Wynton Marsalis is bringing his 12-movement symphony All Rise to the Edinburgh festival, a work for 200 musicians that he says is meant to unite America. The US trumpeter and composer arrives in Scotland after performing the piece at Heinz Hall in Pittsburgh, where he took a deliberately low-key place in the evening. Instead of standing out front as the featured soloist, he was embedded in the orchestra, a black-suited figure half-hidden behind ranks of strings and woodwind.
It was a striking contrast with his first appearance at Heinz Hall in 1984, when he was the prodigious 22-year-old soloist out front, performing Haydn's trumpet concerto under the baton of Lorin Maazel. More than 40 years later, Marsalis was at the heart of his own music, surrounded by the ensemble he had written for. He seemed almost pleased by his disappearance. « It's my piece, » he said, « but it's not my show. » The remark was delivered quietly, but it is a revealing one from an artist once best known for occupying the spotlight.
That comment says much about the way his career has evolved. Marsalis has long been seen as a commanding presence, a musician whose public pronouncements carry the force of moral law. He has built his reputation as a virtuoso soloist in both jazz and classical music, and he has never been shy about defending his instrument. Yet All Rise asks him to work on a far bigger canvas. With 12 movements and roughly 200 musicians, the symphony is a collective undertaking in which the composer is one voice among many. The scale is central to its stated ambition of uniting America.
He has not lost any of his enthusiasm for the trumpet, however. « Trumpeters? We think we're the kings of the orchestra, » he says, with the confidence that has accompanied his career from the start. It is a reminder that, however large the forces around him, the instrument that made his name still matters deeply to him. Audiences in Edinburgh will hear that trumpet voice within a much larger musical fabric.
The composer also talked about the musicians who shaped him. He spoke about the jazz greats who mentored him and about learning humility from his wife. For a figure known for strong opinions, humility is an unexpected theme, yet his decision to sit inside the orchestra during the Pittsburgh concert was a quiet illustration of it. The work may bear his name, but the performance belongs to the musicians around him.
All Rise now travels to Scotland as part of the Edinburgh festival. For Marsalis, it is another step in a long journey from prodigy soloist to orchestral composer. He no longer needs to be the most visible figure on stage. As he puts it, the piece is his, but the show belongs to everyone on stage.
