See Luxury in a New Light with: Wynton Marsalis

The Dandelion Chandelier Luminary Café is the place to find a series of personal interviews with fascinating people who are stellar achievers in their chosen field of endeavor. Our Luminaries are sharing their origin stories, life philosophies, secret songs, guilty pleasures and hidden talents. It’s guaranteed to be illuminating. 

Wynton Marsalis is an internationally acclaimed musician, composer and bandleader, an educator and a leading advocate of American culture. A child prodigy, at age 14 he performed with the New Orleans Philharmonic. He attended Juilliard, afterward performing with several jazz legends, including Art Blakey, Sweets Edison, Elvin Jones, John Lewis, Dizzy Gillespie and Sarah Vaughn. Through his tireless performing and teaching, Wynton rekindled widespread interest in jazz throughout the world and inspired a renaissance that attracted a new generation of fine young talent to jazz. In the realm of classical music, Wynton has recorded 11 classical records, to critical acclaim. He has produced over 80 records, including three Gold Records. A prolific and inventive composer, he has created and performed an expansive range of music for groups of every size and many genres: quartets to big bands, chamber music ensembles to symphony orchestras and tap dance to ballet, expanding the vocabulary for jazz and classical music with a vital body of work that places him among the world’s finest musicians and composers. His lauded works include The Jungle, Concerto in D, Swing Symphony, All Rise, and Blood on the Fields, which won a Pulitzer Prize.

He delivered a series of lectures at Harvard at the invitation of its President called Hidden in Plain View: Meanings in American Music to expand cultural literacy among our youth; he is currently an AD White Professor at Cornell and holds honorary degrees from nearly 35 universities, including Harvard, Princeton and Yale. He has written six books, won 9 Grammy Awards, and was honored with The National Medal of Arts, the highest award given to artists by the United States Government in 2005 and with The National Humanities Medal by President Barak Obama in 2015.

Always swinging, Wynton Marsalis blows his trumpet with a clear tone, a depth of emotion and a unique, virtuosic style derived from an encyclopedic range of trumpet techniques. When you hear him play, you’re hearing life being played out through music. He presently serves as Managing and Artistic Director for Jazz at Lincoln Center.

On a bright late-October morning, we met in Wynton’s office at Lincoln Center for a conversation. The space is filled with meaningful mementos: a huge pair of gold scissors in a frame (from the ribbon-cutting for Jazz at Lincoln Center); a signed basketball from the LA Lakers; a photo of the artist with the Mt. Carmel High School Band. There’s a piano in a corner, and a representational sketch of yellow, orange and green trumpets on the wall. He’s on the phone when we arrive, encouraging someone on the line to keep going, reassuring them that they’re onto something good. Here’s what we talked about.

Tell us your life philosophy in 10 words or less.

To raise and deepen the soul quotient in the world.

How did you decide to do the work you’re doing now?

It’s what my parents were doing – social work, teaching, and playing music. I think that’s what I’m doing, too.

Who lights you up?

My four children and my band members.

How do you like to celebrate?

I’m always celebrating. Every interaction with people is a celebration.

If you could travel anywhere, where would you go? Where would you stay?

If I could time travel, I would go back to 1970, to my great-aunt Marguerite’s house in New Orleans. In 1967, my uncle and I built the porch on that house – he was a stone-cutter. She was deeply soulful. And she could cook.

What’s the last new food item that you tried for the first time? Did you like it?

I’m always traveling and trying new things. I was in China, and I had a pepper so hot it just popped. That pepper taught me something. There was a consciousness in it.

What song is on your playlist that people would be surprised by?

Milk Cow Blues by Willie Nelson. I know and love Willie, and I’ve played with him many times. Also my friend Paul Simon’s Pigs, Sheep and Wolves.

What’s your favorite form of exercise?

Eating! I do yoga and jump rope. But I eat more than I do both of those.

Who is your favorite artist?

Duke Ellington. He was original, eclectic, creative, and he never played down to his audiences. He had a great generosity of spirit.

What are you reading right now?

Right now, I’m into podcasts. I love Dan Carlin’s Hard Core History podcast. He’s not a historian, but he knows how to tell a story. I like his style.

Tell us about your style.

I am deep in the center of the blues aesthetic.

What is your favorite item of clothing? Who’s your go-to designer?

I’m a blues man. Like my mentors, I prefer the quiet elegance of a person who grew up in the country and respects dressing well. I wear Brooks Brothers’ suits and Movado watches. I think they both represent elegance and style. I love their CEOs, and I have known them for a long time. They both have integrity and tremendous style.

What’s your dream car?

I once bought a Volante Aston Martin – when I was 23. It was light blue and cream. I sold it. And now I don’t drive. I live without a car.

What are you looking forward to?

As a jazz man, I always just look forward to the next moment. We’re living in the future now, we just can’t comprehend it. We can only comprehend the past.

What skill do wish you had that you don’t currently possess?

I want to do everything! I want to be able to cook, to swim, to fix computers; to be a dancer, a handyman, a singer; to repair jewelry and write plays. To be a gossip columnist, a pilot, to speak many languages. I wish I could do everything. I wish I could see without glasses.

What’s your hidden talent?

I’m good at clowning around. I’m a pretty good BS artist.

What’s the most extravagant thing you’ve ever bought?

By far, that Aston Martin.

What’s the best gift you’ve ever received?

My daughter wrote a 7-page story for me for my birthday. She’s 9. For her to have spent that much time on it was a precious gift. Also, the meals people have made for me on the road – the time they’ve taken to prepare them. The parents who entrust the teaching of their children to me. That’s a blessing.

What’s your guilty pleasure?

(He laughs and shakes his head). I’ve paid for that already – many times over.

What does luxury mean to you?

Something that is not utilitarian – that is artistic. Something that is elaborated on, refined or extended. It could be a meal. Or a haircut with a “W” in it.

Here’s a story about luxury: years ago we were in Istanbul, Turkey at a drum factory. It was in a neighborhood that could be graciously called lower middle class – there was a sweet shop, there were dogs on the street. I was the only black person in sight. The little kids kept saying “He’s Michael!” Because the only black men they knew were called Michael – either Tyson, Jackson or Jordan. Some band members and I were just hanging out, playing Tic Tack Toe, when a 13-year old girl appeared on a second-story balcony with either her mom or her grandmother standing next to her. She spoke English, so we shouted back a forth a bit. Then she said “I’m coming down.” Ten minutes passed, and she appeared with a tray with cups and Turkish coffee for all of us. You know how when people don’t have much, but they have something that is special and really means something to them? I could tell that for her, it was those cups and that tray – they were the very best things they had in their house. She poured the coffee with grace, elegance, love, soul and sweetness – that was the feeling it had. That was luxury. To receive and to give – that was the best coffee I have ever had.

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