It is odd to be an icon in an iconoclastic genre. But that's just what Wynton Marsalis has become. In some people's minds, jazz has always been about stretching boundaries, so when someone becomes a somewhat of living statue, they are ready to bring out the sledge hammers. Marsalis, who became an enfant terrible of jazz by age 19,...
Wynton Marsalis
It is odd to be an icon in an iconoclastic genre. But that's just what Wynton Marsalis has become.
In some people's minds, jazz has always been about stretching boundaries, so when someone becomes a somewhat of living statue, they are ready to bring out the sledge hammers. Marsalis, who became an enfant terrible of jazz by age 19, but who now occupies the chair of elder statesman, has become an object of some jazz critics' barbs over the past decade or so. And while there may be some truth to those jabs, there is no question that Marsalis deserves accolades for his work in revitalizing jazz over the past 30 years.
Marsalis brings his Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra to the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts in Hartford on Saturday. Here are four reasons you might want to check him out, whether you're a jazz fan or not.
1) He is one of the best interpreters of traditional jazz. – Despite some snubs of Marsalis by upper-echelon critics and feuds with legends such as Miles Davis, many assessed him as one of the best to come along in years at the beginning of his career. And while many criticisms aimed at him focus on a lack of innovation that fuels jazz as an art form, few people deny that Marsalis has been a great keeper of the flame when it comes to jazz history.
2)Honors count – Awards may be a specious method for measuring an artist's worth, but it's not for no reason that Marsalis has nine Grammy awards, and has been the only artist to win Grammys for both jazz and classical records in the same year. He is also the only musical artist to win Grammys for five consecutive years and the first jazz musician to ever win the Pulitzer Prize for music for his oratorio, "Blood on the Fields" in 1997.
3) He has done more to educate people about jazz than just about anyone. – While Marsalis seems to have no interest in holding your hand as you try to make the leap from three-minute pop songs to 11-minute jazz explorations, he has been a vanguard when it comes to opening the world's ears to his genre. In 1995, PBS broadcast "Marsalis On Music," an educational television series on jazz and classical music hosted and written by Marsalis. Later that year, National Public Radio aired Marsalis’ 26-week series, "Making the Music." Both radio and television series won the George Foster Peabody Award. Marsalis has also written five books on music and established a jazz program at Lincoln Center.
4) His band. – Because of his renown, he can basically hand pick the best musicians and often does. Artists such as drummer Ali Jackson, who studied under Max Roach and who has played with everyone from Aretha Franklin to Diana Krall, is an example of the kind of talent Marsalis draws to his circle.
5) His range. – Although hailed as a jazz trumpeter, Marsalis is not limited to one genre. In fact, some think he may actually be a better classical trumpeter. After all, he studied classical music at Juliard, and won a Grammy in the classical music category in 1983. As a youth, he performed with the New Orleans Philharmonic and the New Orleans Symphony Orchestra. He has also written three full-scale symphonies.