bass on six of Davis’ studio albums, Miller also produced and composed almost every song on three of them, including the Grammy Award–winning Tutu. To this day, Miller is still the premier electric bassist, having recorded more than 500 albums as a leader and with legends such as Michael Jackson, Herbie Hancock, Frank Sinatra, George Benson, McCoy Tyner, Aretha Franklin, and LL Cool J.

The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra Plays Miles Davis will take place in Rose Theater in Frederick P. Rose Hall, home of Jazz at Lincoln Center, located on Broadway at 60th Street in New York City. 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.

All single tickets for The Appel Room and Rose Theater 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.

Live webcast on: wyntonmarsalis.org/live

Wynton Marsalis, Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra Wildly Entertaining

Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, with three incredible dancers — tap star Jared Grimes and jook virtuosi Charles “Lil Buck” Riley and Ron “Prime Tyme” Myles — captivated a sold-out house at The Granada Theatre on Saturday night.

UCSB Arts & Lectures kicked off its 60th anniversary season with a shot of artistic epinephrine, a welcome counterpoint to recent acts on the national stage.

Marsalis’ 2016 work “Spaces” captures in richly varied jazz and dance dialects the taxonomies, habits and movements of 10 animals, and the archetypes they represent.

We followed the searchlights and were greeted outside the theater by a local college jazz quartet and a crowd abuzz with anticipation.

Among the 15 superb JLCO musicians onstage (all male), Marsalis modestly resided in the back with fellow trumpeters.

Though centered on jazz instrumentation, naturally, “Spaces” embodies the symbiosis of musicians and dancers. Neither is accompaniment. Marsalis introduced each animal with science, myth and parallels to human behavior, punctuated with entertaining, self-reflexive pauses.

“Snakes are importantly associated with male sexuality … and that association is the conduit through which they have been connected to untrustworthiness” … pause…

“Elephants are the first trumpeters” … pause … (Ironically, in “Pachyderm Shout,” Marsalis played washboard alongside New Orleans parade-inspired brass.)

Nightingales, he said, “can improvise up to 300 songs. That’s why they’re sometimes compared to jazz musicians. They sing in the dark of night as well as the first light of dawn. They do late-night things. They have to do that, in order to have something to sing about.” Pause.

On that note, “A Nightingale” was the only segment with no dancing. It belonged to the musicians alone.

The bird on a summer night came to life through high-end plucking on the bass; flute pyrotechnics; swift stippling across the high keys; sultry clarinet; a contemplative midnight trumpet; and solos that captured musicians’ sometimes solitary nocturnal life.

Honoring bees and frogs, swallows and chickens, lions and monkeys showcased the music and the musicians’ expressive breadth.

As elephants, instruments in the lower range — bass, tuba, baritone sax — came to the top. Muted trombones spoke of penguins’ “high society.” The orchestra called to mind a flight of swallows, a lone snake, Indian temples, the African savannah and barnyard shenanigans.

The performance tickled ears, eyes, mind and heart, integrating music and dance, lighting and language — even fashion.

Evoking the sly snake, trumpeters muted their horns with dapper white hats and, as a pair of gentlemen penguins, Grimes and Riley donned black blazers and bowlers.

When introducing the dancers, Marsalis noted, “Words would diminish what they do.” Nevertheless …

As a snake, Riley’s wavy arm span defied jointedness. Folded arms were the swishing ears of an elephant, and he became a one-man parade of them with outstretched, full-body reaching.

In jook lexicon, dancers spin, hop, twirl and stroll on the edges of their feet, apparently unencumbered by ankles. Damian Woetzel’s ballet-steeped choreography featured silky turns “en pointe,” albeit in wingtips and Air Jordans.

Grimes’ tapped rhythms were integral to the orchestration, sometimes in call-and-response with the drums.

In “Bees, Bees, Bees,” he shadowed Myles, giving staccato voice to Myles’ rapid-fire footwork while concealed behind him.

And in debate with the band, he depicted — with astonishing stamina, majestic comportment and breakneck speed — the unrelenting fight of a lion king to remain on top of the pride.

While the audience shuffled out after “curtain,” Marsalis moved downstage with his horn plus three other musicians and the dancers for a spirited encore jam.

By Judith Smith-Meyer

Source: Noozhawk

UCSB A&L, Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra Engage Students in Arts, Learning and Inspiration

In advance of UCSB Arts & Lectures’ 60th anniversary season-opening performance by Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra last Saturday night, the ensemble also opened A&L’s season of outreach and learning programs.

The full orchestra spent an hour educating 1,400 K-12 students from Goleta Union and Santa Barbara Unified school districts, as well as several parochial schools, about the career and music of bebop jazz pianist and composer Thelonious Monk.

