Talking Jazz
with Wynton Marsalis
Wynton
Marsalis has been riding a wave of success since recording
his first album at age twenty. The trumpeter has more than
sixty albums to his credit as well as nine Grammy awards.
He was the first musician to win these awards for both
classical and jazz music in the same year. In 1997, he
became the first jazz musician to win the Pulitzer Prize
for Music.
Marsalis, who comes from a large, musically gifted family, enjoys working with kids. The PBS television series “Marsalis on Music” spotlighted his work with kids. In addition to visiting schools and tutoring young musicians, he directs the “Jazz for Young People” concert series at Lincoln Center in New York City.
A fan of “Hidden Pictures” as a child, Marsalis was kind enough to spend some time talking with Highlights.
| Q: | What
kinds of music did you listen to when you were growing
up? |
|
|---|---|---|
| A: | All kinds of music,
mainly James Brown, stuff on the radio. But since
my daddy was a jazz musician, I listened to modern
jazz and also New Orleans jazz because I lived in
New Orleans. I didn’t really like New Orleans jazz
too much, but it was fun to play it in the parades.
All the people would be dancing in the street, and
even though I couldn’t play too well, I just enjoyed
the people and the dancing and the pageantry of it. |
|
| Q: | How old were
you when you started playing the trumpet? |
|
| A: | I was six. Now, I don’t want to give you the
impression that I could play. I was just holding
the horn, basically. My father was known by all the
musicians, and they would say, “Let Ellis’s
son play.” After they heard me play, they would ask me, “Are you sure you’re Ellis’s son?” |
|
| Q: | Did your father
give you any advice? |
|
| A: | He
said, “The ability to play has a direct relationship
to the amount of hours you practice.” |
|
| Q: | How
did you feel about practicing when you were a kid? |
|
| A: | Oh,
I hated it. Just like everybody else. Nobody wants
to practice. |
|
| Q: | How
much time do you spend practicing now? |
|
| A: | Not
as much as I should, but there was a period when
I practiced a substantial amount. It was easy to
understand: If you wanted to learn how to play, you
practiced. If you didn’t want to learn how to play,
fine. You could do something else. Or, you could
just play music and be mediocre. |
|
| Q: | Was
there any rivalry between you and your brothers
when you were growing up? |
|
| A: | Not
really. We didn’t think about making it as musicians.
Our father was the best musician we knew, and he
was starving. He was struggling to work, and our
family was just trying to survive. It wasn’t like
we came home, had a mint julep, and played jazz.
It was hard. It was hard on my parents. They had
six children. So we didn’t really think about competing
with each other. |
|
| Q: | Do
you feel it’s important for kids to learn any particular
type of music first? |
|
| A: | It’s
important for kids to learn music that develops.
That’s why classical music is very important
and jazz is important. If you listen to some of Mozart’s
music, the music is not over after thirty-five seconds.
You have to try to follow it. I think it is also important to learn basic tunes and melodies—things that have something of the national characteristic in them. |
|
| Q: | Can
you give any examples? |
|
| A: | Spirituals, or hymns like “Amazing Grace.” That’s the best example. Or standard American popular songs, like Gershwin’s music and Cole Porter’s. | |
| Q: | Would you tell us about the “Jazz for Young People” series? | |
| A: | I love doing it. It’s real informal. We just talk about music and play, and let the kids hear the music. They talk through it, clown, and make a lot of noise. Young kids—sometimes four or five years old—they don’t want to sit through an hour’s worth of concert, so we get them clapping, and they pretend that they’re drum sets. I believe in a down-home type of atmosphere. It’s the type of training that I received. | |
| Q: | What do you enjoy most about being a musician? | |
| A: | Playing. That’s the most fun about it. | |
| Q: | What are some of the things you think about before going onstage? | |
| A: | I always make sure that my pants are zipped up. There’s nothing more embarrassing than walking out onstage with your pants unzipped. That happened to me in Seattle a long time ago. Also, tripping on wires. When you walk on the stage, make sure you notice where all the wires are. You definitely could walk out there and fall on your head. |
|
| Q: | Which musician do you admire the most? | |
| A: | I like Duke Ellington. His music is very playful, and he wrote a lot of music. He traveled all over the world, and he had a tremendous respect and love for people. And Duke’s music just kept getting better and better. He developed and grew. | |
| Q: | What advice would you give to kids who want to be musicians? | |
| A: | Practice. It’s important to practice on your own, but it’s also important to get around other musicians and share information about music. Participate in musical ensembles, go hear professional musicians play—just become interested and active in learning about the music. |
 |
|---|
Wynton (right) and his brother
Branford got an early start with their instruments. |
