Wynton Marsalis

As Carl Vigeland went on tour with Wynton Marsalis and his septet, he witnessed "their relationships with their audiences, their art, and each other. At the same time, Marsalis takes us into the heart of jazz itself, with intimate meditations on home, family, creation, and performance--written in the cadence of his inimitable voice."--Jacket.

In To a Young Jazz Musician, the renowned jazz musician and Pulitzer Prize--winning composer Wynton Marsalis gives us an invaluable guide to making good music--and to leading a good life.Writing from the road "between the bus ride, the sound check, and the gig," Marsalis passes on wisdom gained from experience, addressed to a young musician coming up--and to any of us at any stage of life. He writes that having humility is a way to continue to grow, to listen, and to learn; that patience is necessary for developing both technical proficiency and your own art rather than an imitation of someone else's; and that rules are indispensable because "freedom lives in structure." He offers lessons learned from his years as a performer and from his great forebears Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, and others; he explores the art of swing; he discusses why it is important to run toward your issues, not away; and he talks about what to do when your integrity runs up against the lack thereof in others and in our culture. He poetically expresses our need for healers: "All of it tracks back to how you heal your culture, one patient at a time, beginning with yourself."This is a unique book, in which a great artist offers his personal thoughts, both on jazz and on how to live a better, more original, productive, and meaningful life. To a Young Jazz Musician is sure to be treasured by readers young and old, musicians, lovers of music, and anyone interested in being mentored by one of America's most influential, generous, and talented artists.From the Hardcover edition.

"Takes readers (and listeners) on a rollicking, clanging, clapping tour through the many sounds that fill a neighborhood"--

Profiles twenty-six of the jazz greats of all time, from Count Basie to Louis Armstrong, through a review of their work, their life stories, and their greatest hits by one of today's top jazz performers. A is for "almighty" Louis Armstrong, whose amazing artistry unfolds in an accumulative poem shaped like the letter he stands for. As for sax master Sonny Rollins, whose "robust style radiates roundness," could there be a better tribute than a poetic rondeau? In an extraordinary feat, Pulitzer Prize-winning jazz composer Wynton Marsalis harmonizes his love and knowledge of jazz's most celebrated artists with an astounding diversity of poetic forms-from simple blues (Count Basie) to a complex pantoum (Charlie Parker), from a tender sonnet (Sarah Vaughan) to a performance poem snapping the rhythms of Art Blakey to life.

Marsalis on Music, the illustrated companion book-with-CD to Wynton Marsalis's groundbreaking television series, is the perfect introduction to the joy of music, both classical and jazz, for families, young people, and music-hungry readers of all ages. In chapters that correspond to the four one-hour programs in the series, and a Listening Guide and audio CD prepared exclusively for the book, Wynton Marsalis uses wonderfully appealing examples and analogies to communicate the fundamentals of music. Whether likening the rhythmic structures of music to playing basketball, teaching sonata form through a story about chasing a pet hamster through a shopping mall, or revealing the connections between classical music and jazz, Marsalis on Music makes so-called "difficult" music vivid, immediately graspable, and most of all fun. Produced by an Emmy Award-winning team from Sony Classical Film & Video, the television and home video series "Marsalis on Music" was shot at the Tanglewood Music Center with the participation of Seiji Ozawa, Yo-Yo Ma, the Wynton Marsalis Septet, the Liberty Brass Band, the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, and an excited audience of young people. Its premiere around the world in 1995 includes broadcasts in the United States, Great Britain, Japan, and Europe.

From Wynton Marsalis, one of the most intriguing artists of our time, and award-winning photographer Frank Stewart comes a spellbinding interplay of word and image. For every fan who has ever dreamed of traveling with the band, for anyone curious about the current state of America's greatest art form, here is a book that delivers the full, heady flavor of jazz life at the end of the twentieth century. Wynton Marsalis's absorbing text and Frank Stewart's stunning duotones capture the smoky intimacy of a late-night club scene, the high-voltage excitement of a concert hall premiere, the unbuttoned byplay of the band, the communion of artist and audience in the intensity of performance, interactions with fans, red-hot debate on the tour bus, and the romantic alliances that mitigate the loneliness of the road. Here are jive-talking cat daddies in the Amen Cadence, gorgeous and mysterious women in the Sweet Refrain, exotic vistas in the Bridge, and in the Chorus musicians, like the J-Master on piano, who live the music the way they play it. Swinging as hard and true as the music itself, the result is like nothing else that has ever been published on or from the world of jazz, a book that redefines what it means to be hip in today's America.

"In this book I hope to reach a new audience with the positive message of America's greatest music, to show how great musicians demonstrate on the bandstand a mutual respect and trust that can alter your outlook on the world and enrich every aspect of your life--from individual creativity and personal relationships to conducting business and understanding what it means to be American in the most modern sense."--Wynton MarsalisIn this beautiful book, the Pulitzer Prize-winning musician and composer Wynton Marsalis explores jazz and how an understanding of it can lead to deeper, more original ways of being, living, and relating--for individuals, communities, and nations. Marsalis shows us how to listen to jazz, and through stories about his life and the lessons he has learned from other music greats, he reveals how the central ideas in jazz can influence the way people think and even how they behave with others, changing self, family, and community for the better. At the heart of jazz is the expression of personality and individuality, coupled with an ability to listen to and improvise with others. Jazz as an art--and as a way to move people and nations to higher ground--is at the core of this unique, illuminating, and inspiring book, a master class on jazz and life by a brilliant American artist. Advance praise for Moving to Higher Ground"An absolute joy to read. Intimate, knowledgeable, supremely worthy of its subject. In addition to demolishing mediocre, uniformed critics, Moving to Higher Ground is a meaningful contribution to music scholarship."--Toni Morrison"I think it should be in every bookstore, music store, and school in the country." --Tony Bennett "Jazz, for Wynton Marsalis, is nothing less than a search for wisdom. He thinks as forcefully, and as elegantly, as he swings. When he reflects on improvisation, his subject is freedom. When he reflects on harmony, his subject is diversity and conflict and peace. When he reflects on the blues, his subject is sorrow and the mastery of it--how to be happy without being blind. There is philosophy in Marsalis's trumpet, and in this book. Here is the lucid and probing voice of an uncommonly soulful man."--Leon Wieseltier, literary editor, The New Republic "Wynton Marsalis is absolutely the person who should write this book. Here he is, as young as morning, as fresh as dew, and already called one of the jazz greats. He is not only a seer and an exemplary musician, but a poet as well. He informs us that jazz was created, among other things, to expose the hypocrisy and absurdity of racism and other ignorances in our country. Poetry was given to human beings for the same reason. This book could be called "How Love Can Change Your Life," for there could be no jazz without love. By love, of course, I do not mean mush, or sentimentality. Love can only exist with courage, and this book could not be written without Wynton Marsalis's courage. He has the courage to make powerful music and to love the music so, that he willingly shares its riches with the entire human family. We are indebted to him." --Maya AngelouFrom the Hardcover edition.