Articles by Marc Minsker
Marcus Roberts: The Truth is Spoken Here
by Marc Minsker
Wynton Marsalis is one of the most talented trumpet players on the scene today. Unfortunately, he's also one of the most egotistical musicians out there. As an unofficial “spokesman for jazz," Wynton has helped to promote jazz throughout the world, but he's personally done very little to innovate the art form. This is unfortunate because jazz is all about transformation and change.
Perhaps his greatest contribution to the music is his support of young and upcoming musicians like Marcus Roberts. ...
Continue ReadingSam Rivers: A Giant Among Us
by Marc Minsker
[Originally published in the South Carolina Free Times in February 2002] It's been said that jazz is dead.Scores of notable jazz critics have made the claim that jazz, an art form that relies heavily upon change and improvisation, must continue to progress if it is to live and prosper. If the music cannot “constantly reinvent itself," as Ed Bland argues in his 1958 film The Cry of Jazz, then “it will die." Even Wynton Marsalis, the ...
Continue ReadingNina Simone: Recognition of a Signifyin' Songbird
by Marc Minsker
Nina Simone spent her entire life jumping. Jumping from one continent to another, from the South to the North, from the church to the blues, from jazz to pop. Her incredibly diverse repertoire demonstrates the kind of genre-hopping she undertook during her long and illustrious career. But what's most impressive about Nina Simone's work is not the sheer the number of songs she sang and played on piano (well over 500 tunes at one point) nor is it her distinct, ...
Continue ReadingSo Long, Brother Ray
by Marc Minsker
Ray Charles Robinson September 23, 1930 - June 10, 2004
Regardless of where you live in America, the media's coverage of Ronald Reagan's death has overshadowed the passing of Ray Charles. Charles was certainly more accessible and universally loved than Reagan; he was even asked to play at Reagan's second inaugural ball. Even Reagan would have to agree: Brother Ray's mighty soul touched us all.Although he grew up in Florida, he was born in Albany, GA ...
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