Wynton Marsalis, Trumpet Virtuoso and Music Educator

Wynton Marsalis is a young man on the move, wearing several career hats--trumpet virtuoso, composer, band leader, author, recording artist (in the jazz and classical fields), and Jazz at Lincoln Center artistic director. Add to that collection of "hats" one labeled multi-media educator and you'll have before you a music appreciation series (originally broadcast on public television) called Marsalis On Music, which also features the cellist Yo-Yo Ma and the conductor Seiji Ozawa.

The four-part series explores rhythm, form, the jazz band, and practice. The program uses innovative graphics and sound technology as well as imaginative and entertaining approaches. For example, in the first program, "Why Toes Tap," Marsalis explains the different ways composers use rhythm by presenting two versions of "The Nutcracker" --Tchaikovsky's and Duke Ellington's. "No motion, no rhythm," points out Marsalis. "No rhythm, no music."

Marsalis On Music, available as a book/audio CD package and as a home video set, was shot before a live audience of children during the production team's week-long stay in the summer of 1994 at the Tanglewood Music Center in Massachusetts. The intention, says the multiple Grammy winner, was "to painlessly beckon our children into the magical world of music." Another goal, he adds, was "to emphasize the importance of listening to many different kinds of music, noticing how they are related, though on the surface they may seem to be different."

The concept for the groundbreaking program, recalls Peter Gelb, the series's co-executive producer, grew "out of a series of conversations Wynton and I had shortly after we produced the Carnegie Hall Christmas Concert. The idea was to make the programs as appealing as possible capitalizing on Wynton's charm and utilizing animation and other visual aids that we thought would appeal to young people."

Marsalis's reputation , says Pat Jaffe, the other co-executive producer, as "a serious musician dedicated to his art" but who "also has a terrific sense of fun" are "highly visible" in the programs.
Those qualities make him a good candidate to follow in the footsteps of the late composer/conductor Leonard Bernstein, who hosted many Young People's Concerts on TV.