12 | Wynton Marsalis on Jazz, Time, and America
Episode metadata
- Episode title:: 12 Wynton Marsalis on Jazz, Time, and America
- Show:: Sean Carroll’s Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas
- Owner / Host:: Sean Carroll
- Episode link:: open in Snipd
- Episode publish date:: 2018-09-04
Show notes
> Jazz occupies a special place in the American cultural landscape. It's played in elegant concert halls and run-down bars, and can feature esoteric harmonic experimentation or good old-fashioned foot-stomping swing. Nobody embodies the scope of modern jazz better than Wynton Marsalis. As a trumpet player, bandleader, composer, educator, and ambassador for the music, he has worked tirelessly to keep jazz vibrant and alive. In this bouncy conversation, we talk about various kinds of music, how they might relate to physics, and some of the greater challenges facing the United States today. (This and the next few podcasts were recorded on the road with headset microphones, and the sound quality isn't quite as good, sorry about that.) Hailing from an accomplished New Orleans family, Wynton Marsalis was marked as a prodigy from a young age. He played locally before moving to New York and attend Julliard, and played and recorded with artists such as Art Blakey and Herbie Hancock. He has recorded numerous albums as a leader of small ensembles, big bands, and as a soloist with symphony orchestras. He is a multiple-time Grammy winner and the first to win in both jazz and classical categories in the same year, and in 1997 his oratorio Blood on the Fields was the first non-classical work to win the Pulitzer Prize for music. Marsalis founded and continues to lead Jazz at Lincoln Center, which is in residence at Lincoln Center along with such organizations as the New York Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Opera, and the New York City Ballet. He has won the National Medal of the Arts and the National Humanities Medal, along with numerous other awards and honorary degrees.>
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Episode AI notes
- Jazz’s essence lies in improvisation within constraints, improvising with others, and governing interactions
- Blues music represents resilience and optimism in the face of challenges, emphasizing perseverance
- Swing in jazz is a transition from individual to collective consciousness, embracing others fully rather than just tolerating them
- Jazz allows for a balance between complexity and understanding, riding the wave of the present moment
Snips
[04:09] Fundamentals of Music Improvisation: Grid, Swing, and Blues
🎧 Play snip - 1min️ (03:46 - 04:24)
✨ Summary
The three fundamentals of music improvisation involve the concept of a grid providing structure for improvisation, the element of swing where interaction with others influences improvisation, and the sentiment of blues that embodies optimism despite challenging circumstances.
📚 Transcript
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Speaker 1
I think that the three fundamentals of the music improvisation to some type of grid. So you can improvise, but you have some restraint. Right. The swing, which means you improvise with other people. And there are things that govern how you will interact with each other. But those things, you also choose them. So if you're a heavy swinger, you choose to be in the groove and you choose to give some points over to people. If you're not, you don't. And then the blues, which is an optimism in spite of all evidence to the contrary.
[05:32] The Reconciliation of Opposites in Swing Consciousness
🎧 Play snip - 1min️ (05:13 - 05:46)
✨ Summary
Swing consciousness involves the reconciliation of opposites by transitioning from ‘I’ consciousness to ‘we’ consciousness. It is a process of embracing others wholeheartedly with genuine adjustments and not just mere tolerance, leading to being in a groove and embodying the essence of swinging.
📚 Transcript
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Speaker 1
And it's quantifiable. It's the reconciliation of opposites. So if you look at swing as a concept, whatever it takes for you to give from the eye consciousness to the weak consciousness is swinging. So when you embrace that in such a way that you're in a groove and you make all these little adjustments that are required to not just endure another person or to tolerate them, but you Embrace them, then you're swinging. Yeah.
[57:53] Finding Balance and Complexity in the Universe
🎧 Play snip - 1min️ (56:39 - 58:07)
✨ Summary
The universe is a complex system where finding balance between different elements is key. Entropy plays a role in creating complexity within this system, as it increases along the way. In the middle of this evolution, complex structures emerge, leading to uncertainty and unknown outcomes. By ordering and understanding these elements bit by bit, individuals can grasp different perspectives of reality. Jazz provides a unique way to perceive slices of reality beyond one’s own perspective. It operates at the speed of instinct, capturing the essence of the present moment and allowing individuals to ride the wave of complexity while interacting with others in a multi-dimensional way.
📚 Transcript
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Speaker 1
We all we all have things we're gonna do that we touch those like we're gonna that that's part of being in a kind of system that but if you're running you you're not doing a lot of things that
Speaker 2
Are to say it's true it's true and I think that we even mentioned before the balance between something different and something that fits in that's right sort of what you're looking for And that goes into what I said about entropy in the sense that we start with the universe that's simple we end with a universe that's simple entropy is going up along the way but it's in The middle where entropy is middle and complex structures are there and you don't know what's gonna happen it's not so simple that's fun right and you you're saying you're trying to
Speaker 1
Order them in a way that you can order them to understand whatever you can understand yeah we try to understand bit by bit right and what jazz gives you the opportunity to understand slices Of reality not just from your perspective now you understand it so much I call it the speed of instinct like how fast is instinct man it's fast you know I'm saying that's fair that's speed Yeah and you're playing in that on the edge always of instinct because it's always a present moment present moment present moment and you're trying to come in that press like riding A wave right and you just going on that wave and there's other people the presence of other people make make you all have it's like a multi it's like a hydra it's like it's and you're perceiving Them and you perceive in the form and you perceive and you perceive in audience and they're perceiving you and it's all going on