Report from the “Let freedom swing” concert
Wynton and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra settled into their new home over the weekend.
This “celebration of human rights and social justice” offered six commissioned works for the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. Each piece was inspired by and tailored for the words of such luminaries as Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu (both read by Morgan Freeman), Vaclav Havel (Mario Van Peebles, Alfre Woodard), Lyndon Johnson (Glenn Close), Eleanor Roosevelt (Patricia Clarkson), Robert Kennedy (Keith David) and Martin Luther King Jr. (the Rev. Calvin O. Butts III).
“Each of these people took risks,” Wynton Marsalis said of the historic luminaries. The program itself was a risk. Could new music in a classic format inspire as much as the words being celebrated? For the most part, the results added up to an uneasy draw.
Read an article about the evening on the New York Times
Frederique said
on December 16, 2004 @ 8:46 am
On saturday those reflective charts with their sophisticated layers of sounds were well rendered by the orchestra with the help of great acoustics!
At the beginning of the the 2nd set, Mr. Marsalis blasted the most powerful, directed and WARM sound that took everybody by surprise and back in their seat, really!!! (you can “can” this one!).
Shortly after that, he complained of being hurt! Please, Mr. Marsalis, EVEN for the sake of the muse, do not hurt Your Self!
I heard the comments of a group of people being overwhelmed by such sophistication on such a subject, and felt that they had been in for a real treat, and liking it!
Thanks for so much human thoughts and beauty, put all together.
I hope this has been taped for some PBS special or will be played again. There is so much in it. I haven’t digested everything yet.
Karen said
on June 30, 2007 @ 10:37 pm
This show is featured on the JALC radio programming this week. Check your local radio show and the station that it’s on.