The melding of American music
A crossroad is a possible turning point, perhaps from the past, or from tradition, or from another direction. But to Wynton Marsalis, the legendary musician and artistic director of jazz at Lincoln Center, a crossroad is an intersection meant to be celebrated, which is exactly what he did in his combination performance and lecture at Harvard Monday evening. “Meet Me at the Crossroad,” the third of six lectures in his two-year presidential lecture series, “Hidden in Plain View: Meanings in American Music,” took the audience in Sanders Theatre on an aural tour of American history. Marsalis was supported in his task by accomplished performers: Doug Wamble on guitar and vocals, Herlin Riley on drums, Houston Person on tenor sax, Lucky Peterson on organ and piano, Reginald Veal on bass, and female vocalist Brianna Thomas. In a wide-ranging lecture that spanned more than 150 years of American history — and in a loose,...