By Jerome Langston
It was on a very recent Friday morning, when the great Wynton Marsalis told me, during a Zoom call, that I have “a young sound. If you’re older, congratulations. You found the fountain of vocal youth.” I mean… that compliment will likely stay with me for the remainder of my days. How generous of him… and with his time too. The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, for which he serves as its longtime managing and Artistic Director, will be back in Norfolk next month, for their latest Virginia Arts Festival concert. And similar to their last time here, back in 2023, the concert will feature an HBCU jazz residency, with the top 2 bands opening for the JLCO that evening.
A couple days prior to my interview with Wynton, I chatted again with his longtime friend, Todd Stoll, a highly accomplished jazz trumpeter, who is also the Vice President of Education at Jazz at Lincoln Center. Todd and Wynton go way back… and he’s also perhaps the most knowledgeable person, regarding the cultural impact and legacy of the great Duke Ellington. He’s a Duke Ellington scholar. And as he reminds me early on in our conversation, Mr. Ellington is the cultural foundation that JALC is built upon. And the HBCU jazz residency is a part of the institution’s mission, which includes expanding the global community for jazz.
“The festival weekend is the culmination of literally 2 years of work we’ve now done with a lot of these schools,” says Todd. Immediately following their time here back in April of 2023, they gave full scholarships to every HBCU band director, to attend their Band Director academy. “And then we started Black, Brown and Beige — the Jazz Mentorship program. It allows us to send early and mid-career jazz musicians to HBCUs to work with these bands…,” explains Todd. These high caliber jazz musicians work with the HBCU jazz bands, doing concerts and workshops, while also providing resources to band directors.
“The idea is to build community around all of this,” says Todd. “We’ve been very pleased with the response, and how it’s progressing so far.” For this year’s concert and residency with the Virginia Arts Festival, there are around ten bands participating, according to Todd. Some of the schools include Huston-Tillotson University, Florida A&M University, Benedict College, Jackson State University, and of course our own — Norfolk State University, where my mom and a couple of my aunties graduated from. “We will name the top 2 bands, and they will play as opening acts for the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra,” says Todd. He credits Rob Cross, the Executive Director of VAF, for helping to make the HBCU residency a reality. “We really, honestly, had talked about an HBCU event for almost a decade, and Rob is the one who made it happen.”
This is an interesting and distinguishable time in the history of JALC. Their current season celebrates 20 years of the gorgeous, multi-use Fredrick P. Rose Hall venue, known as “the House of Swing,” as well as 30 years of their well-regarded Essentially Ellington program, for high school jazz bands. Recently Wynton was interviewed by Gayle King about those successes, which I mentioned to him during our chat. He tells me that it all surprises him, because of how he and his brothers grew up watching their father, the great pianist and educator, Ellis Marsalis, struggle at times… despite his success, attending black cultural events, and creating them. “It would be like 12 people show up with their kids on a Saturday… so yeah, I’m shocked by everything, everything surprises me,” he says, with perhaps a slight chuckle.
Wynton Marsalis is an extraordinary trumpeter and composer, who has won nine Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize for Music, and has recorded over 100 albums covering both jazz and classical music. And he’s still the only musician to win Grammys in jazz and classical categories, during the same year. The Marsalis family is considered the first family of jazz, akin to say the Jacksons in the pop music world — with his brothers Branford, Delfeayo, and Jason, all having built respectable careers in jazz performance and recording. The New Orleans native is also considered one of jazz music’s biggest ambassadors. When we chatted, Wynton, and the rest of the JLCO, with its 15 permanent members including my friend, trumpeter Vincent Gardner — were about to head out on their big tour of Europe, which will take them to theatres in Dublin, London, Amsterdam, Zurich, and other sexy places. I ask him if he enjoys touring. “Man it’s all I’ve done my whole life; it’s not like whether I enjoy it or not… it’s all I know. I’ve been fortunate. It’s been a blessing,” he tells me. His first tour that he went on was in 1980.
Late in our chat, I asked Wynton about his long-time friendship with Stanley Crouch, who was a well-known cultural critic, whose work I often enjoyed. People didn’t always agree with Mr. Crouch’s takes on jazz and the broader culture, but they certainly paid attention. He passed away in September of 2020. I tell Wynton that I’d only met him a couple of times. And he says that he always misses him. “I talked to Crouch every morning, for like 35 years,” he says. He then recounts the times when they hung out with Ralph Ellison, and his wife. He said their relationship was largely based on “ribbing” each other. They laughed often.
“It’s very important for there to be a cultural revival,” Wynton says. “I think any of us can agree with that.” Where American culture, and Black American culture in particular has been over these past few decades, is not in a good place — per my interpretation of Wynton’s view, that he shared during our conversation. I was really struck by a number of insightful perspectives that he shared. “You never know when an awakening of consciousness will take place, or when people will understand the need for change. And that that change will require something of you.”
Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis
with Top Ensembles from the Jazz at Lincoln Center &
Virginia Arts Festival HBCU Jazz Residency
April 11
Chrysler Hall
