Jazz Articles about Wynton Marsalis

Wynton Marsalis: Marsalis Plays Monk: Standard Time Volume 4

by C. Michael Bailey
July 1, 1999

Academic Freedom. Marsalis Plays Monk: Standard Time Volume 4 is the fourth in Wynton Marsalis's Standard Time series and the first in a series of eight total CDs comprising the Swinging into the 21st Century series. Regardless of anything said about Wynton Marsalis, he is a dedicated educator and purveyor of jazz music. Many critics have accused Marsalis as having only head and no heart in his music. This is all beside the point. The recent Philips ...

Wynton Marsalis: Marsalis Plays Monk: Standard Time Volume 4

by Jim Santella
July 1, 1999

Recorded in 1983 and 1994, Wynton Marsalis’ homage to composer and pianist Thelonious Monk has the orchestral sound that encompasses many of the trumpeter’s recordings. His cohesive ensemble arrangements feature each member with brief individual solo statements that fit together seamlessly. Analogous to the tactics of a basketball team, Marsalis’ septet “passes the ball" from trombonist to trumpeter to saxophonist to pianist and back. The orchestral sound allows one to recognize the familiar voices immediately (Wycliffe Gordon and Wessell Anderson ...

Wynton Marsalis: The Midnight Blues

by John Sharpe
August 1, 1998

I wasn’t fond of Wynton’s first “with strings" session (Hot House Flowers, 1984) and I’m not overly enthusiastic over this second attempt either. Once again, Robert Freedman’s string arrangements add a hefty dose of sugar coating to a collection of very well known ballads. Marsalis is a masterful technician and his playing, as always, is clean, precise and faultless. Unfortunately, I also found it cold and passionless. As good as he is, his trumpet work lacks soul and fails to ...

Wynton Marsalis: The Midnight Blues: Standard Time Volume 5

by C. Michael Bailey
June 1, 1998

In his book, Lives of the Great Composers, Harold C. Schonberg titles each composer's life with a short, densely descriptive phrase. He titles the chapter on Johannes Brahms, “Keeper of the Flame." He opens the chapter with this comparison of Richard Wagner, J.S. Bach and Brahms:

“Wagner was a revolutionary, spearheading the future. Brahms was the classicist who dealt with abstract forms and never wrote a note of program music in his life, much less an opera. Wagner was to ...

Wynton Marsalis: The Midnight Blues: Standard Time, Volume 5

by Jim Santella
June 1, 1998

With pianist Eric Reed, bassist Reginald Veal, drummer Lewis Nash and a 42-piece string orchestra, trumpeter Wynton Marsalis has released a session of romantic standards, continuing the set of Standard Time volumes released earlier in his career. Bringing his trumpet's unique voice to the microphone, Marsalis combines his pure tone, squeezed notes, and a soulful vibrato with the sounds from strings and piano trio. The tunes are romantic standards with heartfelt lyrics; however, the expected emotional content is somewhat limited ...

Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra: Blood On The Fields

by Jim Santella
September 1, 1997

The patriotic red, white and blue packaging, the 1994 theater premier, the 1995 recording, the 1997 international tour and announcement of the Pulitzer Prize for Music have provided this three-CD presentation of Wynton Marsalis' jazz oratorio considerable publicity around the world. The team effort utilizes key solo work from everyone in the orchestra to support the libretto, which is delivered by Cassandra Wilson, Miles Griffith, and Jon Hendricks. Besides interesting trumpet work from Marsalis, there are notable statements from saxophonists ...