Moving to Higher Ground

"I think it should be in every bookstore, music store, and school in the country." --Tony Bennett

"Jazz, for Wynton Marsalis, is nothing less than a search for wisdom. He thinks as forcefully, and as elegantly, as he swings. When he reflects on improvisation, his subject is freedom. When he reflects on harmony, his subject is diversity and conflict and peace. When he reflects on the blues, his subject is sorrow and the mastery of it-how to be happy without being blind. There is philosophy in Marsalis's trumpet, and in this book. Here is the lucid and probing voice of an uncommonly soulful man."--New Republic

"Wynton Marsalis is absolutely the person who should write this book. Here he is, as young as morning, as fresh as dew, and already called one of the jazz greats. He is not only a seer and an exemplary musician, but a poet as well. He informs us that jazz was created, among other things, to expose the hypocrisy and absurdity of racism and other ignorances in our country. Poetry was given to human beings for the same reason. This book could be called "How Love Can Change Your Life," for there could be no jazz without love. By love, of course, I do not mean mush, or sentimentality. Love can only exist with courage, and this book could not be written without Wynton Marsalis's courage. He has the courage to make powerful music and to love the music so, that he willingly shares its riches with the entire human family. We are indebted to him." --Maya Angelou

"A joyful primer . . . Come blow your horn-and let the music begin."--O: The Oprah Magazine

"I think it should be in every bookstore, music store, and school in the country." --Tony Bennett

"Wynton Marsalis has been a beacon for music since his early twenties. In Moving to Higher Ground, he continues to exhort, elevate, and educate us."--Yo-Yo Ma