The band opened with a swinging “Epistrophy,” and Marsalis delved into the story of an exceptional artist. He shared how 6-year-old Monk taught himself to play piano after his family moved to New York City.

He also explained the ways that Monk’s style was unique in jazz (in summary: “Expect the unexpected”), and showed how, as a luminary composer and father of a musical movement, Monk is a still-relevant inspiration.

Marsalis synthesized two main lessons from Monk’s story. “Surround yourself with people who believe in you,” and use the courage it takes to be who you truly are: “[Monk] wasn’t looking for Facebook likes.”

Marsalis used serious scholarship, as well as a loving, commanding tone, to engage the kids and make them shout, whisper, sing and show their learning in response to repeated questions.

“How old was Thelonius Monk when he taught himself to play piano?”

“What are the three components of jazz?”

“Expect the, what?”

The assembled pupils learned how music is developed via theme and variations by singing parts from “Stuffy Turkey” under Marsalis’ direction.

The orchestra performed several more works from Monk’s repertoire, including “Lady Be Good,” “Blue Monk,” “Four in One” and an Afro-Latin clave that Monk wrote with John Coltrane.

In the end, Marsalis awarded the “class” a well-deserved “A-plus” for still listening after 45 minutes of spirited learning and music.

The event was only the first in a broad series of programs that A&L has slated to engage local students and the broader community in learning, art appreciation and skills development.

I told my high school son about it. He replied, “Oh, their trombone player did our clinic in jazz band. It was awesome!”

Each quarter, A&L hosts several public sessions with visiting artists that are free and open to the public.

Community members also attended a master class with UCSB students conducted by JLCO last week, participated in a South African song and dance workshop with members of the Soweto Gospel Choir, and can sign up to participate in an open dance class with members of Company Wang Ramirez on Oct. 12.

A&L’s Thematic Learning Initiative offers performances, films, lectures and group reading curated to offer varied perspectives on current issues to cultivate an educated community in thoughtful reflection and discussion. Topics for 2018-19 are “Borders and Bridges” and “Health Matters.”

This fall’s TLI opportunities include films by Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei and the International Rescue Committee, lectures on science and humanism, creativity and mood disorders, a listening party with a member of the Kronos Quartet, and a community read, with free copies available of David Miliband’s Rescue: Refugees and the Political Crisis of Our Time. Events that enrich and educate local students from kindergarten to post-doctoral take place throughout the year.

A major vein through which UCSB supports learning for all in Santa Barbara County, A&L provides opportunities for those of any disposition and interest to engage with contemporary artists, thinkers, researchers and innovators for the benefit of the entire community. Take part!

By Judith Smith-Meyer

Source: Noozhawk

Wynton Marsalis Conjures a Musical Incantation

Totem. Nahual. Daemon. Cultures the world over have often described in great terms the spiritual implication of everyday animals, and on Saturday night at The Granada Theatre, one modern-day musical shaman took it upon himself to exemplify their mythical significance through the language of rhythm and melody.

Wynton Marsalis and his 15-piece Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra lit up the evening with their presentation of Spaces, a musical ode to 10 members of the animal kingdom that kicked off UCSB’s 2018-19 Arts & Lectures series to rousing effect. As if their grace and dexterity with brass and percussion weren’t enough, Marsalis and the band called on the kinetic prowess of dancers Lil Buck, Jared Grimes, and Myles Yachts to slink and shuffle around each musical composition in a choreographic display that punctuated each coda and cadence.

Perched next to the orchestra on folding chairs and dressed in little more than jeans and T-shirts, the dancers’ modesty belied their superhuman ability to manifest and embody the spirit of Marsalis’s reverence for the winged and the wild, and the results were nothing short of transformative. As Buck and Yachts wove around the stalwart orchestra and Grimes tapped his way downstage, scraping and leaping to mounting effect in the closing piece, “Bees Bees Bees,” one had the distinctive feeling Marsalis was conjuring up a musical incantation that might inspire a fresh generation of jazz appreciation. If the response of the 1,400 area students who had filled the theater’s matinee presentation the day before was any indication, the spell had already been cast.

by Ninette Paloma

Source: Santa Barbara Independent

Marsalis and His Orchestra Dazzle with Duke in Irvine

Jerry Mandel’s day job is running the Irvine Barclay Theatre, but at nights and on weekends he’s a jazz saxophonist with a steady stream of gigs. I caught him a while back at Newport’s Bayside Restaurant, where he plays regularly.

