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Wynton - The Only Person in Jazz Who Matters?

I was just wondering when Wynton Marsalis’ opinion became so central to jazz that an article about another musician has to include a discussion about whether that artist gets along with Wynton and the nature of their relationship?

The New Yorker this week has a – mostly – very nice article on Esperanza Spaulding, the Portland, OR bass player. (She just smokes her fiddle BTW. I saw her playing with Joe Lovano last year and she was just phenomenal. She got every bit as much applause as Joe did.) For some reason the author felt compelled to discuss her – and I think by extension all of jazz – through the lens of whether or not Wynton would approve, or even call it jazz. That seems awfully narrow minded.

Granted, he has the loudest megaphone with JALC, but c’mon, is that really necessary?
grimace

Showing 2 responses by grimace

grimace OP
624 posts
 
I think I'd have to agree with Chashmal on this one. Wynton is ok, but not anywhere close to the "best". Just as music, IMHO, Branfords original albums are consistently more interesting and have been for decades.

It seems there's a bit of a backlash going on out there too. The big jazz rags - Jazz Times and Downbeat - do not seem to give Wynton much print. I don't recall seeing a feature article, or even a half page on him in the last year or so. I wonder if that's on purpose?
grimace OP
624 posts
 
Wynton's sound - to me at least - always sounds academic and forced. Technically brilliant, but lacking spontaneity, and that includes much of his recent JALC work which sounds overly composed. Duke Ellington was brilliantly composed too, but Duke swung. Wynton does not. He leaves me cold.
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