Word: wynton
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...less. He is concentrating on the one thing other than a trumpet mouthpiece that is capable of riveting his attention to the point of near obsession: a basketball hoop. For some reason, there is a basket in the open backstage area of New York's Jones Beach Theater, and Wynton Marsalis is pumping balls into the net from every angle. Suddenly, he dribbles out 30 ft. from the goal and announces, "I bet $100 I can sink one from here." A stagehand snaps up the wager. Marsalis flexes his knees, rises up on his toes and sends the ball arcing...
What all of these musicians have in common is that, almost to a man, they are passing through career doors that were opened by the success of Wynton Marsalis. "Young men can now make a living playing straight-ahead jazz, and Wynton is responsible for that being possible," says Dan Morgenstern, director of the Institute of Jazz Studies of Rutgers University. Says George Butler, the executive producer at Columbia Records who signed both Marsalis and Connick: "Wynton has played a major role in the popularity of this music today. This is probably the most propitious time for this music since...
Such outspokenness has led some observers, like jazz critic Leonard Feather, to feel that "Wynton talks a bit too much." Even Marsalis admits that the shoot-from-the-lip style of his early years went too far at times: "I was like 19 or something, man -- you know, wild. I didn't care." He has since become a less strident and far more articulate advocate for the cause. Says pianist and composer Billy Taylor, 69: "Wynton is the most important young spokesman for the music today. His opinions are well founded. Some people earlier took umbrage at what he said...
...school of fine painters, he trained a virtual Who's Who of the younger generation: Harry Connick Jr., Terence Blanchard, Marlon Jordan, trumpeter Nicholas Payton, saxman Donald Harrison and flutist Kent Jordan, to name a few. But the most remarkable crop of Marsalis pupils was his own sons: Branford, Wynton, trombonist Delfeayo, 25, and drummer Jason, 13. (Another son, Ellis III, 26, is a computer consultant in Baltimore; Mboya, 20, is autistic and lives at home with his parents...
...HARGROVE: DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH (Novus). Watch out, Wynton! This 20-year- old trumpet phenomenon from Waco, Texas, is nipping at your heels with a horn full of soul and fire. A well-crafted album, featuring penetrating solo work from alto-saxman Antonio Hart and three strong compositions by pianist Geoffrey Keezer...