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| Profile |
Soulful Serenade
Catherine Curan
11/01/2007
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Before Wynton Marsalis and Yacub
Addy premiered their groundbreaking collaboration, Congo Square, in
New Orleans last year, Len Riggio got an exclusive preview.
Score in hand, Marsalis had traveled downtown from Jazz at
Lincoln Center in New York’s Columbus Circle, where he serves as artistic
director, to visit the Barnes & Noble chairman’s office in the Flatiron
District. The two men had known each other for more than a decade, since they
were both given humanitarian awards from the New York Urban League in 1996.
 | WYNTON MARSALIS (right) conducts a Congo Square concert in New
Orleans. (Photograph by Frank Stewart, Jazz at Lincoln Center.) |
Marsalis talked to Riggio about the combination of the big band
jazz his orchestra plays, and the African beats of Odadaa!, drum virtuoso Addy’s
ensemble. "He had the sheet music out and he was kind of tapping out the beat,"
Riggio says. Passersby stared curiously and Riggio was entranced. "His
enthusiasm for the project [was so compelling] I said, ‘Whatever you are looking
for, I’m in.’"
In addition to $250,000 from Riggio and his wife, Louise, Jazz
at Lincoln Center lined up $90,000 from the foundation and Northeast unit of New
Orleans–based power company Entergy. However, bringing Congo Square to
live audiences, and now a wider public with the launch of the CD this fall,
required selling an atypical arts project. Donors had to be engaged by the
unique musical composition Marsalis and Addy created, as well as the history
behind Congo Square in New Orleans. Jazz at Lincoln Center also had to grapple
with the logistical and funding challenges created by Hurricane Katrina, which
hit just after the original composition was complete. For example, the budget
increased by $200,000 because of the post-Katrina lack of infrastructure in New
Orleans.
Riggio and Entergy executive Mike Kansler came to the project
with different objectives and very different backgrounds, but both have forged
strong connections with Marsalis. After Entergy donated $10,000 to Jazz at
Lincoln Center in 2004 and Kansler attended a performance, he met Marsalis. The
musician’s work teaching and promoting jazz education, in addition to serving as
artistic director of the nonprofit, caught the attention of Kansler, whose
company runs a nuclear plant in New York state. "It seemed like a good thing for
Entergy to be involved in, especially being a fairly major part of the community
in Westchester County and somewhat tied into the city," he says.
They adapted their composition to reflect this new suffering inflicted on New Orleans’ residents—and reaffirm the city’s heritage and spirit.
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Entergy’s business track record raises questions about its philanthropic mission. The company has been publicly lambasted for leaks,
unplanned shutdowns and the failure of warning sirens at its Indian Point
nuclear power plant in Westchester. Kansler oversaw the facility as president of
Entergy Nuclear Northeast before being promoted to president of Entergy
Operations and chief nuclear officer earlier this year. In its hometown of New
Orleans, the company’s local subsidiary is widely reviled for declaring
bankruptcy after Hurricane Katrina, receiving a government bailout, and then
passing on storm-related costs to the customers struggling to rebuild.
Kansler says there was no way to avoid passing on high energy
costs to ratepayers. "We’re just trying to be a good corporate citizen and this
is one way we do it," he says. "It works very well for us and Jazz at Lincoln
Center." Marsalis says corporate decisions made by Entergy are separate from its
philanthropic efforts. "That’s outside of what my relationship is with Mike," he
says. "I don’t discuss that with him."
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