New CD Highlights Greatest Hits From Marsalis’s Career

For Release: December 22, 2011
Press Release by Wynton Marsalis, 6/2011

To celebrate Wynton’s 50th birthday, highlights from those nine albums plus his career-defining masterpiece All Rise have been selected by the artist for one new compilation: Swinging Into The 21^st!

From chamber music to studio and live dates with his septet, jazz and blues tributes, film music, scores for ballet, modern classical and orchestral works, to some bona fide swing, Swingin’ Into The 21^st also showcases collaborations with a diverse group of musicians and displays Marsalis’ extraordinary musical range.

1999 was a very important year in Wynton Marsalis’s development. He has been recording for CBS Records and Sony Music for almost 20 years. This relationship allowed for the unprecedented release of 9 recordings. Don Ienner, then president of the label, agreed to support this volume of artistic production despite its economic risk. Marsalis viewed Ienner’s support as recognition of and respect for his contribution to the label and his unwavering dedication to the art of jazz and to music. They called it Swinging into the 21^st and it was an optimistic statement on the upcoming century. Marsalis was more than fortunate to have Gabrielle Armand as project manager. She wrote the overall plan and release schedule, and oversaw the execution of it with the intensity of a mother. He owes these releases to her tenacity and belief.

That entire year, from January 1^st to the performance of All Rise with the New York Philharmonic on December 29^th, Marsalis worked every day from 5 in the morning until 1 or 2 the next morning. He was music, music, music. All Rise, which was not a part of the original release schedule, took literally 5 months of 20 hour days to compose. Marsalis was hearing so much music, his ears actually became hot and his inner ear was ringing and burning for the entire last month. A team of copyists and the professor of music, James Oliverio, were worn out trying to realize it.

This compilation presents selections from the Swinging into the 21^st box set. Each album within this series features a different ensemble and style of music, and a unique set of musical challenges. The one unifying factor is jazz which is the foundation of all that Marsalis does and hopes to do.