My Man Wynton

As a trumpet player, Wynton Marsalis was one of my first musical heroes. He did a cd signing at my local Best Buy way back in the day, and I stood in line with a couple hundred other people to meet him. When I finally got to the table, I sheepishly handing him my CDs. He smiled and looked right at me, asking if I was a musician. When I answered in the affirmative, he got wanted to know everything - how long I had been playing, what solo I was working on, and problems I was facing. As a high school band geek, this was all very exciting to me. When I told him about my problems mastering the F-G trills in a trumpet concerto, he smirked in knowing agreement. Then, to my surprise (and to everyone else at Best Buy also), he pulls his trumpet case out from under the table. He cooly explained his method of approaching and playing trills as I was mesmerized by the wild appearance of his horn. Then, making it look as easy as only a master can, he produced an f-g trill the likes of which I have never been able to replicate. In total, he gave me 3-4 minutes of his time, but he treated me like I was the only person in the store, and I had his full attention. I'll never forget how engaging Wynton was, and he earned my permanent respect.

I say all this because his most recent article for CNN gives a great bit of insight as he retells his own experience meeting jazz legend Roy Eldridge when he was in high school.

But the quote I want to highlight here is

The most natural revolutionary requires a conservative establishment to rebel against. The most stilted tradition must have some new vivifying energy and imagination.

Indeed. With this, Wynton again nails it on the head with as much understanding and mastery as playing a perfect f-g trill.

Carmina Burana? Really?

The linked Telegraph article deals with China's decision to ban Western religious music. What I don't understand is how Carmina Burana fits into that equation:

Cai Jindong, a Chinese-born conductor and professor of music at Stanford University in the United States, was asked to drop a section from Carl Orff's Carmina Burana, an arrangement of raucous Latin and German medieval songs, which he conducted in Shanghai in August.

Not really Latin and German medieval songs, but Latin and German poems set to music by Carl Orff in the 1930's. It is laughable to put Carmina Burana into the category of religious music, given that the full title in English is Songs of Beuern: Secular songs for singers and choruses to be sung together with instruments and magic images.. Coming to a church near you!

Back to the point of the article, I find it an interesting development. It is clear that the Chinese government does not know how to respond to the explosion of Christianity in its country, torn between taking advantage of the obvious social benefits while fearful of its power.

As a fan of Bach, Handel, and Mozart, it is sad to see the restrictions against music as beautiful as Bach's St. Matthew's Passion or Handel's Messiah. At the same time, I understand the move.

Most people in America today do not seem to have an open ear for this "antiquated" style of music anymore, but the glory and spirit present in so many Christian masterpieces is obvious to those who listen. A favorite exhortation of mine from Jesus was "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." I like to think that not only was he being sensitive to the deaf, and maybe a little sarcastic to everyone else, but also talking about a way of listening to really understand the message he was giving. I still remember hearing the Hallelujah Chorus the first time, and my wife thought I had lost my mind the way I fondled my recent purchase of a German import recording of St. Matthew's Passion and insisted on having her sit there while I listened to the entire first half. I can imagine how Chinese citizens, in a country going through such tremendous change, could hear and be affected by the divine message proclaimed within not only the text but woven into the music of these Christian works. And so I understand a fretting government wanted to limit the power these pieces can exercise over its people, or more perhaps more appropriately, God's people.