09/18/2007
OXFORD, Miss. – American trumpeter and composer Wynton
Marsalis performs Monday (Sept. 24) at the University of
Mississippi.
The popular instrumentalist, with the Jazz at Lincoln
Center Orchestra, takes the stage at 8 p.m. at the Ford
Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets are $65, $62, $60
and $55 for various seating and available by calling the UM
Box Office at 662-915-7411.
“I can think of no better way to start the season than with
Wynton Marsalis and what really is the world’s best
American jazz ensemble,” said Norm Easterbrook, Ford Center
director. “This continues the Ford Center and the
university’s tradition of presenting the very best of great
American music. Every performance by Wynton Marsalis and
the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra is a glimpse of music
history being made.”
One of six sons of jazz legend Ellis Marsalis, Wynton
Marsalis has made his reputation with a combination of
skill in jazz performance and composition. As of 2006, he
had made 16 classical and more than 30 jazz recordings and
had received nine Grammys, as well as the Pulitzer Prize
for Music, which was the first time for the prize to be
awarded for a jazz recording.
A constituent company of the Lincoln Center performing arts
organization in New York City, the orchestra features 15
jazz soloists and ensemble musicians who have been its
resident members for more than 13 years.
With Marsalis directing, the orchestra spends more than
half the year on tour, performing a varied repertoire, from
rare historic compositions to Jazz at Lincoln
Center-commissioned works, including compositions and
arrangements by Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Fletcher
Henderson, Thelonious Monk, Mary Lou Williams, Dizzy
Gillespie and Benny Goodman. Guest conductors have included
Benny Carter, Jimmy Heath and Gerald Wilson.
As part of the Lincoln Center’s programming, the orchestra
performs and leads educational events in New York, across
the U.S. and around the world. At venues that include
concert halls, jazz clubs and river boats, the group
performs with symphony orchestras, ballet troupes, local
students and an ever-expanding roster of guest artists.
For more information, visit
http://www.olemiss.edu/fordcenter/.
To request assistance related to a disability, call
662-915-7411.