Trumpeter Wynton Marsalis is internationally known for his outstanding career in jazz. Currently, he is the artistic director of jazz at Lincoln Centre. Many don’t know that he has also found success in classical music. In 1983, he won Grammy awards for both jazz and classical. The classical recording featured trumpet concertos by Haydn, Hummel and Mozart. While the album was a commercial success, Marsalis faced racial tensions with the Prague-based orchestra that recorded the album with him.
Musical selections from Wynton Marsalis
‘Plantation Coffee March’
In 1997 Marsalis’ epic oratorio about slavery and freedom, Blood on the Fields, won the Pulitzer Prize for music. ‘Plantation Coffee March’ is one of the larger pieces from the oratorio work.
2:19 Blues
Composed by Louis Armstrong, Marsalis’ rendition brings this blues classical into the 21st century.
The two-nineteenth brought my baby away
The two-nineteenth brought my baby away
The two-seventeenth will bring her back someday
Standin' in the corner with her feet soakin' wet
Standin' in the corner with her feet soakin' wet
Beggin' each and every man that she met
Twilight
From Marsalis’ first album, Wynton Marsalis, ‘Twilight’ is an original composition featuring his brother Branford Marsalis (saxophone), Clarence Seay (bass), Kenny Kirkland (piano) and Jeff Watts (drums).
Credits
Host: Vernon Neal
Producer: Dan Nass
Writers: Andrea Blain and Scott Blankenship
Additional music selections: Jeffrey Yelverton
Executive Producer: Julie Amacher
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About Rhapsody in Black
Where we turn up the voices of Black artists in the world of classical music, with host Vernon Neal.
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