A Chat with Walter Blanding

When you think of one of today's best jazz trumpeters, one name rarely escapes the world's musical consciousness: Wynton Marsalis.

The New Orleans native follows a historic line of Big Easy horn men - Buddy Bolden, King Oliver, Louis Armstrong - and grew out of the scene with a few contemporaries like Nicholas Payton and Terence Blanchard.

Marsalis' passion for jazz is known through his work as the artistic director and member of the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and for his work in the context of a quintet and septet all over the globe.

In the context of a live setting, Marsalis speaks to his fans about the songs performed for the evening in a soft-spoken tone and eloquent manner, quite a contrast to the blaring high notes that end up coming out of his horn. Whether it's the orchestra or quintet, Marsalis and his band members look the part - donning Brooks Brothers suits, shined shoes and neat haircuts - and play the part - performing originals, standards and jazz classics as some of the most proficient performers in the current jazz scene.

His Los Angeles- and perhaps Orange County-based fans are now gearing up for his return as he is back on the road, miles from his New York City, performing with his quintet at the Disney Music Hall Oct. 30. The quintet consists of the maestro himself, Ali Jackson, Dan Nimmer, Carlos Henriquez and Walter Blanding Jr.

“Generally, one of the things that makes a difference from venue to venue is the people, the interaction between the audience and the performers; that's what really makes it special,” said Blanding, tenor saxophonist.

Blanding, 35, a native of Cleveland, began playing the saxophone at age 6 and moved to New York City in 1981 with his family when he was 16. He began playing professionally still as a student at LaGuardia High School for Music & Art and the Performing Arts. Blanding earned a bachelor's degree from the New School for Social Research and lived in Israel for four years, teaching in the country's schools and touring the countryside with his ensemble.

“I love the guys in the band,” said Blanding about the quintet. “Wynton has done a great job of choosing the musicians. We are like a big family and we have known each other throughout the years. That camaraderie is very special.”

The quintet's drummer Jackson, 30, began his musical journey on the piano at age 5 and by the time he was 7, was playing with his father on the streets of Detroit. In his early 20s, Nimmer is the youngest member and a native of Milwaukee. Henriquez, the quintet's bassist, is in his late 20s and was born in the Bronx. He also attended LaGuardia High School and became a member of the school's concert jazz ensemble.

“In the orchestra it's interesting, it's a larger number of people and everybody can play,” said Blanding who is also a member of the LCJO. “When you are in the smaller group, you get a chance to stretch out because there are less people. So, that is really the only difference for me, personally. The music is based on improvisation and so there is improvisation in both the orchestra and the quintet but it's like having a conversation with 15 or just five people. So there is more space in a smaller ensemble.”

Born in 1961, Marsalis began his classical training on the trumpet at 12 and as a young musician learned various genres and styles as a member in local marching, jazz and funk bands, along with classical youth orchestras.

“As a human being, he is an amazing person, he is very intelligent, he has an amazing vision and he is very competitive,” said Blanding about working with Marsalis. “As a bandleader, those qualities still come through, the healthy competition is always there. He is a serious man but he also likes to have fun. He is a very warm and generous person whom almost anyone can talk to, he is very down to earth.”
In 1979, Marsalis enrolled in the prestigious Juilliard School in Manhattan - the campus at Lincoln Center - when he was 17. The same year he joined Art Blakely and the Jazz Messengers. Marsalis made his recording debut as a bandleader in 1982 and since then has produced dozens of both jazz and classical albums that have won him nine Grammy Awards. In 1983, he became the first and only artist to earn a Grammy in both classical and jazz categories, a accomplishment he repeated the following year. In 1997, Marsalis won the Pulitzer Prize in music for his Lincoln Center-commissioned work “Blood on the Fields.”

Aside from his rigorous tour schedule, Marsalis still finds the time to compose works commissioned by Jazz at the Lincoln Center, sometimes in collaboration with the New York City Ballet, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and the Orion String Quartet with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. He is also a stout proponent of music education, teaching classes at the Lincoln Center by way of its educational component and the recipient of honorary doctorates from more than a dozen universities.