One of Mandel’s vows when he took the Barclay position was to establish a first-rate jazz season much like the one he helped put together when he was president of the Segerstrom Center for the Arts.

Nitpickers might argue whether he has accomplished that goal yet, but Mandel certainly knows how to start the season right: with Wynton Marsalis and his band, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.

Those who saw the group at the Segerstrom Center in 2016 will probably remember not only their effortless mastery of Golden Age jazz, but also the charmingly down-home style that Marsalis establishes from the outset. He’s the perfect bandleader and host, scholarly yet low key, combining his obvious love of the music with an easygoing sense of humor, gently ribbing his sidemen between songs and commenting ever-so-subtly about the world outside of jazz.

The sold-out house at the Barclay was treated to an all-Ellington evening. If you’re a fan of the Duke, it was heaven. For those less familiar with his considerable output, it was an excellent opportunity to hear some lesser-known but beautifully crafted songs weaved in with a few standards, played by a band with intimate knowledge of Ellington’s performance style. This group was formed three decades ago with some of the veterans of Ellington’s group, and Marsalis talked about the importance of absorbing that special legacy firsthand.

The program for the evening was roughly chronological. Marsalis and his band started with a few early, familiar Ellington classics.

“The Mooche,” composed by Ellington and Irving Mills in 1928, is a raucous comic number. It’s a classic example of “jungle” style, as it was then called. Marsalis sneaked in a tasty solo; so did trombonist Chris Crenshaw, one of the evening’s standouts.

Naturally, a stroll through the early years included “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing”). It was given a thoughtful and subdued treatment, starting with a heady piano introduction by former boy wonder Dan Nimmer (now a Marsalis veteran in his 30s), who always throws delightful curveballs, changing things up without sacrificing taste or respect for the source. Ted Nash provided a rousing alto sax solo.

“Mood Indigo” was the last of the old, beloved Ellington songs. Then the band moved into less familiar and more virtuosic territory with “Braggin in Brass,” which this band has performed masterfully for years. As the name implies, it’s a tour de force for the trumpets and ‘bones, and if it sounds at times like a Manhattan traffic jam, they’re doing their job.

The rest of the first set featured songs with exotic titles: “Lady of the Lavender Mist,” “Moon Over Cuba, “Jack the Bear.” “Moon,” with an elegant and dreamy Latin feel, was made even more exotic by Elliot Mason’s moody solo on a rare instrument, the bass trumpet, which looks and sounds much like a valve trombone.

The second half of the evening gave us more rare masterpieces from later in Ellington’s long career, including several movements from “The Far East Suite,” recorded in 1966 but seldom performed by Ellington, even though it won him a Grammy.

It’s an atmospheric and evocative group of songs, and if you listen closely you can hear Ellington’s interpretation of the sounds he encountered – a Muslim call to prayer, for example – translated into his inimitable jazz language.

The evening ended with an impromptu jam after most of the band had left the stage. Marsalis walked over to his rhythm section and began wailing, delivering what had been doled out only in frustratingly small bits during the evening: his brilliant improvisational skills. In that respect, Marsalis is almost too good a bandleader. He gives his sidemen so much room to shine that we don’t get to hear enough of the jazz world’s greatest living trumpet player.

It’s a small complaint, considering the overall quality of the band. My only other quibble: we have to wait too long between visits. Please, Jerry, bring them back to kick off your next season.

by Paul Hodgins

Source: Voice of OC

Jazz at Lincoln Center celebrates Fourth Annual Monk Festival with performances featuring the JLCO

THE JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER ORCHESTRA PLAYS MONK

October 25–27 | 8pm | Rose Theater

Thelonious Monk’s music is playful, profound, and universally loved. Its deceptive simplicity unites musicians of all backgrounds and offers endless opportunity for interpretation and improvisation. The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis has been performing a steadily growing Thelonious Monk repertoire since its inception (now totaling more than 40 songs), and the JLCO will one day have arrangements of all 72 original Monk compositions.

In addition to new versions penned by renowned members of the JLCO, audiences will also hear arrangements written exclusively for this event by some of jazz’s most promising young composers – 15 year old Esteban Castro, presently attending the Manhattan School of Music Precollege on a Nana’s Way Scholarship as a Jazz and Classical Music double major, as well as a 10th grade student at the Academy for the Visual and Performing Arts at Bergen County Academies in New Jersey; and J*oe Block* and Matt Wong, who won Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Essentially Ellington Composition/Arrangement competition when they were in high school. Monk himself was only 18 years old when he wrote the masterpiece “’Round Midnight,” and this performance is a chance to hear the next generation’s brightest minds reinterpret his music for a band that can play anything.

Free pre-concert discussion nightly at 7pm.

