The Mouthpiece

Get in line NOW for Willie & Wynton Revisited!

admin — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 18:33:42 +0000

The event was simply billed as “Willie Nelson Sings the Blues,” but the historic two-night stand on January 12 and 13, 2007 here at JAZZ was far more than that. Call it a summit meeting between two American icons, Willie Nelson & Wynton Marsalis, two of the most significant figures in modern-day country and jazz, who discovered common ground in their love for jazz standards and the blues. Their performance stirred the sounds of New Orleans, Nashville, Austin and New York City into a brilliantly programmed mix that was equal parts down-home and cosmopolitan, with plenty of swing and just a touch of melancholy. To say that these shows were a hot ticket would be an understatement.

Now, by popular demand, they’re back! Catch Willie and Wynton live in Willie Nelson & Wynton Marsalis: Two Men with the Blues in a very special one night concert on February 9, 2009 in Rose Theater.
To hear what you might have missed the first time around, listen to Willie and Wynton on Jazz at Lincoln Center Radio!

Get your copy of Willie Nelson and Wynton Marsalis Two Men With the Blues now! (This link will launch iTunes.)

Congo Square Video Podcast

admin — Fri, 30 May 2008 19:38:55 +0000

Congo Square: Love. Libation. Liberation
Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis & Odadaa! with Yacub Addy

Congo Square, a ground-breaking work written by Wynton Marsalis with Ghanaian drum master Yacub Addy, debuted in Katrina-ravaged New Orleans in the spring of 2006 before a wildly enthusiastic audience in Congo Square (inside Louis Armstrong Park), the only place in America where African slaves were allowed to perform their own music and dance in the 1700s-1800s, establishing the roots of American music.

This video podcast excerpted from the dynamic performance of Congo Square at the 2007 Montreal Jazz Festival was produced by Amérimage-Spectra and appears on Boosey.com with kind permission.

Take a Peek Inside Jazz at Lincoln Center

admin — Fri, 30 May 2008 19:21:38 +0000

WATCH! Ever wonder what really goes on at Jazz at Lincoln Center? This five minute whirlwind video tour of JAZZ will give you an idea of the scope of our efforts to bring people—from toddlers to seniors—together through swing!

Celebrate Duke!

admin — Fri, 16 May 2008 16:21:17 +0000

With the 13th Annual Essentially Ellington Competition and Festival in full swing, all eyes turn to the genius of Edward Kennedy Ellington and the high schoolers who celebrate his music with more skill, soul and sophistication than one can reasonably expect from folks not quite old enough to vote.

>> Learn more about the life and times of the inimitable Duke Ellington at the Nesuhi Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame Online!

Get a peek into Essentially Ellington life with CHOPS: A Documentary.

Hall of Fame ConcertDjango Reinhardt & Charlie Christian

admin — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 16:52:38 +0000

When the Texas-born 23-year-old Charlie Christian joined the Benny Goodman Sextet in 1939 on electric guitar, he caused a sensation and launched a guitar revolution. He wasn’t the first guitarist to amplify his sound, but he was the first to turn the guitar into a solo instrument whose fleet, single-note lines were rhythmically and harmonically daring—and easily heard. “I don’t look at it as playing a guitar,” he said. “I try to make my guitar sound like I think a saxophone should.”

“Django,” guitarist Jean Reinhardt’s nickname, means “I awake” in Romany, and no one did more to awaken Old World musicians to the possibilities of developing their own version of America’s music. A Belgian-born gypsy virtuoso who had to teach himself to play all over again after a fire paralyzed two fingers on his left hand, he abandoned the Parisian dance-hall music after hearing recordings by Louis Armstrong and developed his own distinctive synthesis of gypsy music and jazz. The result was simultaneously tender, driving and impossible to resist.

Visit the Nesuhi Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame Online to listen, learn and discover more about these two seminal musicians and how they changed the course of jazz guitar in anticipation of Django Reinhardt & Charlie Christian: Celebration of the Jazz Guitar featuring three of the finest names in jazz guitar, Russell Malone, Bobby Broom and Biréli Lagréne. It’s going to be a pickin’ party of epic proportions!

Hall of Fame
Django Reinhardt & Charlie Christian: Celebration of the Jazz Guitar
Fri-Sat, May 2-3, 8pm
Rose Theater
TICKETS WHILE THEY LAST!

Eric Reed: Oh Happy Day!

admin — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 13:34:52 +0000

The gospel hit “Oh Happy Day” marked a seismic shift in the sound of the music, and the birth of a new tradition. Pianist and music director Eric Reed takes on tells us a little about the history of the song and the man—Mr. Edwin Hawkins, featured vocalist on Oh Happy Day, Fri-Sat, Apr 11-12, 7:30pm & 9:30pm in The Allen Room—who made it an instant classic.

