Well said, Mac....

At the risk of "stepping in it" I feel something must be added here.

Much as I respect Marsalis' accomplishments, leadership ability, and his incredible musicianship, I do not easily award that respect to his persistently big mouth, especially when it comes to "race." Many would say that Wynton is the biggest racist on the planet.

As longtime successful director of the Lincoln Center Jazz program (responsible for, some would say Live at "Wynton" Center), it took years before he would allow any serious participation or recognition of white jazz talents, and he virtually had to be hit over the head (with a Bix horn??) before he finally recognized one, Gerry Mulligan. He so deeply influenced Ken Burn's series on Jazz (great series, by the way), skewing it so that it almost became a long dissertation on racism and oppression of black people in America, eclipsing the music. He's still doing it. (Yes, I know he did an album with Willie Nelson.)

On the Lincoln Center "Hall of Fame," there are 34 inductees. Only five are white (Bix, Charlie Christian, Gil Evans, Goodman, Django). This means, let's see.... 34 over five... Mmm,.. That black jazz musicians are 6.8 times better than white jazz musicians. Sounds about right.

As a counter-POV, read a book called "Blue: The Murder of Jazz," by Eric Nisenson. Not a great book, definitely a biased polemic, but makes some good points. From the Kirkus Reviews: "He repeats the often-made accusations against Marsalis, his primary mouthpiece, Stanley Crouch, and their mentor Albert Murray, that there is implicit racism in their insistence that only African-Americans can truly play jazz, that jazz has its roots exclusively in the African-American experience."

Me, I would just like to not see music politicized, and I hope this thread doesn't go that way. Whether black or white, it remains that Wynton does have a big mouth. But some of my best friends are bigmouths.

Brad

Brad -- My FAWM