Jazz in the Bittersweet Blues

by Wynton Marsalis, Carl Vigeland

Experience the inspiration and joy of creation and performance in Jazz in the Bittersweet Blues of Life , an intimate portrait of a unique artist and his audience. Set in the studio, on the stage, and in great cities and small towns across the country, this book captures life on the road for Marsalis and his musicians, evoking its ritual and renewal, energy and spirituality. Describing the art of improvisation, the book's two voices mirror the interplay at the heart of jazz. "On the road and on the bandstand," Marsalis writes, "something great may happen at any moment, something that might even change your life." Alternately luminous and boisterous, often poignant, and always passionate, Marsalis and Vigeland's extraordinary dialogue is a must for fans, musicians, and anyone curious about America's only indigenous art form.

Genres: Music, Jazz, History, Memoir, Nonfiction, Biography, Art

256 pages, Paperback

First published June 6, 2001

About the author

Wynton Marsalis has been described as the most outstanding jazz artist and composer of his generation. He has helped propel jazz to the forefront of American culture through his brilliant performances, recordings, broadcasts, and compositions as well as through his leadership as the artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center (JALC). Wynton Marsalis is the music director of the world-renowned Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, which spends more than half the year on tour. He also hosts the popular Jazz for Young People concerts and helped lead the effort to construct JALC's new home, Frederick P. Rose Hall, the first education, performance, and broadcast facility devoted to jazz, which opened in October 2004.

Wynton Marsalis was born in New Orleans in 1961. He began his classical training on the trumpet at age twelve and entered the Juilliard School at age seventeen. That same year, he joined Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, the acclaimed band in which generations of emerging jazz artists honed their craft, and subsequently made his recording debut as a leader in 1982. Since then, he has made more than forty jazz and classical recordings, earning nine Grammy Awards. In 1983, he became the first and only artist to win classical and jazz Grammys in the same year and repeated this feat in 1984. His rich body of compositions includes the oratorio BLOOD ON THE FIELDS, for which he was awarded the first-ever Pulitzer Prize in music for a jazz composition.


Wynton Marsalis is an internationally respected teacher and spokesperson for music education and has received honorary doctorates from dozens of universities and colleges throughout the United States. Britain's senior conservatoire, the Royal Academy of Music, granted Wynton Marsalis honorary membership, the Academy's highest decoration for a non-British citizen. In France, the Ministry of Culture awarded him the most prestigious decoration of the French Republic, the rank of Knight in the Order of Arts and Literature. He also was appointed as a U.N. Messenger of Peace by the Secretary-General of the United Nations in 1991.


JAZZ A B Z is Wynton Marsalis's first book for children. A resident of New York City, he is the father of three boys.

Reviews

[Alex Beshay · Rating 2 out of 5]

I suppose it’s the nature of this type of book, but it felt very self-aggrandizing. Marsalis writes (in italicized text) very articulately on the subject of musical interaction. There are a few gems in the book, but I don’t particularly think that they’re worth the digging. There are plenty of arbitrary sections and virtually no timeline, which is a disorienting choice for a biography/memoir. I take issue with Marsalis’s conservative, gate-kept perspective on so-called “jazz”. I was generally not a fan of Vigeland’s writing, as I found it rather boring. This book reads like ego porn for Wynton Marsalis.

[Robin Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Once you've played the gig you have to leave, go home to the hotel, and feel fortunate to have played." p 28
"If you want to be happy, go inside. Inside yourself. Inside the people you love. Inside your art. Inside seems much lonelier than outside. Don't be fooled. You go in far enough, it's always warm and good." p 101
Some real poetic gems by Wynton in his journal-like pieces. Worth the read for these. The narrator, a writer who accompanied Marsalis on a tour, was too consciously in the story for me to entirely love the way this story was told.

[Don · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fortuitous follow-up to my recent reading of Val Wilmer's "As Serious As Your Life," putting a single jazz group's flesh on the bones she'd laid bare in her characterizations of the bonds and strains of living the life of a successful jazz musician.
Here, in "jazz in the bittersweet blues of life," we join the deeply-bonded, "we're not out here to be bull-shitting" life of the Wynton Marsalis Quintet in the period 1989 - 1994, constantly on the road, preparing to be on the road, or arriving home for brief periods of respite from the road.

Writer and amateur musician Carl Vigebond serves as our eyes and ears and narrorator on tour, and with co-author Wynton Marsalis contributing his memories, his reactions to daily situations, and his analyses of the music, its performance, and its sought-after swing. Marsalis is a musician driven and a leader driving, obsessive and direct, always seeking (and demanding) authenticity and excellence in every moment. **

I enjoyed the read, appreciated the musical insights and vicarious experience of being with the group. Paired with an ongoing stream-while-reading of the music these guys created during the Sextet's existence - fully satisfying!

** in his Foreward to J. E. Hasse’s biography of Duke Ellington, Marsalis recounts the breadth of Ellington’s work - ‘… the world’s most prolific composer of blues, blues Ed of all shapes and sizes; [composer of] music based on Shakespeare’s themes; music to accompany the paintings of Degas; thousands of arrangements; music in all known keys (and some unknown); music about romance, insects, countries all over the world; accompaniment to movies, TV shows, ballets, Broadway shows; music for gymnasiums, parades, charades…’ summarizing in a chuckle-worthy, admiring, understatement: “In other words, Duke Ellington had a lot on his mind.” As you read “Jazz in the bittersweet blues of life,” it will become clear that Marsalis could have been talking about himself. (Hasse, John Edward, Beyond Category: The Life and Genius of Duke Ellington, NY: Simon & Schuster, 1993)

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful portrait of the artist, of the road, of what it means to make music, to be alive, to travel through different places with the same and different people.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm always up for the musician's view of the road, even if it is filtered through another writer. Thing is, Carl Vigeland let Wynton Marsalis do the talking and largely stayed out of the way of things, though it is written in the first person. Anything Wynton has to say about music is worth a read, too, since he's one of the foremost minds in any genre. Fascinating insights into the dynamics of a band on the road, like a highbrow "Almost Famous."

[Suzan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really interesting book and a must read. I am not too familiar with jazz but was turned on to this book by my brother who is a musician. It is the most interesting read I have had in a while. To my reading ears, the book is written in a style that greatly mimics jazz. I got all caught up in the rythmn and melody of the story as it twisted and turned. It's hard to put the experience of reading this to words other than to say it is definately worth reading and savoring.

[Erika]

From the first page: "As clearly as possible, this book's many transitions, like chord changes, indicate changes in experience, in how experience is conveyed musically and, on the page, narratively. The narrative's logic is one of feeling, not geography or chronology, and it develops accretively, elliptically."

[Kyle Kirkaldie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must read for all. A book about SOUL, not just music.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book about being on the road with a jazz group (as opposed to a Mexican group...) written in a lyrical style