Jazz legend Ellis Marsalis, pianist and paterfamilias of the famed dynasty of jazz and classical musicians, has died of Coronavirus. Ellis was the father of six sons, including trumpeter Wynton, saxophonist Branford, trombonist Delfeayo, and drummer Jason. He was 85 years-old.
“Delilah”
The family that plays together stays together
Q: Who could make Cab Calloway any cooler?
A: The Nicholas Brothers.
Alive or dead?
Perhaps you heard something of Jacques Loussier’s death earlier in the week. Loussier’s demise was being lamented all across the internet, and obituaries began to sprout up from major media outlets. But is Loussier really dead?
Even as the wildfire of mourning continued to blaze across Facebook, conflicting reports began to circulate that Loussier’s “death” was in fact a hoax, and that the famed jazz pianist is, if not exactly kicking it, still drawing breath at the age of 84.
Loussier, who is widely celebrated for his jazz improvisations on music of Johann Sebastian Bach, suffered a stroke, which led to his retirement from performance in 2011.
His Wikipedia entry now sports a death date. His Facebook page has been frustratingly mum.
Forget Jacques Brel. Is Jacques Loussier indeed alive and well and living in Lyon?
Loussier performs Bach in Bach’s own church, the Thomaskirche Leipzig, for his 70th birthday:
He was America’s foremost composer of “art music.” What he was not was George Gershwin.
Join me this afternoon, as we celebrate the birthday of Aaron Copland with, among other things, his Piano Concerto, composed in 1926. Copland was still feeling his way toward his “populist period” (which began with “El Salón México,” not given its premiere until ten years later), when he wrote this concerto, which spikes 1920s modernism with American jazz.
The composer was the soloist in the work’s first performance, which featured the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Serge Koussevitzky. The critics panned it, but Copland’s mother beamed with pride. The composer wrote, “I was delighted when Ma said it was her proudest moment and that my playing in the Concerto made all those music lessons worthwhile!”
It retained its reputation as a shocker until 1947, when Leonard Bernstein revived it with Leo Smith as the soloist, and it struggles still, even next to Copland’s own Clarinet Concerto. In the meantime, Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” (from 1924) has never been out of the repertoire.
Hear this underexposed work today, between 4 and 7:00 p.m. EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org.
Woody Herman plays Stravinsky. Benny Goodman plays Bartók. Wynton Marsalis plays Jolivet. Arturo Sandoval plays Arutiunian. Keith Jarrett plays Barber. Jazz artists perform the classics this morning on WPRB, with a few examples of “Third Stream” (Gunther Schuller’s term for a synthesis of classical and jazz) tossed in for good measure.
As an added bonus, Marc Uys, executive director of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, will stop by around 9:00 to talk about a special concert being held tonight at 8 p.m. at Princeton University’s Richardson Auditorium. Violinist Daniel Rowland will appear as soloist and conductor in Astor Piazzolla’s “The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires,” which will be interleaved with the concertos of Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons.” Rowland has performed the program many times and has even made a very fine recording of it (from which we will sample).
Otherwise, hepcats put on the dog this morning, as jazz artists perform the classics, from 6 to 11 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com. We’re having ourselves a classical clambake, on Classic Ross Amico.
PHOTO: (left to right) Béla Bartók, Joseph Szigeti and Benny Goodman
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