Moving to Higher Ground - How Jazz Can Change Your Life

Zusatztext “An absolute joy to read. Intimate! knowledgeable! supremely worthy of its subject. In addition to demolishing mediocre! uniformed critics ! Moving to Higher Ground is a meaningful contribution to music scholarship.”—Toni Morrison “I think it should be in every bookstore! music store! and school in the country.” —Tony Bennett “Jazz! for Wynton Marsalis! is nothing less than a search for wisdom. He thinks as forcefully! and as elegantly! as he swings. When he reflects on improvisation! his subject is freedom. When he reflects on harmony! his subject is diversity and conflict and peace. When he reflects on the blues! his subject is sorrow and the mastery of it–how to be happy without being blind. There is philosophy in Marsalis’s trumpet! and in this book. Here is the lucid and probing voice of an uncommonly soulful man.”— New Republic “Wynton Marsalis is absolutely the person who should write this book. Here he is! as young as morning! as fresh as dew! and already called one of the jazz greats. He is not only a seer and an exemplary musician! but a poet as well. He informs us that jazz was created! among other things! to expose the hypocrisy and absurdity of racism and other ignorances in our country. Poetry was given to human beings for the same reason. This book could be called “How Love Can Change Your Life!” for there could be no jazz without love. By love! of course! I do not mean mush! or sentimentality. Love can only exist with courage! and this book could not be written without Wynton Marsalis’s courage. He has the courage to make powerful music and to love the music so! that he willingly shares its riches with the entire human family. We are indebted to him.” —Maya Angelou “A joyful primer . . . Come blow your horn–and let the music begin.”— O: The Oprah Magazine “I think it should be in every bookstore! music store! and school in the country.” —Tony Bennett “Wynton Marsalis has been a beacon for music since his early twenties. In Moving to Higher Ground ! he continues to exhort! elevate! and educate us.”—Yo-Yo Ma Informationen zum Autor Wynton Marsalis, with Geoffrey C. Ward Klappentext In this beautiful book, Pulitzer Prize—winning musician and composer Wynton Marsalis draws upon lessons he's learned from a lifetime in jazz-lessons that can help us all move to higher ground. With wit and candor he demystifies the music that is the birthright of every American and demonstrates how a real understanding of the central idea of jazz-the unique balance between self-expression and sacrifice for the common good exemplified on the bandstand-can enrich every aspect of our lives, from the bedroom to the boardroom, from the schoolroom to City Hall. Along the way, Marsalis helps us understand the life-changing message of the blues, reveals secrets about playing-and listening-and passes on wisdom he has gleaned from working with three generations of great musicians. Illuminating and inspiring, Moving to Higher Ground is a master class on jazz and life, conducted by a brilliant American artist. CHAPTER ONE Discovering the Joy of Swinging Kids were supposed to stay in the back room. But some kind of way I stumbled into the front room of this tiny wood-frame house in Little Farms, Louisiana. I must have been four or five years old at the time, but I remember it was dark in there, lit only by a soft blue light or a red one, and a lot of grown-ups, men and women, were snapping their fingers on two and four and grooving to a rhythm and blues song. Some sang the words, but they were all dancing up a healthy sweat. I didn’t know what was going on back then, but I could tell it was something good—so good I wasn’t supposed to be around it. Well, I could be around the music, couldn’t miss it, actually. R&B was always on the radio: “Baby this” and “Baby that”; “I need you, gi...

Product details

• Authors: Wynton Marsalis, Wynton/ Ward Marsalis, Geoffrey Ward
• Publisher: Random House USA
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback
• Released: 08.09.2009
• EAN: 9780812969085
• ISBN: 978-0-8129-6908-5
• No. of pages: 208
• Dimensions: 132 mm x 205 mm x 14 mm
• Subject: Humanities, art, music > Music > General, dictionaries