Live webcast on: wyntonmarsalis.org/live

Wynton Marsalis on his animal ballet, teen funk band days, kazoos and JALC’s 31 years

Before Wynton Marsalis mastered all that jazz — and more than 40 years before he debuted “Spaces,” his 2016 Jazz at Lincoln Center “animal ballet” now headed to San Diego — he cut his teeth playing in several New Orleans funk bands in the 1970s.

It was then, as the teen-aged trumpeter in such groups as The Creators and Killer Forces & The Crispy Critters, that this 1997 Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and band leader learned some of the key skills he has drawn on ever since.

“Definitely!” affirmed Marsalis, 56, whose subsequent musical collaborators have ranged from Ray Charles and Bob Dylan to Dizzy Gillespie and Carole King.

“I learned what songs to play when, what solos to play, what an audience was like, what kind of stage costumes to wear, what was effective and what was not. We were writing new horn parts and I was putting new bass lines on songs. You learned to be efficient. And people would let you know how you were doing. The crowds were very interactive.”

Did the trumpeter, who was typically the youngest member in those Big Easy funk bands, also do dance moves while playing?

“We did all that kind of stuff, man. We even did ‘The Guillotine’!” he replied. “We also played a lot of slow songs and had a very large female following. One begot the other! We played ’70s funk by Earth, Wind & Fire, The Commodores, some War, P-Funk, Ohio Players, Maze, Stevie Wonder, stuff by Jeffrey Osborne’s group, Ltd., sometimes songs by the Funky Meters.

“Mainly, we did covers of songs that were really popular. A song like P-Funk’s ‘Flashlight,’ we might have played 2 million times, or Stevie’s ‘Sir Duke.’ We did a lot of things from his ‘Songs in the Key of Life’ album. From the age of 13 to 16, I might have played 500 gigs.”

For good measure, Marsalis was only 14 when he first performed as a trumpet soloist with the New Orleans Philharmonic.

He chuckled when asked if his school work was adversely impacted by his constant funk gigs in the Big Easy.

“No. I brought my homework with me,” said Marsalis, whose family-friendly Wednesday concert at the Balboa Theater with his Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra features the San Diego debut of “Spaces” (about which more in a moment).

“People would be laughing at me, because I’d be doing my homework on the gig! I was the youngest person on that scene. I was probably 13, and the average age of people in those bands was between 20 and 25. We had a great time. We competed in a lot of ‘battle of the bands.’ To this day, I can remember the names of the bands we lost to.”

Bobby McFerrin (left) and Wynton Marsalis joke around backstage at the 1983 San Diego Jazz Festival, where they performed on UC San Diego’s Revelle Campus lawn. (Photo by Grace Bell)

Winning ways

Losing has not been a common experience for Marsalis, who was 17 when he moved to New York to study classical music at Juilliard in 1978. At 18, he joined Art Blakey’s famed Jazz Messengers band. Within a year, he was leading his own group. It featured his brother, saxophonist Branford Marsalis, a veteran of both the Jazz Messengers and the Creators.

In 1984, Marsalis became the first artist in history to win Grammy Awards for jazz and classical recordings in the same year. In 1985, he became the second person to accomplish that joint-Grammy feat. He was all of 23 at the time. No other artist since has won jazz and classical Grammys in the same year.

Marsalis composed his first dance score, “Citi Movement (Griot New York)” for Garth Fagan Dance in 1992. Five years later, he became the first jazz artist to ever win the Pulitzer Prize for music, thanks to his sweeping oratorio about slavery and freedom, “Blood on the Fields.”

His most recent music and dance work, the jazz opera “The Ever Fonky Lowdown,” debuted this year at Jazz at Lincoln Center, which Marsalis co-founded 31 years ago. In 2004, Jazz at Lincoln Center moved into its $128 million New York City headquarters — overlooking Central Park — where it boasts two concert venues, a nightclub, a recording studio and more.

Jazz education programs have been a constant for the nonprofit organization, which in 1995 debuted Essentially Ellington to make Duke Ellington’s music available to high school musicians from coast to coast and support the development of their schools’ music programs.

In 2008, Essentially Ellington expanded to include the music of other top big band arrangers and composers, including Count Basie, Mary Lou Williams and Benny Carter. In 2015, Jazz at Lincoln Center debuted its own record label, Blue Engine Records. The Jazz at Lincoln Center Shanghai nightclub opened in China last year.

