Wynton Marsalis official web site

Thanks to Jandir Antonio Rigo, our reader and fan form Brazil, we received the translation of an article about Wynton’s concert in São Paulo.
The transcriptionist was unavailable and so Jandir Antonio did is the honor of doing the work so we could get a better sense of the Brasilian show. Thanks Jandir Antonio !

Sao Paulo - The jazz has many ways, take sidetrips and embrace many parents, not because it did not become Jazz.That seems to be the lesson that the north american trumpeter and band leader Wynton Marsalis intended to teach to almost 10,000 people that went to Ibirapuera Park Sunday morning, to ear the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. The park was animated, neither hot or cold and the audience watch the show seated on the grass.

Marsalis play “Tico Tico no Fuba”, by Zequinha de Abreu, a “Miss Missouri”, by Benny Carter. At times the audience got up, like when they played the composition “La Espada de la Noche”, a flamenco piece composed by a partner musician of the orchestra, Ted Nash.

Marsalis did just one solo presentation in the 5th piece, “Back to Basics”. Also Played bossa nova , “Continuous” and “Forro for All”. When he opened the concert, the trumpetist already gave a clue to what he pretended to do. “We are going to play music from all the history of Jazz”. A history of Jazz for Marsalis, is dynamic, fixed in musical principles and a structured strictness. His “Tico Tico no Fuba” with the arrangement by Ted Nash, came close to the classes without having one swallowing the other.

Leader of a group of 15 musicians, he sat orginally, next to the drum in the middle of the brass section, and not like a leader traditionel, in front of the musicians.He presented his principal soloists musicians at the end of each piece: Victor Goines, Joe Temperely, Wessell Anderson, Steve Davis. The public followed with enthusiasm and applauded each piece, demanding the band back for a “bis”.

Marsalis, with good humour, find joke in two children of 3 or 4 years old who were walking in front of the stage while the orchestra was playing, one of them wearing a mask of Batman. Dressed with a gray suit, a blue shirt and a yellow tie, showing his customary elegance, Marsalis did not speak much and thanked for the opportunity to play again in Sao Paulo.

Marsalis concluded the presentation, promoting a carnival parade New Orleans style. After an hour and a half of show, the band played “Big Fat Ham” stimulating the audience to dance in front of the stage. Marsalis, with a shy smile, got out of the stage. He will be back to conduct his orchestra today and tomorrow, in two concerts in the Sao Paulo Room. Unfortunately, for those who missed the feast at Ibirapuera, the tickets have been sold out for those 2 presentations.