A criticism of Wynton Marsalis Jazz music based on a 2009 performance

Wynton Marsalis – Jazz in Marciac 2009

Upon looking at the list of videos to choose from for this paper, a few stood out to me, but I was very intrigued by Wynton Marsalis performing at the Jazz in Marciac festival in 2009. There were a few reasons as to why this piece jumped out at me. First off, Wynton Marsalis himself drew me in because I really haven’t listened to much of his music at all. He is one of the greatest musicians of all time, winning Grammys in both jazz and classical music for a grand total of nine to date.

The ironic part of the saying “to date” is that Marsalis still performs today. This was the other main reason I chose this video. It is fairly uncommon to hear one of the greatest jazz musicians of all time still performing today. The video is from 2009 and this really peaked my interest because I wanted to hear and see what jazz sounds and looks like today.

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Previously I thought jazz was a staple of a prior generation and then died off, but to my genuine surprise Wynton is still playing today and I truly did not expect that. This video starts off with credits rolling that introduce all the musicians on stage and then without any delay Wynton and his group dive into the first piece. I think this added perfectly to the performance because the group is all business and you can hear that in the way they play.

They are focused, clean, and precise as they progress throughout their set and give the audience a performance to remember.

The first piece played by Wynton and his ensemble is titled “The Sheik of Araby” and starts featuring Wynton on trumpet as he performs an extended solo section for nearly two and a half minutes. While he plays, I can hear the drums, piano, and bass in the background taking care of the rhythm, melody, and beat. The bass player, Carlos Henriquez, can be heard playing a note on every beat in the 4/4 time signature. He plays a quarter note on each beat while also throwing in his own twist with a few runs every few beats or so before he comes back to the steady pace. Meanwhile, the percussionist, Ali Jackson, plays every offbeat by tapping on the cymbal in order to give the music a swing feel. This is a wonderful example of syncopation and how it can be used to a musicians advantage in order to create a superb swing feel and sound. Lastly, the pianist, Dan Nimmer, keeps the melody steady as he plays the same runs and notes over and over in accordance with the soloist playing over him. All these elements combined allow for Wynton to really wail away on the trumpet for an extended period of time. Mixing some quick runs with firm, blaring notes makes this piece upbeat and keeps the audience on their toes. The entirety of his time playing is all different runs and combination of notes, but all seemingly while using the same few scales and chords. This makes me feel as if Marsalis is incorporating somewhat of a modal feel into the swing they are performing. Bob Wilber comes in on the clarinet after Wynton concludes his section. Similarly, the music stays in the same swing feel as the clarinet plays in the same manner as the trumpet before it. Running up and down chords and incorporating some more emphatic notes, the clarinet has a wonderful little solo before leading into the next solo after. At the conclusion of the solo by Wilber, the pianist takes a break from the melody to go on a solo of his own. He plays with speed and precision tearing through runs up and down the piano before signing off and leading into the soprano saxophone solo by Olivier Franc. As the others did before him, Franc shreds through scales and chords while also incorporating some loud blaring notes. Wycliffe Gordon comes in next on his trombone with once again the same styled solo; however, one thing to note hear is that Gordon holds a towel in front of the horn on his trombone in order to mute the sound just a tiny bit allowing for more of a subtle swing feel. I always love listening to a trombonist play because I love the deeper melodic sound of the instrument and I truly believe it isn’t featured enough in music. Finally, Victor Goines finishes out the solos on his tenor saxophone, another instrument I love listening to. He runs up and down chords and scales like the rest of the solos, but his is a bit different because he plays over the entire ensemble. While everyone else plays over just the piano, drums, and bass, Goines performs his solo over every instrument on stage; however, this allows for him to do things the others did not do such as crescendo drastically into loud blaring notes where he can really wail away. The piece finishes off with all the men playing alongside Wynton giving the piece a clean composed finish. Strangely enough, the piece sounds very composed and together at the end, but really if you listen closely, each musician is doing their own thing, but they are all just doing it together. Due to the similar style and methods in which they play, it makes it sound like everything is together and flowing as one, which it is, but they pull this off in a more unorthodox way. Overall I loved this piece as a whole. I literally could not stop tapping my foot to the beat for upwards of an hour. The swing style combined with some modal elements makes this one of the more fun, creative, and intriguing pieces I have ever heard. It reminded me somewhat of watching The Jungle Book from way back in the day when there would be toe tapping song and dance pieces throughout the entire film. This piece really does make you want to stand up and dance.

Overall, the video as a whole was a great decision for me. I hoped when I picked it that I would hear some of the best jazz which also mixed some classical feel into it and that is exactly what I got. From top to bottom and all throughout the performance these men killed every piece. In my opinion the best thing they did was alternate between slower paced songs and upbeat ones. Every other piece they would switch and it really keeps the audience intrigued and involved. The slower songs incorporate some more classical feel while the faster tempo ones feature more of a feel of swing. One last interesting thing from this performance was the singing that took place in the second to last song. I really truly did not expect that and it was a pleasant welcomed surprise. This whole video showcases just how special Wynton Marsalis is and I am glad I chose to give it a listen. I would highly recommend for anyone and everyone to listen to this performance whenever you have the time.