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Wynton Marsalis: Blues Symphony in Atlanta

(November 2009)

Robert Spano and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra will premiere selected movements of Wynton Marsalis's new symphonic work, Blues Symphony, November 19-22 in Atlanta Symphony Hall.

The new work, celebrating the blues through the prism of different moments in American history, will be presented in full as part of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s Annual King Celebration on January 14, 2010. The concert will be broadcast on American Public Media’s Performance Today on January 18, 2010.

Each of Blues Symphony’s seven movements takes a blues form, exploring everything from traditional fife and drum to African-American spirituals to the urban soundscape of New York City. Marsalis gives an audio tour through several movements of the piece from his piano, in a series of videos posted on his Facebook page and reposted on our website: Movements I & II, drawing from fife and drum, spirituals; Movement III, inspired by ragtime and dance figures; Movement IV, featuring different American root grooves; Movement V, with the steely sounds of city life; Movement VI, starting with a danzòn; and Movement VII, a modern piece about the relationship between a man and a woman.

Blues Symphony (Symphony No. 2) is Marsalis’s first work written solely for symphony orchestra, whereas his 1999 work, All Rise (Symphony No. 1), incorporates orchestra, jazz big band, and choir.

Photo Credit: Clay McBride

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