The great Wynton Marsalis explained the role of the rhythm section in music as part of the lecture “Music as Metaphor” in 2011. This was the first of his ongoing series Hidden in Plain View: Meanings in American Music at Harvard University. Marsalis and several other very talented musicians musically demonstrated how the rhythm section swings.
The six lecture series began with “Music as Metaphor,” an interpretation of the many unobserved symbols in American music and their illumination of the democratic process, and featured performances by Marsalis alongside Ali Jackson (drums), Dan Nimmer (piano), Walter Blanding (tenor sax), Carlos Henriquez (bass), James Chirillo (guitar and banjo), and Mark O’Connor (violin).
