WGBO presents Wynton Marsalis's new CD From the Plantation to the Penitentiary...
Greg Mouning
I came across the following announcement today and thought I'd share it with the JazzBuddies Community. Check it out while it's still online:
http://www.wbgo.org/ontheair/2007/Marsalis_Documentary.asp
Listen Online!
Marsalis Documentary
From the Plantation to the Penitentiary
March 6 at 9am
Produced by Josh Jackson
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| Wynton Marsalis (photo by JoAnne Savio) |
Wynton Marsalis's new CD From the Plantation to the Penitentiary will be released on Blue Note Records, March 6 and WBGO will air a special documentary on this provocative new work, March 6 at 9am and on demand online thereafter.
Jazz as Change Agent
"Jazz is a music of change," says Wynton Marsalis in this hour-long documentary, and he speaks of change from a special perspective. Born in New Orleans at a time when segregation was ending, born also into the wise jazz tradition of the Marsalis family, Wynton has arguably been his generation's most public and well-traveled jazz ambassador, teacher, player, leader, and composer. He has also never shied away from speaking his mind.
The 250 Year Old African American
"Let's say you could live to be 200 years old," posits Marsalis, setting the scene for the title cut of his new CD. "You came here in 1800. Just think about that first 65 years," Wynton whistles. "America was like---'Man! Welcome! This is what we got for you!'"
"Then you sharecropped, then you worked—you weren't being paid nothing. Then people entertained themselves with you—blacken up, call you nigger, you could dance and shine—show your teeth shine, you know…Somebody made fun of the fact that you were that way for the next 100 years. You're like a national joke…Now let's say it's 1980. You have one parent, you've been called a nigger constantly, you're hit all the time, you got pathology all around you…and you're in jail because you had some weed in your pocket, or some coke. So—now you're gonna live from age 200 to 250—got a nice long stay for you--in jail, you had that dope in your pocket. Man, you know, you're not supposed to do that. Let us save you from yourself."
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| Wynton Marsalis (photo by JoAnne Savio) |
Relating to the Culture
Wynton's trumpet, his lyrics, his quartet with vocalist Jennifer Sanon swing right into the center of the matter with cuts like "Supercapitalism," "Where Y'all At," and "Find Me" about what has happened to his home town of New Orleans.
"Every decade I try to do a record that has a kind of a relationship to the culture. In the 80s, I did Black Codes from the Underground. In the 90s, I did [the Pulitzer-prize winning] Blood on the Fields. And now, at this point, this is From the Plantation to the Penitentiary. And it's one of the themes that I continue to return to." Hear how Marsalis tells and turns history with his music, when you tune in to From the Plantation to the Penitentiary, March 6 at 9am
Dissatisfied
"We
are a great country," says Marsalis. "Okay, I know that because I've
traveled up and down this country for 20-whatever years, being in
people's houses, going to schools, going to their homes, being around
all kinds of people… As a nation we've been successful…But now is not
one of our most stellar times. Now being dissatisfied with stuff is a
way to progress. And to become better. So I'm all for dissatisfaction.
But beware the dissatisfied. It's also a way of life."
Enjoy,
Greg