“It’s been a struggle, but that’s been the fun of it,” Marsalis said, speaking from his office at Jazz at Lincoln Center. “We have so many people at JALC — all types of people, all ages, from all walks of life. We have volunteers and a very dedicated board. We have a definite philosophy and point of view, which stresses the fundamentals of jazz. …

“We try, as much as possible, to bolster young musicians, but we need to work on it, always. If we had 15 more jazz orchestras across the country, I’d be much happier about the prospects for our students. But we have SF Jazz, Jazz Houston, Jazz St. Louis and the Dr. Phillips Center Jazz Orchestra in Orlando. So we have places doing things that are cause for hope.”

Marsalis happily recounted receiving a recording on his phone earlier that day — “at 4:19 a.m.” — from Vincent Gardner, the artistic director of Jazz Houston. It was sent from Australia, where Gardner was overseeing an Essentially Ellington program, and featured a rip-roaring bebop solo by a 13-year-old jazz virtuoso.

“Vincent sent this tape to all the members of the JALC Orchestra. My phone has been ringing all day with calls from the cats in my band. They’re all saying: ‘Damn! How old is this kid?’ So we have younger people who want to play this music.”

Via long distance, Marsalis marveled aloud as he played part of the recording to his interviewer in San Diego.

“What makes somebody who is 13 want to learn the most difficult aspects of our music, in Australia?” he mused. “And I realize that it’s the difficulty and the challenge of it. When you get older, the pressure to be less than you are (artistically) becomes greater and puts you in a difficult position. Some are willing to make the sacrifice, some are not, and there’s no shame in either.”

Jared Grimes dances with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, whose leader, trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, is pictured fourth from left in the top row behind Grimes. (Photo by Lawrence Sumulong)

From New Orleans to Harvard

In 2011, Marsalis did a “Music as Metaphor” lecture/performance at Harvard. He was joined by his quintet and former San Diego violin master Mark O’Connor, whose music has accompanied performances by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and the New York City Ballet.

Dancing is, of course, a tradition that is an intrinsic part of culture and everyday life in New Orleans, where second-line dances are performed at parades and funerals alike.

Derived from the city’s famous jazz funerals, which start as solemn processions and conclude as lively celebrations, second-lining often finds participants strutting in the streets. Accented by twirling parasols or white handkerchiefs, second lining is an all-ages affair.

For Marsalis, though, the first lure of dancing as a kid was that it wasn’t for kids.

“In New Orleans, everybody was dancing,” Marsalis recalled. “My family was living for a while in (nearby) Hanson City, which is really country, if you can imagine it in the 1960s in the segregated South. There was a restaurant/bar that kids were not supposed to go into when they were having dances. Somehow, I stumbled in there and it was men and women, snapping their fingers to Motown and Sam & Dave records.

“I remember thinking: ‘Damn, this must be a lot of fun!’ I knew I wasn’t supposed to be in there, but I lingered in a corner for a while. That was my first understanding of dance that wasn’t second-lining.”

With “Spaces,” the second of three major dance works he has composed to date, Marsalis cites his inner-child as a key inspiration for his “animal ballet” suite, which — in concert — features tap dance dynamo Jared Grimes and Memphis “jook dance” sensation Lil Buck.

Each of the 10 movements in “Spaces” corresponds to a different animal. The musical menagerie included lions, frogs, chickens, and — in the case of the suitably buzzing bees movement — insects.

“I was thinking about, like, an animal dance and the different things that animals do,” Marsalis explained. “I wanted to have one half of the suite that just had the sound of the animals, which were not connected to jazz, but just to sound. Many techniques in European classical music, after the 1920s, used soundscapes. I loved the way composers like (György) Ligeti would use sound as music, so I wanted to do that for first half. Then we go into swing and the jazz equivalent of these animals.

“We equate animals with sounds and rhythms, like swallows, how they go up and down and fly. We can do that in the music. Lions, with their power and roaring, elephants, with that big trumpeting sound they make. Snakes slithering, monkeys chattering; we found interesting spaces to get into.”

Why no duckbill platypus movement?

Marsalis laughed.

“I just picked the ones I liked,” he said. “I didn’t pick a koala, which was my favorite animal growing up. I just picked the ones I thought would lend themselves best to music. I try to be like a child when I write these pieces and write with the wonderment of a child.”

The suite’s “Bees Bees Bees” movement finds Jazz at Lincoln Center’s brass and wind players switching to kazoos. Marsalis laughed again when asked how long it had been, prior to debuting “Spaces,” since he last played a kazoo.

“It had been a while,” he admitted.

“One time I made the mistake of of doing a ‘Young Persons’ lecture and concert where we handed out kazoos to 800 kids, and then I tried to teach the class. Man! Those damn kazoos were going off constantly — Wah! Wah! Wah!”

by George Varga

Source: San Diego Union Tribune