MAGIC OF JAZZ, THE MARSALIS WAY

Printed in Lansing State Journal 2/20/2020

Branford Marsalis doesn’t like music categories, like jazz, classical, R&B, show music, hip hop, rock, movie music, etc. He plays it all. Marsalis prefers to call himself, simply, a musician. And most of the music world agrees.

Joe Lulloff, professor of saxophone at Michigan State University, who has collaborated with Marsalis many times says, “Branford is a complete musician.  He’s a renaissance musician.”

Marsalis and his Branford Marsalis Quartet are appearing at Wharton Center on Wednesday, Feb. 23.

Coincidentally his famous (and younger) brother Wynton will be in Ann Arbor on March 11^th with the Philadelphia Orchestra for the premiere of his Tuba Concerto he just completed. It appears that both of these great musicians have something in common – they are not only world class jazz musicians (Wynton on trumpet, Brandon on saxophone) but are also involved in composing, teaching, arranging and performing of music in all styles.

Williamston Brings Iconic Play by Okemos-raised Playwright

 

Attending Okemos High School in the 80s, award-winning playwright Heather Raffo enveloped herself in the arts. She was the lead in several plays, was a violinist in the orchestra and sang in the choir. Raffo remembers, “It was hugely exciting. I was born to be an artist but was always looking for an outlet. Okemos formed me as a bridge builder.”

Her acclaimed play “9 Parts of Desire” will be playing at Williamston Theatre Jan. 27 – Feb. 27.

“Growing up in Okemos was so important for me. Although my father was an Iraqi, I am white, Catholic, and blond and I felt that I was passing. It made it possible to build a bridge between communities. It’s the foundation for how I started my work [as an actress and playwright]. I’m like a translator.”

From OHS, Raffo received her undergraduate at University of Michigan. “My father didn’t want me to be a theater major, so I majored in English literature and took all the acting classes I could.”

After Michigan, she went on to University of San Diego for her Master of Fine Arts, and went to England to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.

“When in England, I traveled through Europe and the Middle East, and ended up in Baghdad.”