Rooms have been buzzing with the sound of jazz legend Wynton Marsalis’ smooth trumpet playing for over half a century now.
The world-renowned musician — a nine-time Grammy Award winner and Pulitzer Prize holder — was given his first trumpet at age 6. He began classical training at just 12 years old. At 22, he became the first musician to win a Grammy in both jazz and classical music in the same year.
But Marsalis doesn’t get emotional when reflecting on his many achievements.
“I don’t have a sentimental relationship with myself,” Marsalis told “CBS Mornings” co-anchor Gayle King during an interview at New York City’s Lincoln Center.
He doesn’t feel proud. He feels grateful.
“I’m grateful for … the opportunities that have been provided for me, and the education I received, and all the great musicians I’ve played with, and play with. And the fantastic people I get to work with. But nothin’ I did was about me … This was about jazz,” Marsalis said.
“The house that Wynton built”
Marsalis is the managing and artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center which recently marked the 20th anniversary of the opening of Frederick P. Rose Hall — the first complex devoted solely to jazz. Affectionately known as “the house that Wynton built,” the 100,000-square-foot facility features carefully curated spaces for performance, education and broadcast.
Inside the concert hall, you can often hear Marsalis and the orchestra rehearsing — and sharing notes with each other in the process.
“When we rehearse, we do our thing our way. We talk, we argue about music, we go back and forth with each other, ’cause we have that love and that respect,” Marsalis explained.
Marsalis cherishes collaboration with fellow musicians as they search for the right sound.
“When you play your arrangement, if it’s not good, the band goes silent. I’ll say, ‘Y’all don’t like that one?'” Marsalis joked.
While Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center orchestra are thrilled by the organization’s milestone achievements, the legendary jazz musician acknowledges the path to creating their own space wasn’t always so smooth.
“It was hard,” he admitted. “And we wanted to kill each other at the end of it. It’s like learnin’ how to play. It’s hard. But that’s what makes it worth doin’.”
There were a lot of moving parts as the small organization worked to raise money for the jazz concert hall. As they started their journey to build Frederick P. Rose Hall, the group ran out of funds. Marsalis wasn’t sure if the building would ever get finished.
“At a certain point, [a] gentleman I was talkin’ to, I don’t remember his name, he said, ‘Look, man.’ He said, ‘I live down the street from John Coltrane’s house in Long Island. We’re gonna finish this,'” recalled Marsalis, adding that he’ll “tear up thinkin’ about it.”
Marsalis’ jazz roots run deep
Rose Hall, which features three concert and performance spaces, is located in Midtown Manhattan, less than a mile from the famed Juilliard School that Marsalis attended as a teen.
Born in New Orleans to renowned jazz pianist and educator Ellis Marsalis Jr., music pulsates through Marsalis’ veins. Aside from his father, Marsalis had another role model: John Coltrane.
“I started listening to ‘Trane all that summer when I was 12. I would put that record on. And I started to be able to hear what he was saying. And then when I heard that, I was like, ‘Man, it’s like a whole world opened up. Like, you have the wisest, most insightful people in the world are talkin’ to you,'” Marsalis recalled when he began his classical training.
Marsalis, now 63, has recorded over 100 studio albums. Over the past five decades, he developed a reputation that preceded his art.
Some have called him “stuffy” and “combative” and claimed his work was too narrow — but Marsalis doesn’t take any of these critiques personally.
“I grew up in segregation, OK? And when Martin Luther King was killed, we were integrated into an environment. And many times, what I felt and had to say was not what was being said, OK?” Marsalis explained.
Marsalis said he felt like he was just trying to maintain the status quo. But now, Marsalis appears to have found his voice.
“Luckily, we live in a democracy. And you can express yourself. The generation before me, they couldn’t be in these forums and talk. And I have the freedom to express myself, and they have the freedom to do that,” he said.
In September, “CBS Mornings” took in the majesty of Rose theater, joining Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center orchestra for opening night of their 20th season. The house was indeed swinging — filled with a captivated audience, dancing in their seats and tapping their fingers along to the beats. That’s the magic of jazz.
