April 22nd, 2020

All that jazz — free for the whole family

Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis, Jazz at Lincoln Center announces new free online jazz program

Under the leadership of Managing and Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis, Jazz at Lincoln Center recently announced that it is suspending all concerts, classes and public programs but offering, through its online portal, “consolidated access to all of the online activities we are offering globally, for free.”

“We hope these programs, concerts, and discussions bring you solace, comfort, and community during this challenging, unprecedented time,” reads the message on the Jazz at Lincoln Center website.

Jazz at Lincoln Center is a world-class institution, and this is a rare opportunity to enjoy and make use of its array of instructors and performances that usually require trips to Manhattan and a big budget.

Highlights of the free offerings include classes, interviews and archival material.

The classes offer remarkable avenues for appreciating jazz and learning while doing so. “Jazz 101,” for example, is a great introduction, while master classes provide a glimpse of what it means to be proficient. The full schedule of live events, Monday through Friday, is available at jazzatlincolncenter.squarespace.com.

“Conversations with Wynton” is a weekly discussion on Monday evenings at 9 p.m. As an educator, composer and musician, Marsalis remains unique in the world of jazz for his ability to provoke listeners to think about what they are hearing as well as to integrate education with art.

Marsalis’s passion for and knowledge of jazz started with his late father, the great pianist Ellis Marsalis, who passed away on April 1. His is one of America’s most musically accomplished families. Wynton’s brothers, too, are all famous in their own right: Branford on saxophone, Delfeayo on trombone, and Jason on drums. The brothers typically perform independently of one another, but the interest that Wynton has in educating youth (and grownups) about jazz comes from being schooled in music by his father from an early age.

So Marsalis’s desire to educate listeners is fundamental to his character as a human being.

A third component of Jazz at Lincoln Center’s online programming is its full-length jazz concert every Wednesday. Pulled from its archives, each of these highlights superb performances. The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, led by Marsalis, offers, for example, the music of Miles Davis, the South African Songbook, or the music of Wayne Shorter. Each week, it’s something new, and you can hear work from earlier weeks, too. Find it on YouTube.

Another good resource for listening to and learning jazz at home comes from Jazz at Lincoln Center’s free video library. This is a stunning collection of lessons from the Center’s instructors. The lessons are for individuals as well as families, and one of the best is from Patrice E. Turner, “Welcome My Baby. ” The range of lessons makes it possible to entertain little kids as well as teenagers.

Jazz at Lincoln Center is joined by other sites that provide educational opportunities paired with music.

Classics for Kids, for example, while not limited to jazz, has some fine programs geared to essentials in historical experience. African American composers featured on Classics for Kids can be found on links within the site to sections including William Grant Still, Scott Joplin, and Black Composers of Classical Music.

With families at close quarters for weeks (and perhaps months) on end, music can be a source of joy. Or it can be a source of friction. Even with their headphones on, if kids are listening to sounds that parents find objectionable, what’s heard by them may disrupt the flow of family life. And what parents prefer may seem corny to youth.

Jazz creates a space for young and old to be together. It’s timeless, harmonic and an art form powerful enough, as jazz great Kenny Garrett puts it, to push the world away.

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