Jazz, once played in Storyville brothels, is now celebrated in a sparkling $131 million temple on Central Park West in New York City.
That ascent to Lincoln Center respectability owes much to virtuoso Wynton Marsalis, whose already illustrious vita — killer musician, bandleader, symphonic composer — now includes builder of institutions.
Marsalis and his Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra will play Friday at Atlanta’s Woodruff Arts Center in one of the most anticipated performances of the National Black Arts Festival.
The concert will feature original music and jazz standards from the performing arm of the Lincoln Center jazz program.
In some ways, Marsalis has accomplished with Jazz at Lincoln Center what Atlanta’s leaders would like to do with the NBAF: He’s built a permanent home for the art of the African diaspora.
In addition to Friday’s performance, Marsalis is lending the NBAF some of his flair as an impresario by curating a series of concerts featuring three musical figures who have played important roles in his life as, respectively, a mentor, a peer and a protege.
Marsalis took a moment recently to talk about the impact of jazz on American life, to reflect on the three personalities he has programmed for his Spotlight Series, and to discuss the humbling experience of writing a symphony for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, an effort that didn’t go quite the way he planned.
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