From '80s jazz wunderkind to 21st century institution, the virtuoso trumpeter and composer measures the music's enduring vitality
By Alan Light
Special to MSN Music
Jan. 1, 2008
“There was a time when you could hardly find an acoustic bass player," says Wynton Marsalis. “Now there are so many of them. There are a lot of good young drummers coming up. There's a lot of knowledge now that just wasn't there before."
Credit for much of that knowledge has to go to Marsalis, one of the most influential and controversial figures in the history of jazz. Since emerging into the world as a hotshot trumpet-playing prodigy from New Orleans in the early 1980s, he has become the music's most public face -- tirelessly recording, teaching, speaking and touring, always championing the traditional principles of jazz to as many people as he can possibly reach.
Click here to read the full interview.
By Alan Light
Special to MSN Music
Jan. 1, 2008
“There was a time when you could hardly find an acoustic bass player," says Wynton Marsalis. “Now there are so many of them. There are a lot of good young drummers coming up. There's a lot of knowledge now that just wasn't there before."
Credit for much of that knowledge has to go to Marsalis, one of the most influential and controversial figures in the history of jazz. Since emerging into the world as a hotshot trumpet-playing prodigy from New Orleans in the early 1980s, he has become the music's most public face -- tirelessly recording, teaching, speaking and touring, always championing the traditional principles of jazz to as many people as he can possibly reach.
Click here to read the full interview.
