Wynton Marsalis celebrates genius, music of Ellington

It has been a busy year on the arts calendar for Ann Arbor and the University campus, but the journey is by no means over. At the very end of winter term comes possibly the most important local arts event of the season, and students who can tear themselves away from studying for exams will have a unique opportunity Friday night, although they might have to hustle to secure tickets.

That is the night that Hill Auditorium, under the auspices of the University Musical Society, will host Wynton Marsalis for the fourth time, as the trumpeter, bandleader and composer directs his Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra.

The concert is being given for a special occasion: the 100th birthday of the legendary Duke Ellington, perhaps the greatest of all American composers or recording artists. The LCJO, the flagship ensemble of New York's world-renowned Jazz at Lincoln

Courtesy of Carol Friedman Wynton Marsalis (the one wearing the spiffy white tux) poses with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, who will perform the music of Duke Ellington on Friday.

Center, is in the midst of a 100-city world tour, "Celebrating the Ellington Centennial," throughout which it will perform facets of Ellington's vast catalogue. But as luck would have it, Ann Arbor plays host to the tour the very week of Ellington's birthday.

Born on April 29, 1899 in Washington, D.C., Ellington is most renowned as a jazz composer and bandleader, but he wrote almost 2,000 compositions in a staggering variety of forms, including Broadway musicals, romantic ballads, full-length jazz, blues and sacred works, and motion picture soundtracks. His half-century artistic career extended tirelessly and seamlessly until his death in 1974.

His reputation has been bolstered in recent years by Marsalis' yeoman labor as Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. Ellington recently received a posthumous Pulitzer Prize; incredibly, he was only the second jazz artist ever to receive that honor. The first was none other than Marsalis, for his 1997 jazz oratorio "Blood on the Fields."

Marsalis himself is the only jazz composer in the world whose artistic scope and achievement rivals that of the Duke. The only artist to win Grammy awards for both classical and jazz music in one year, Marsalis can lay claim to half a dozen more Grammys in his locker to boot.

His accomplishments as performer and composer are challenged only by his influence as an educator. Among the new generation of music fans, he has been the dominant single figure in stimulating the continued eminence of jazz as a leading aspect of American culture.

Marsalis' tenure with the LCJO has not been without controversy. With longtime collaborators, such as drummer Herlin Riley and trombonist Wycliffe Gordon, he has received his highest musical acclaim since devoting himself to the cause of rejuvenating the New Orleans-based roots that are the legacy of jazz. Meanwhile, he has introduced a distinguished international bent to the LCJO's personnel.

But in championing the glory of jazz's history, Marsalis has come under fire from some corners for his disrespect for more recent jazz. A relatively small fraction of artists from the past quarter century have received Marsalis' stamp of approval by earning a place in the LCJO's repertoire. Electronic jazz has been an innovation long in development in the jazz world, and Marsalis has reserved some of his harshest criticism for the very existence of the movement.

But his ability to create such an ongoing debate is also a sign of Marsalis' stature as a vital force on the American cultural landscape. A chance to see him perform, especially on this historic tour, should be a high priority for any music lover.

Tickets for the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra are $16-$36 and are available at the University Musical Society Box Office, on the first floor of the Burton Memorial Tower. Call 764-2538 for more information.

04-20-99