Delfeayo Marsalis and Uptown Jazz Orchestra Bring New Orleans Jazz to Penn State Center for the Performing Arts Virtual Event | Way of life

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On November 20, the Center for the Performing Arts virtually hosted Delfeayo Marsalis and Uptown Jazz Orchestra to bring some New Orleans flair to the Penn State community.

The group performed extracts from the album “Jazz Party”.

The free event was broadcast live on Facebook from New Orleans at 8 p.m. ET.

The concert was the closing performance of the CPA’s 2020 “Up Close and Virtual” series, according to George Trudeau, director of the Center for the Performing Arts.

“We’re going to bring this Uptown Funk style, Crescent City!” Marsalis said by e-mail.

Delfeayo Marsalis and Uptown Jazz Orchestra kicked off the concert with a cover of “I’m Walkin”.

“You can all make noise. You don’t have to keep it to yourself, ”Marsalis said at the concert.

The musicians playing bass, drums and piano all wore masks for the duration of the concert. Those who played brass were socially distant from each other.

“Elegant suit, Delfeayo!” User “John Mark Rafacz” said.

“The Almighty RBG” followed in tribute to the late Ruth Bader Ginsberg.

Members of the audience were able to select a user and participate in Facebook’s live chat feature during the concert.

“Really need this! Lack of music and RBG !!! ” user “Gina Whitehill-Baziuk” said.









Trudeau said the event is open to all members of the Penn State community.

“This [had] that feeling of being in an audience in the Eisenhower Auditorium. You just can’t replicate that feeling of being with your community and having that shared experience with the artist, ”Trudeau said. “There is nothing that beats him.”

The band continued to perform with a song called “Blues for Breonna T”.

Originally slated for Halloween, Delfeayo Marsalis and Uptown Jazz Orchestra lost power due to Hurricane Zeta which hit New Orleans and couldn’t perform.

“It has been particularly difficult for the university community and all those involved to manage the educational environment and the environment of student life in a way that ensures the safety of all and allows our students to progress towards their degrees” Trudeau said. “I think this [was] a great cathartic moment where we [could] just say ‘Yay, we’ve made it until Thanksgiving week.’ ”

Since this was not the first livestream that Delfeayo Marsalis and Uptown Jazz Orchestra participated in, Marsalis said that not having a live audience was not an entirely new feeling they had to deal with.

“Well, as a jazz musician – even before the pandemic – you never knew what the chord might be. Now it takes a while to get used to it because we feed so much on the energy of the crowd, ”Marsalis said via email. “We think our job is to heal people through music as much as possible, so it’s hard now for sure.”






Delfeayo 3




Towards the end of the performance, Marsalis performed the song “Electoral College Blues”, which referred to the 2016 presidential election. Marsalis said the song was written before the 2020 presidential election.

Trudeau said the live-streamed performances act as a “two-way street” benefiting both the virtual audience and the bands themselves.

“I think people are feeling that energy – that the artists themselves are so excited to be together and make music for a community like ours,” Trudeau said. “One of our goals this year, with the pandemic, is that we want to continue supporting the artists we plan to present this season.”

Marsalis said the group remains motivated by remembering the “reality that many of our ancestors faced through much more difficult times… than those we have faced in recent months.”

“They were able to maintain a certain positive attitude through their spirituality,” Marsalis said via email. “Accepting that we are ultimately out of control puts things in the right perspective. “

Trudeau said he was “grateful” for the way the community reacted to the virtual events.

“It continues to grow – the number of people logging into our virtual events,” Trudeau said. “We are very grateful to our sponsors, our student fees commission, and our members and contributors who help make this possible. “

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Henry R. Wright