In need of a Knighthood...

So I was introduced to Wynton at 7… he became my hero, my brass idol. I then learnt the trumpet, played for 13 years, which brings me to this day where all my dreams came true and I saw the man on stage flesh and blood.

Originally I loved Wynton’s portrayal of classical music he has this immaculate crisp clear tone but he plays with such a sense of ease. Tonight was his Jazz quintet for the first half and then his septet for the second.

The show was in the Times Warner Building (Jay-Z and Beyonce live here – just saying) where they have recently built the Rose theatre along with a couple of others to make Jazz at Lincoln Centre. It was in like a shopping mall type place. In the foyer there was a student  band playing before hand, I wish I had known this I would have arrived earlier to hear them. There was also this tribute/history of jazz room. It was cool all the rooms and foyers, entrances were named after famous Jazz Musicians. Just such a rich sense of heritage.

The music was very laid back “lounge jazz” so to be honest wasn’t hugely my cup of tea and music that I find quite hard to listen to as performance music as it just goes round and round. But it wasn’t too bad.

Wynton impressed me heaps by his extreme humility. The guy is a fricken legend yet it was the quintet that he was all about. Every time the sax player solo’d Wynton would walk to the back of the stage and hang there for a bit, he didn’t talk much and seem quite withdrawn from the spotlight. I guess perhaps this surprised me as I expected him to be this self-indulged performer. It was nice though.

There was also this amazing sense of casualty onstage. The performers chatted away to each other and really communicated with each other. Wynton kept yelling after the guys solo’d saying like check him out, nice work etc which was quite classic. He also kept wandering round and round the stage. There were seats behind the stage and he went and started chatting to some of the audience in a couple of songs.

There was just this huge sense of a good time on stage which cant help but make you enjoy yourself.

His tone was exquisite. He had this dirty muffled jazz tone yet continued to maintain clarity underneath this.

One of my favourite parts was the last song of the 2^nd half this random old guy walked on stage picked up a tambourine and started doing like the African shoulder dance which then moved into full dancing with the tambourine and then he walked across the stage and then off again. EPIC. Turned out he was the drummer for the septet. Herlin Riley - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqGJskz0mMU what an inspiration. He was seriously amazing. So entertaining to watch cos he was just having such a good time with a massive grin.

The septet was amazing too. They used a bass clarinet and a clarinet and a trom which was quite cool.

For the last song they had both groups onstage (eleven players in total) and they had 2 drummers 2 pianists and 2 double bass players. This was super cool and they did about 20 minutes of battling it out. Which was very awesome! They ended with drums – towards the end Herlin dropped his sticks and then dropped his 2^nd pair too and the whole band were just cracking up like they completely lost it. Such a cool feeling though.

I also appreciated Wyntons attempts at high notes there were quite a few he couldn’t hit but he went for them anyways and it was kinda this whole sense of hes not perfect which is what jazz is all about.

It did feel quite weird being in this concert hall with a bunch of white upperclass people attempting to appreciate this music. Quite cool to see the historical move through music over the last 3 nights (with Memphis and Jersey Boys)

The groups were also big on getting the audience to clap along but really tricky rhythms that they would set up for us. I liked this because you were able to feel the music and the beat of what they were playing. That was cool.

The ending… well that was incredible. Basically the band came back on for about a 30 minute encore where towards the end of the piece they all started walking around the stage and then got in a line and started playing in a line and then they started singing, like chanting, all in harmony. Then they started dancing and there were about 5 guys playing cow bell. Then the horns left and it was keys and cowbell for ages then the horns returned and then they all walked out together in a line still playing and then Herlin and the other drummer had a cow bell dance party on the side of the stage then they left but the band played in the back room for about another 5 minutes while we all left.

It was this fantastic sense of the concert being about them having a good time, not so much about us listening to it. Was quite a cool sense of music and why music is made. Totally new perspective on performance.

But basically he was just incredible. Held the stage and my heart…

To put some things in perspective…

At an early age he exhibited an aptitude for music. At age eight, Wynton performed traditional New Orleans music in the Fairview Baptist Church band led by banjoist Danny Barker and at 14, he performed with the New Orleans Philharmonic. During high school, Wynton performed with the New Orleans Symphony Brass Quintet, New Orleans Community Concert Band, New Orleans Youth Orchestra, New Orleans Symphony.

At age 17, Wynton was the youngest musician admitted to Tanglewoods Berkshire Music Centre where he won the school's Harvey Shapiro Award for outstanding brass student. Wynton moved to New York City to attend Julliard in 1979, and picked up gigs around town. In 1980, Wynton joined the Jazz Messengers led by Art Blakey. In the years that followed, Wynton performed with Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Rollins, Herbie Hancock and Tony Williams and countless other jazz legends.

Marsalis has also written five books and recorded 12 solo CDs.

Wynton presently serves as Artistic Director for Jazz at Lincoln Center and Music Director for the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.

Wynton has won the Pulitzer Prize along with 9 Grammy's and he was the first and only musician to ever win the Grammy for Jazz and Classical in the same year... and he has done it twice!