Pulitzer-Prize winning jazz musician and composer. Author, Jazz in the Bittersweet Blues of Life. Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center.
Wynton Marsalis has been described as the most outstanding jazz musician and trumpeter of his generation, as one of the world's top classical trumpeters, as a big band leader in the tradition of Duke Ellington, a brilliant composer, a devoted advocate for the Arts and a tireless and inspiring educator. The sound of Wynton Marsalis' band is inspired by the basic principals of democracy. According to Marsalis, what you hear in a great jazz band is the sound of democracy. "The jazz band works best when participation is shaped by intelligent communication." This intelligent, hard swinging interplay has made Marsalis' bands the favorite among jazz musicians and audiences worldwide. Wynton Marsalis has been appropriately described as a level raiser whose breadth of talent is equated with genius. It has been said that he is an American musician for whom greatness is not merely possible but inevitable. To date Wynton has produced 33 jazz and 11 classical records and has sold over 7 million records worldwide including 3 Gold Records.
