Wynton Marsalis’s choice to revive the whole of Ellington’s epic suite for jazz orchestra Black, Brown, and Beige – a rarely performed and momentously historical piece – is a brilliant nod to the final message with which he’d like to leave us.
As part of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra’s (JLCO’s) residency at Usher Hall, Artistic Director and world-renowned jazz trumpeter and composer Wynton Marsalis decided it was time Duke Ellington’s epic suite Black, Brown, and Beige was performed as a whole again.
When Ellington first wrote and premiered the piece at his Carnegie Hall debut in 1943, he was met with extensive censure from critics who racistly posited that a piece written for jazz orchestra could not and should not be that long and good, let alone given space within the very white, very echoey concert halls of classical symphonic orchestral work. Ellington never saw the piece performed as a whole again, instead selecting individual sections of it (there are nine total, which make up a 45-minute piece) and even rearranging it into a 20-minute orchestral piece.
This is just as much of an exciting moment for this monumental suite as it is for Wynton Marsalis, who will shortly be stepping down as Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, a department he also founded in 1987. He has been Artistic Director for four decades, championing the development of Jazz programming, not just in New York City but around the world. And it is Edinburgh’s privilege this summer to be able to witness one of his last performances with the orchestra.
The Edinburgh International Festival’s artistic theme this year is All Rise, a reminder that, as Marsalis puts it, only from a place of shared humility can we come together to rise above the trials and tribulations of current events. In many ways, it’s a message made even more powerful by Marsalis’s imminent retirement from his long-held post. So much of our contemporary appreciation of jazz is a result of Marsalis’s tireless work. In stepping down, he casts a long shadow but also makes way for a new era of leadership. And his choice to revive the whole of Ellington’s Black, Brown, and Beige – a rarely performed and momentously historical piece – is a brilliant nod to the final message with which he’d like to leave us.
Black, Brown, and Beige was Ellington’s response to the stereotypes of Black American life. In three movements, the suite reclaims a history of slavery, emancipation, freedom, and African American flourishing – an incredibly ambitious and noteworthy feat at a time when those stories were not considered to belong in the Great White canon of classical and orchestral music. It is no surprise that such an epic piece about Black liberation, spirituality, and cultural prosperity was panned by critics in the wake of its debut. Its revival today by the JLCO under the direction of Marsalis’ concluding leadership is a triumphant reason for celebration. More importantly, it is a reminder that, even if it takes a few years or even a few decades for our collective voice to be heard, we will still inevitably find a way to all rise.
Show Listing: https://www.eif.co.uk/events/jlco-plays-duke-ellington