Trumpeter, composer, and 2011 NEA Jazz Master Wynton Marsalis performs his live score to accompany a screening of director Dan Pritzker's 2010 silent Louis Armstrong biographical film Louis, joined by classical pianist Cecile Licad and an all-star 10-piece jazz ensemble in The Shedd Institute's intimate, vibrant Jaqua Concert Hall.
Shot by Academy Award-winning cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond as a modern re-imagining of early silent film, Louis is an homage to Louis Armstrong, Charlie Chaplin, beautiful women and the birth of American music. The grand Storyville bordellos, alleys and cemeteries of 1907 New Orleans provide a backdrop of lust, blood and magic for 6 year old Louis as he navigates the colorful intricacies of life in the city. Young Louis’s dreams of playing the trumpet are interrupted by a chance meeting with a beautiful and vulnerable girl named Grace and her baby, Jasmine.
“The idea of accompanying a silent film telling a mythical tale of a young Louis Armstrong was appealing to me,” says Marsalis. “Of course, calling it a silent film is a misnomer — there will be plenty of music, and jazz is like a conversation between the players so there’ll be no shortage of dialogue. I look forward to playing with Cecile. The contrast between Gottschalk’s music and jazz can be a revelation.” Notes Pritzker. “The combination of Cecile playing Gottschalk and Wynton and his ensemble playing jazz reflects the wide-ranging nature of the American musical landscape.”
“‘Louis’ came about when I was writing a screenplay about Buddy Bolden, the first jazz trumpeter of New Orleans, and I took my mom to see Chaplin’s City Lights with the Chicago Symphony performing the score. It was without a doubt the best movie experience I ever had. The challenge of trying to tell a story visually, without dialogue, was compelling. I thought that if I was going to shoot one film, I might as well try to shoot two—the second being a silent film that picked up where Bolden ended. And it put Vilmos and me on even footing—he’d never made a silent film before either.”
From his New Orleans beginnings and fiery debut with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers to his string of acclaimed albums and current role as Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, Marsalis has become an iconic figure in the art form. He has amassed nine GRAMMYs and the Pulitzer Prize for Music, the first ever awarded to a jazz artist.
Manila-born virtuoso classical pianist Cecile Licad made her debut at age seven as soloist with the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Philippines, and at 20 was one of the youngest musicians to receive the prestigious Leventritt Gold Medal.