lifestyles
Yumi Chikamori / KANSAN
Wynton Marsalis, a world-famous jazz musician, gives instructions for playing the trumpet to Amy Chubrahy, Lawrence graduate student, at the Lied Center. Marsalis taught trumpet yesterday to three KU students as a part of an educational-video filming.
university of Kansas students and faculty had the honor of hearing Wynton Marsalis in the Lied Center on two occasions this week.
Trumpet master Marsalis helps make an instructional video and has some fun, too.
He played with his quartet Tuesday evening, and yesterday morning he filmed an educational video in which he taught trumpet to students.
Kansan staff writer
The world according to Wynton
By lan Ritter
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Marsalis was born in New Orleans in 1961. As a child, he began playing in a Baptist
church band
In 1979 he moved to New York and attended the Juilliard School of Music.
While in New York the young Marsalis played at various clubs and with the Brooklyn Philharmonic. It was during this period when he met jazz drummer Art Blakey and started sitting in with Blakey's band, the Jazz Messengers.
In the summer of 1891, Marsalis hooked up with jazz masters Herbie Hancock (piano), Ron Carter (bass) and Tony Williams (drums) to form the band V.S.O.P. The four toured around the United States, Europe and Japan.
Marsalis released "Wynton Marsalis," his first solo work, in 1982. He has released eight albums since then; "Blue Interlude" is his most critically acclaimed work.
The Video
At 10 a.m. yesterday, trumpet students filed into the Lied Center to watch Marsalis instruct three KU trumpet players on playing techniques.
The event was an educational film project, which will be released on video by Columbia Pictures Publications and distributed to jazz instructors.
"The primary purpose of this is for you to be able to get an educational class with Wynton Marsalis," said Dave Olive, videographer of the film, to the audience in an attempt to make them more comfortable with the menacing lights and the cameras poking around.
"The whole key to the music is to let your personality come out."
Wynton Marsalis
After the crowd waited for a few minutes in anticipation, Marsalis walked out armed with his Dave Monet trumpet and a friendly grin. He was dressed in a stylishly patterned gold vest and dark slacks.
"All of the people that come up here and play — know that I tell you things to help your playing," he said, not wanting anyone to be offended by his constructive criticism.
"Make it just as natural as if you are asking for some grits," Marsalis said of the playing process. "The whole key to the music is to let your personality come out."
As the long video camera hung munt-like over him, Marsalis helped the students with breathing and rhythm techniques. Some of his suggestions were too complex to put into words.
"The words can't hold the emotion that I'm trying to convey to you," he said to Leopold.
Patterson, who has played the trumpet for 25 years said
While talking to the individual students, Marsalis offered words of wisdom to the audience, occasionally fielding questions.
that he thought Marsalis was slick and that it was nice to hear Marsalis' viewpoints.
Marsalis gave pointers to the three KU musicians: Amy Chuhralaya, Lawrence graduate student; Steve Patterson, Topeka graduate student and Gary Leepold, Wichita senior.
Chuhralya said that it was great to make eye contact with Marsalis, let alone have a 15-minute private lesson with him.
“It’s not every day when you get to meet Wynton Marsalis,” she said. "He showed me things in my playing that I can improve on just in feeling more."
After the lesson, Marsalis answered a few questions, including one about his trumpet — a huge mass of gold metal that looked like it could float.
Dave Monet, who makes the trumpets in Portland, Ore., gets his ideas from an uncanny source, Marsals said.
Marsalis said that Monet's cat had communication with space aliens who convey special design ideas.
"He gets the designs from Sheldon the cat," he said.
The Show
On Tuesday evening, Valentine's Day night, a sold-out Lied Center crowd experienced the music of true professionals.
The Wynton Marsalis Quartet played two sets of jazz classics and Marsalis originals.
Eric Reed played piano, Ali Muhammad Jackson, Jr. played drums and ReinBen R. Rogers played bass.
Through solos and as a joint quartet, the four shined at various times, playing for nearly two hours.
Marsalis used a unique analogy to describe the ripeness of the blues tune that closed the first set.
“It’s when Snoopy puts his sunglasses on at a time when it's unnecessary,” he said. “That's what makes him so cool.”
Some classic songs the quartet played were "Stardust," "Caravan," "Four and One" and "Mood Indigo."
LEAD STORY
Among the victims of New Year's celebrations this year were people in Phoenix, Atlanta and New Orleans, killed when bullets fell back to earth after celebratory gunshots, and six people in Japan who choked to death on sticky rice cakes that are traditional New Year's Eve dishes. But in Islamabad, Pakistan, the government banned New Year's celebrations after Islamic fundamentalists threatened to smash the cars of people suspected of having any fun.
QUESTIONABLE JUDGMENTS
In November, Mayor Carty Finkbeiner of Toledo.
reporters that the best solution to the increasing complaints of noise at the Toledo Airport was to relocate deaf people to the high-poise areas.
assisting their purchase of homes of the complainers. (Several days later, the mayor apologized.)
St. Bernard Parish, La., city equipment driver Bobby Bouffine resigned in October. According to city officials, Bouffine had decided to stop by an X-rated video store for several hours during the work day and parked the city's $100,000, eight-ton, 25-foot-long pothole-filling machine in the parking lot.
MISCELLANEOUS ELOQUENCE
University of Washington astrophysicist Bruce H. Margon, quoted by The New York Times on the continuing inability of science to measure or infer what the "blackness" in space is, even though, by its properties, scientists know it must be matter: "It's a fairly embarrassing situation to admit that we can't find 90 percent of the universe."
Omicron Delta Kappa
OAK is now accepting applications for the 1995-96 school year. Candidates for membership must have completed at least 60 hours by next fall and be in the top 35% of his or her class. Applicants must also demonstrate achievement in one or more of the following areas:
National Leadership Honor Society
- Athletics
- Scholarship
- Journalism, Speech, and the Mass Media
- Campus Government, Social Service and Religious activities
- Creative and Performing Arts
Applications are available at the Organizations and Activities Center, 400 Kansas Union. Applications are due at the OAC by Friday,Feb24 at 5p.m.
Learn to Fly
Lawrence Air Services
Instruction • Charter
Service • Rental