The following is from Josh Schlactus’ class presentation:
![](https://www.earlmacdonald.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Plantation_To_Peniteniary-1024x576.jpeg)
Wynton Marsalis
- Born in 1961 in New Orleans
- Started playing trumpet when he was 6 years old
- Known for contributions to both jazz and classical styles of music
- Grammy and Pulitzer Award winner (multiple Grammys)
Basics about the Album:
- “From the Plantation to the Penitentiary” was recorded, mixed, and mastered in 2006
- Released in March 2007
- It consists of 7 songs:
- From the Plantation To the Penitentiary
- Find Me
- Doin’ (Y)our Thing
- Love and Broken Hearts
- Supercapitalism
- These are Those Soulful Days
- Where Y’all At
- Includes a trumpet, tenor sax, soprano sax, piano, bass, drums and vocals (Jennifer Sanon)
Inspiration of the Album:
- The Coexistence of good and evil
-
- “Proportions of their coexistence is up to all of us”
– Stanley Crouch
- “Proportions of their coexistence is up to all of us”
- Topics it covers:
- Slavery
- Incarceration
- Education
- Poverty
- Kindness
- Capitalism
- Friendship
- Taking personal responsibility
From the Plantation to the Penitentiary:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQAgrzc8hXw
- 2:00-2:45
- Mix of groove (structured/repeating), and swing (smooth and flowing)
- Goes through history in order
- Discussing the horrors of slavery
- Discusses the terrible systems that puts many Black people in poverty
- Truly shows how Black people made the transition from the plantation to the penitentiary
- Beginning and end are commentaries on Wynton’s feelings about our current world (in 2006)
- Shows the issues that the world currently has along with the issues we thought we all escaped
Find Me:
- Modern habanera (nice rhythmic pulse)
- Gives a voice to those in extreme poverty and those who constantly experience the problems we are so fortunate to be able to not have to deal with
- “Shattered people” “Tattered ragmen”
- “Goes round and round and round”
- Consistent and never ending cycle
Love and Broken Hearts:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3LrtMzAIec
- 0:00-1:05
- “I ain’t your bitch I aint your ho. And public ni****in’ has to go”
- Goes against the misogynistic aspect of the entertainment industry
- Goes against the public utilization of the n-word in music and life
- “It’s time for the return of romance”
- Sings about bringing back kindness and love
- “It’s time to treat me gently now”
- Last words
- Summarizes the entire point
Supercapitalism:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LF4KpJK8mrU
- 0:00-1:20
- Discusses the extremely busy and hard-nosed nature of capitalism
- “Gimme this, gimme that”
- Greed associated with capitalism that is needed for people to succeed
- “Give me my fee, I got to be mean”
- Shows the cut throat and hard-nosed approach needed to be successful
- Pace of music says a lot
- Extremely frantic music shows the lifestyle that capitalism creates
- All work all the time, no breaks, exhausting
- There are slower sections that represent the disappointment that capitalism inevitably brings to the population
- “There’s never enough”
- Extremely frantic music shows the lifestyle that capitalism creates
Where Y’all At:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBSrwcm6H9U
- 0:00-1:15
- Wynton speaks over a track about the issues he sees in society
- “Even the rap game started out critiquin’ now it’s all about killing and freakin’”
- “Liberal students and equal rights pleaders, What’s goin’ on now that y’all are the leaders”
- “And it all can’t be blamed on the party of Lincoln, The left and the right got the country sinkin’”
- “Well, it ain’t about black and it ain’t about white, They’ll get together to make your pocket light”
- “All you ‘it’s not me’ it’s always others, You watch the crimes, you close your shutters”
- “Where Yall at”
- Calling out to all groups, asking people to fight for the justice they believe in