We had a delightful day in Central Wisc. yesterday. Wynton Marsalis, -- trumpet player, composer, band-leader extraordinaire -- was here on campus to teach some master classes on Jazz and improvisation. He and the Lincoln Center Jazz orchestra also played two brilliant concerts in town.
He is an exceptional educator, constantly telling very effective stories and firing out wonderful metaphors and analogies. He shared his wisdom with wit, fire and passion.
My personal favorite of the concert: Ellington's 'Single petal of a rose.' It was a tender sweet duet between a bass clarinet and piano, and it broke every heart in the hall.
P.S. You can get a small taste of the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra by checking out Jazz at Lincoln Center Radio.
2 comments:
It can be esp. exciting to hear jazz musicians in the hinterlands. There seems to be, at least sometimes, an element of added inspiration when musicians are playing for people who don't have access to the music on a nightly basis (as they would in, say, New York).
Indeed, Michael. The crowd was very appreciative, and the band noted that fact - when they came out for their encore, they walked off the stage, & in to the audience, and started playing the c-jam blues 'New Orleans style', each taking just a short focused solo. It was a deeply classy way to end the show.
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