NEW YORK — Jazz at Lincoln Center Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis never stopped making music during the pandemic. He even wrote and performed "The Quarantine Blues" during the shutdown.

Still, he said, it’s incredibly special to be back in front of an audience.

What You Need To Know

  • After being shuttered during the pandemic, Jazz at Lincoln Center welcomed Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra back for a jubilant performance

  • The season opens with three concerts celebrating Marsalis's 60th birthday and decades on the music scene

  • Marsalis lost his father to COVID-19, but said it still brings him happiness to think about him and play music in his honor

  • Marsalis said musicians and audiences have a renewed appreciation for live music and life in general 

“It means a lot, because that's what we're here to do. It's like inviting people to your home, and we are definitely going to be playing," Marsalis said. "We always appreciated playing, but this time has made us more mindful of how special the opportunity is to be able to play."

During a sit-down interview at the jazz venue’s Dizzy’s Club before Thursday’s reopening concert gala, NY1 asked Marsalis if he thought the audiences would also have a renewed appreciation.

“I think everybody appreciates everything more. Life. Those who've lost loved ones, which is a lot of people,” he said.

Sadly, Marsalis lost his father, beloved jazz musician Ellis Marsalis, to COVID-19 in April 2020. Despite the grief, Marsalis continues to find joy in the music and memories.

"One of the songs I'm going to play is a song he wrote for me in a notebook," he said. "And I wasn't going to play it, but I just, I was thinking about him. I don't get sad, because he was so cool about everything; life. He was so zen. He was affirming."
 
The 2021-2022 Jazz at Lincoln Center season celebrates Marsalis’s 60th birthday and four decades of his career. Marsalis and the orchestra, along with a host of jazz luminaries, will perform through June at "The House of Swing." And this season truly is a homecoming.