Wynton Marsalis composed the suite Blood on the Fields, the first jazz work to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music. The Pulitzer was awarded in 1997, recognizing a large-scale oratorio about slavery, freedom, and the African American historical experience. Marsalis wrote the music and lyrics, and the work was performed by jazz musicians and vocalists.
The suite was commissioned by Jazz at Lincoln Center and premiered in 1997. Its title comes from the spiritual and historical imagery of blood, labor, memory, and liberation. The music draws on blues, gospel, spirituals, work songs, and orchestral jazz rather than presenting a short instrumental tune.
A frequent mistake is to identify Marsalis only as a trumpeter or only as an advocate for traditional jazz. Blood on the Fields demonstrates his role as a composer of extended works. It was also not the first Pulitzer connected to a jazz musician in any category; it was the first Pulitzer-winning work explicitly recognized as jazz.