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Wynton - The Only Person in Jazz Who Matters?

I was just wondering when Wynton Marsalis’ opinion became so central to jazz that an article about another musician has to include a discussion about whether that artist gets along with Wynton and the nature of their relationship?

The New Yorker this week has a – mostly – very nice article on Esperanza Spaulding, the Portland, OR bass player. (She just smokes her fiddle BTW. I saw her playing with Joe Lovano last year and she was just phenomenal. She got every bit as much applause as Joe did.) For some reason the author felt compelled to discuss her – and I think by extension all of jazz – through the lens of whether or not Wynton would approve, or even call it jazz. That seems awfully narrow minded.

Granted, he has the loudest megaphone with JALC, but c’mon, is that really necessary?
grimace
schipo
1,267 posts
 
Please lets not compare George Crumb to Mozart..and when it comes to Betty Carter no contest with Ellas voice and vocal intelligence she wins out.
loomisjohnson
1,526 posts
 
marsalis is unquestionably a great technician, but has always sounded somewhat clinical and soul-less to me. i also found his classical & operatic stuff like "blood on the field" to be virtually unlistenable. however to suggest that he's "the white man's window to jazz' because he's an articulate (cf outspoken), well-dressed guy is classist nonsense. remember, miles davis, who's everyone's epitome of cool, was the julliard-trained son of a surgeon. i personally think the guy's music should be viewed on its own terms; he is after all, a trumpet player, not a political or religious icon.
martykl
3,563 posts
 
Loomis,

You stole my post almost word for word. Marsalis is an extremely accomplished technician, and the highest profile player in contemporary jazz. That's not too shabby a resume, right there.

OTOH, his compositional and interpretive work isn't my cup of tea. Forget about "Miles Davis Cool", Marsalis usually just flat out leaves me cold. That, however, is simply a matter of my personal taste (which, oddly, is just like Wynton's - largely stuck in the '50s).

I don't particularly like to listen to Steve Vai, either, but I could practice 24 hours a day for the next 100 years and never touch the guy's technical proficiency. I respect him, even if I don't particularly dig him. Same deal for Wynton.

Marty
grimace OP
624 posts
 
Wynton's sound - to me at least - always sounds academic and forced. Technically brilliant, but lacking spontaneity, and that includes much of his recent JALC work which sounds overly composed. Duke Ellington was brilliantly composed too, but Duke swung. Wynton does not. He leaves me cold.
orpheus10
5,988 posts
 
When Wynton was a side man with Art Blakey and the Messengers, I thought he was one of the greatest trumpet players ever. While he can still blow the trumpet, his music is "out to lunch", he should forever remain a "side man".
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