Posted on: Friday, November 1, 2002

MUSIC SCENE
Swing is the thing for Wynton Marsalis

By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Writer

Wynton Marsalis began playing trumpet after receiving one from master trumpeter Al Hirt on his sixth birthday. Marsalis says the route to success for a musician is to "practice. That's the key." Keith Major . . . Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra • 8 p.m. Wednesday • Blaisdell Concert Hall • $27-$72 • 792-2000

It don't mean a thing if ain't got that swing.

So says Wynton Marsalis, renowned jazz trumpeter, who is heading this way for a concert with his Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra Wednesday in a Honolulu Symphony-sponsored gig at the Blaisdell Concert Hall.

"I like swinging, I like the blues, I believe in those things," said Marsalis, who turned 41 on Oct. 18. He was speaking by phone from his New York home.

"I like jazz, yes, but some of it I don't like," he said. "I like it when you get a group of musicians together and improvise. Of course, it depends on who you have, you know, to swing."

Marsalis, the most acclaimed jazz musician of his generation, also is a respected classical artist, whose recordings, live concerts, compositions and dedication to education have made him a key player and a pied piper for jazz.

As artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center (J@LC), Marsalis has emerged as a pioneer in his art.

He became the first jazz musician to be awarded a Pulitzer Prize for his commissioned work, "Blood on the Fields," an oratorio dealing with the emotions of slavery in America.

He was the first jazz man to win both a classical and a jazz Grammy Award in 1983, a feat he repeated in 1984. Then again, by age 12, Marsalis knew he was destined to make a life out of jazz.

"My father (pianist Ellis Marsalis) was working with (trumpeter) Al Hirt," he said. "On a birthday (his sixth), I got a trumpet for a gift from Al. I started to play it. It's always been the trumpet. I like the power of the instrument, and the sound. Great sound."

Wynton is the best-known member of a noted musical clan. He is the younger brother of Branford and the older brother of Deleayo and Jason, all musicians.

By the time he was in high school, Marsalis was playing first trumpet with the New Orleans Civic Orchestra. At 17, he enrolled in Juilliard, becoming one of the school's most recognized and impressive students. That year, he joined Art Blakeley and the Jazz Messengers, the seminal band of emerging jazz stars.

"I do a little bit of everything — teach, tour, record, compose — but I didn't do these things to diversify, they just happened," he said. "I guess if I had to choose, I like performing more than anything else. I like playing in the section, I like playing solo. But it's fun when you participate with more people."

Although he started playing at a young age, Marsalis, who grew up in New Orleans, said he never sacrificed his childhood. "I had time to play ball, but I always had time to practice (his trumpet). I had a good time, growing up."

His early influences included Freddie Hubbard, Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Clark Terry, among others.

His advice to budding musicians: "Practice. That's the key. Practice."

Marsalis' work with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, now in his 10th season, takes up seven or eight months of his time annually, though gigs are spaced out, with time off between working days.

J@LC will be moving to the Frederick P. Rose Hall, its new home, in the fall of 2004. It is in an AOL Time Warner facility being designed by architect Rafael Viñoly and under the direction of Marsalis.

Meantime, his livelihood requires a lot of traveling.

"We do a lot of one-nighters, often five or six in a row, but once in a while, we have some residencies, where we stay in a city a little longer. We love these," Marsalis said.

While he's known in the classical realm, Marsalis said he's minimized his time with the great composers, by choice.

"I haven't done a classical show in a while, because of the jazz," he said. "But I like participating in all the arts. Dance, visual arts, drama."

He has collaborated with top choreographers of his generation, composing specific works for the likes of Peter Martin, Twyla Tharp and Garth Fagan, among others.

"Just to be around music, whatever it is, is great," he said.