Page 21 - Media Coverage Book_Wynton Marsalis, The Ever Fonky Lowdown

and songwriter James Black played in the 60s, to the funk we played in the
70s, to the modern jazz that we had the chance to play, to teach and to
shape over the past decades. "The Ever Fonky Lowdown" is an antidote to
the toxic (and largely unchallenged) ideology that continues to infect our
overall quality of life . "

The work finally asks the following question: where do we go from this
observation? According to Wynton Marsalis, " There is no real answer,
neither to the left nor to the right. The solution lies outside the game. But
we have to rise above our position to see the bigger picture. .... and then
decide individually, if we have the will to fight for a collectively better
country (or world) populated by “others.” It comes down to the fundamental
question of predation versus symbiosis: want to we help each other or
exploit each other?

Through this work, Wynton Marsalis suggests the need for all of us to
challenge populism and cheap propaganda; rather than looking at what you
are told to see, look at what you actually see in your immediate
environment and take action to improve that. " The whole world is grappling
with issues of governance, belief, wealth and cultural integrity. Now is not
the time to sleepwalking, " he said. "Protests around the world have
expressed solidarity with the African-American struggle, we see people
who want to rise up and create a more equitable and participatory
world. What is your position? The new world is something we have to fight
for and the first step is to face it. Awareness and keenness are the keys to
escaping the complex web of very deliberate obscurations on all sides of
the equation. It is a responsibility and a burden that we all share. In these
cloudy times, acting is in itself heroic ".

(Extract from the press release in English - translation E. Lacaze / A.
Dutilh)