In April 2011, Wynton Marsalis launched “Hidden in Plain View: Meanings in American Music,” a three-year performance and lecture series at Harvard University. 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).