1. Tell us about yourself, and how you came to gospel and jazz.

2. When did you first hear Edwin Hawkins and how did it impact your gospel conception?

3. Can you take us musically through the history of this song?

What is a Jazz Singer?Jazz for Young People Concerts

admin — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 20:14:57 +0000

Billie Holliday and Ella Fitzgerald photographs by William P. Gottlieb, www.jazzphotos.org

You don’t need a horn to swing a sweet melody. You just scat out a twisting, turning phrase that starts fine and mellow and then soars to a blaze. You purr, you whisper, you moan. You shout like a trumpet, slide like a trombone. Vocalists Carla Cook and Gregory Porter share the secrets of the giants of the jazz vocals with host Wynton Marsalis and friends at Jazz for Young People on Sat, Apr 5 in Rose Theater at noon and 2pm. Get ready for this wonderful Kids & Families event by clicking through the life and times of some of jazz’s greatest singers like Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Fats Waller and Louis Armstrong, visit the Nesuhi Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame Online and Listen. Learn. Discover.

Jazz for Young People®
What is a Jazz Singer?
Sat, Apr 5, 12pm & 2pm
Rose Theater
TICKETS WHILE THEY LAST!

Get Ready to Rag, Stride and Stomp withNew Orleans’ Son Jonathan Batiste

admin — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 13:42:30 +0000

Sharing the stage this Friday and Saturday, March 28-29 in The Allen Room with Marcus Roberts the genius of the modern piano, and fellow young lion Aaron Diehl is pianist, arranger and composer Jonathan Batiste. We took a little time to talk with this young man who’s already played with the likes of , to see what he’s going to bring to this hard stompin’ evening in the House of Swing!

1. Meet Jonathan Batiste who’ll be performing Rags, Strides and Stomp with Aaron Diehl and, the genius of the modern piano, Mr. Marcus Roberts.

2. So what will you be playing on Friday and Saturday on The Allen Room stage?

3. What kind of evening should we expect to have? What will it feel like?

4. Just to make it all crystal clear, why don’t you take us on a little musical tour of rags, strides and stomps?

5. Do you want to take us out musically?

Jazz Piano: Rags, Strides and Stomps
Fri-Sat, Mar 28-29, 7:30pm & 9:30pm
The Allen Room
TICKETS WHILE THEY LAST!

Ryszard Horowitz Classic Jazz Photos on Display

admin — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 13:41:56 +0000

Ryszard Horowitz was born in Krakow, Poland on May 5, 1939. Four months later the German occupation of Poland began, and he and his entire family were interned in various concentration camps. Ryszard and his parents miraculously survived, reestablishing their lives in Krakow after World War II. After studying at the High School of Fine Arts, Ryszard went on to major in painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow. In 1956, a cultural thaw resulted in the Polish government’s awarding of grants and subsidies for the encouragement of new and original art forms. Krakow suddenly emerged as a center of avant-garde painting, theater production and filmmaking. At this time, when he was 17, Ryszard became fascinated with American photography and its applications in communication. In 1959 Dave Brubeck performed in Poland, and Horowitz was there to document it. He later came to the states as an exchange student, and promptly made the scene at Newport for the Jazz Festival where he captured the wonderful and iconic images on display at Jazz from February 26 - April 10

We sat down with Mr. Horowitz and asked him a few questions about his life, his work and those wonderful images.

Meet Ryszard Horowitz.

Tell about us the work on exhibit at Jazz.

What’s your favorite image?

Can you tell us about your other work?

Meet Vincent GardnerMusic Director, Songs of Romance

admin — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 03:45:03 +0000

Vincent Gardner is a gifted soloist, arranger, and valued member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra since 2000. His solos have been said to “transcend orthodoxy and express something personal” by JazzTimes; his arrangements have been called “arresting” and a “thrill ride” by The New York Times. And on March 13-15 in Rose Theater, he finds himself once again at the helm of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra in Songs of Romance, a concert celebrating the bittersweet call and response of love.

Click here to view a short video, and get to know Mr. Gardener in his own words.

“Discovered” by Mercer Ellington, Mr. Gardner has performed, toured, and/or recorded with The Duke Ellington Orchestra, Bobby McFerrin, The Count Basie Orchestra, Frank Foster, The Glenn Miller Orchestra, Chaka Kahn, A Tribe Called Quest, Nancy Wilson, McCoy Tyner, Nicholas Payton, Illinois Jacquet, Wynton Marsalis, Tommy Flanagan, Marcus Roberts, Matchbox 20, Jimmy Heath, Lauryn Hill and others.