Joe Martinez
Marsalis: “We should never discard something just because there’s a decline in its popularity.”
Despite rumors to the contrary, jazz is alive, well and continually evolving, according to Wynton Marsalis, the Juilliard School graduate and multi-Grammy Award-winning trumpeter.
The New Orleans native has been spending a lot of time lately as managing and artistic director of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, which makes a stop at Overture Center on Sept. 23. The contemporary “big band, ” now in its 30th season, embraces the essence of jazz, and, says Marsalis, plays a critical role in carrying the music’s legacy forward.
Marsalis riffed on that and other jazz themes recently with Isthmus.
JLCO isn’t like contemporary jazz combos we normally see. How would you describe its position and purpose?
We play the entire history of jazz from all periods as if the music were composed now. It’s a continuum of music with improvisational artists in every position made up of former members of the Duke Ellington Orchestra and my original septet. When I was debating if I wanted to play with a big band or not, it was Dizzy Gillespie who told me that one should never consider it an achievement to lose one’s orchestral music. That’s what helped me decide.
Growing up in the New Orleans area you must have been surrounded by jazz.
In my neighborhood growing up no one ever mentioned jazz or talked about jazz players, even Louis Armstrong, who was from New Orleans. My father [Ellis Marsalis] was a jazz musician, and I learned that things of great value, like jazz, are not always the most popular. Things come around in cycles, and we should never discard something just because there is a decline in its popularity.
Jazz is an art form and we constantly have to contemplate it, learn from it, be more creative and infuse it with sophistication. We don’t want to move away from it every time the breeze blows in a different direction.
You’ve won Grammy Awards both for your jazz and classical recordings. Are there similarities between the two musical genres?
Western classical music is part of the foundation of jazz. Both have the sophistication and virtuosity of performance. They also both have development sections in which a theme is stated, taken through different keys and variations, and asks the listener to follow along.
But as jazz musicians we have to swing first.
The trumpet is a difficult instrument to master. Why did you choose it?
My father played in Al Hirt’s orchestra and I got my first horn from him. It was a rule that you play the instrument you’ve been given.
Any advice for would-be trumpeters who want to reach the top of their game?
Play long, soft tones that are very quiet, starting at G and moving chromatically to the lowest note in the scale. Get the biggest sound at the softest volume, then hold it for a full minute.
And good luck with that.
