Wynton Marsalis: Skain’s Domain
Leslie Gourse writes about a great composer, artist, Jazz music enthusiast, and co-founder of the Jazz at Lincoln Center. Revealing his private side with the help of family, friends, and musical associates. Wynton Marsalis is described by Gourse as an individual who craves a place for Jazz within the classical music establishment. He was born and raised in New Orleans to a musical family. Gourse takes you through his journey through the big move to New York City and training at Juilliard away from home. Soon after through his first band, Jazz Messengers which he began playing with at the age of nineteen. Before long his big Grammy win of both classical and Jazz albums to his present day life. As well as debating …show more content…
During the 1983 Grammy’s is when the media first caught the attention of young Marsalis who won not only one but two Grammy’s that night. After that Jazz clubs began selling out, he began receiving calls from magazines and TV shows, as well as other media outlets. “TV shows Entertainment Tonight and Today welcomed him…All of them seemed intrigued by “the young guy from a musical family...had such clear and pressing opinions about the direction his music should go in” (Gourse 134) He was intriguing to them coming from a musically influenced family, had very strong opinions on the direction of his music, and Jazz music in general. Which lead him to be a co-founder of the Jazz Lincoln Center. His strong outspoken personality is the reason why he is still very popular in the Jazz world to this day. He shares his strong opinions with anyone and stands by them no matter what. Marsalis has proved himself as an enormous spokesperson for the Jazz community and has very strong opinions about certain things. No other Jazz musician has done more than what Marsalis has done to promote Jazz or to build the audience, not just at performance, but in everyday life. His strong voice speaks of the importance placed on music and cultural awareness within his race, as well as …show more content…
The overall tone really portrayed a respect for Marsalis by the author although they didn’t see eye to eye with every single piece of opinion shared. In 1989 during a European music festival, which was supposed to be playing Jazz music but wasn’t, Marsalis intervened because he didn’t believe it was right. He began playing old music such as Jelly Roll Morton. Many observers assumed he had something against the newer Jazz music when in reality he just wanted the audience to hear Jazz music. “But the issue of Wynton’s field of vision- though it was filled with a range of music that he considered to be “pure jazz”- didn’t go away.” (Gourse