Wilmette, Community

Jazz legend Wynton Marsalis to headline New Trier Jazz Fest on Sunday, Feb. 5

Nine Grammys and a Pulitzer Prize will be represented on stage Sunday, Feb. 5, at New Trier High School’s Winnetka campus.

Famous jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra are the guests of honor for the school’s 40th annual Frank Mantooth Jazz Festival and will play the Gaffney Auditorium, 385 Winnetka Ave., at 2 p.m.

Tickets to the show, which will be followed by a conversation with Marsalis, range between $25 and $100 and are on sale online.

“The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra is a national treasure, and quite simply the very finest band of its kind in the world,” said Nic Meyer, director of Jazz Ensembles at New Trier, in a statement. “Soulfulness, refinement, virtuosity, and artistry define the enormous scope of their sound. Every ensemble member is a world-class soloist in their own right, led by one of the greatest jazz trumpeters in the history of the music (Marsalis).”

Meyer also called Marsalis a legendary musician and “one of our most inspired cultural ambassadors and communicators.” 

The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra will play New Trier’s Gaffney Auditorium on Feb. 5.

The school’s jazz festival begins Saturday, Feb. 4, when musicians from 40 schools — both local and non — will perform at New Trier. The event will feature concerts, workshops, jam sessions and classes, the press release says.

At 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 4, Delfeayo Marsalis and the Uptown Jazz Orchestra will take the main stage after an opening performance from New Trier jazz ensemble 1. Tickets are also available for this concert.

And Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra will cap the weekend on Feb. 5. A New Orleans native, Marsalis is the artistic direct of Jazz at Lincoln Center. He was performing across the city before he was a teenager before moving to New York City after high school in 1979. Marsalis had his own band by Age 19 and has since performed nearly 5,000 concerts across the globe. He’s the winner of nine Grammy Awards, and in 1997, his oratorio “Blood on the Fields” became the first jazz composition to win a Pulitzer Prize.

According to the release, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra has been in residence at the center since 1988 and regularly tours worldwide. Find out more about the orchestra and its musicians HERE.


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joe coughlin
Joe Coughlin

Joe Coughlin is a co-founder and the editor in chief of The Record. He leads investigative reporting and reports on anything else needed. Joe has been recognized for his investigative reporting and sports reporting, feature writing and photojournalism. Follow Joe on Twitter @joec2319

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