Wynton Marsalis

[Scott Dolan]

I consider myself a fan, but do agree that he has put out some really horrifying music. Big Train comes to mind in that department.

But he's also put out some good stuff, as well. Black Codes, the VV box set, The Marciac Suite............

I personally wish he'd drop this whole neo-Ellington complex and stick with smaller groups playing some straight up shit instead of these overly long and tedius suites.

[Lazaro Vega]

I slept on "Citizen Tain" forever and keep hearing from his fans that it is the album to have. The reunion of the brothers and all.....

[Scott Dolan]

I'm not a big fan of Watts, so I never heard Citizen Tain. It's difficult enough to take him on the Branford discs.

[danasgoodstuff]

Was in the store the other day and I heard some pretty nice convential modern jazz on their system and wondered who it was til he started lecturing/hectoring in his prissy schoolmarm psuedo profound way - why can't Wynton just shut up and play?

Still not quite as bad as the (Crouch authored?) sermon he put on one of his records...

Edited March 9, 2007 by danasgoodstuff

[CJ Shearn]

Citizen Tain is a great album, yes and Wynton does kill on the first track.

[Scott Dolan]

Still not quite as bad as the (Crouch authored?) sermon he put on one of his records...

I actually kinda dig that number.

That's one of his better albums, IMO.

[Indestructible!]

Wynton's latest was released this week.

from the plantation to the penitentiary

You can hear the entire album by clicking on the e-card link. Wynton kind of raps on the last track.

Rough sledding.

You ain't kidding, Joe!

Man, there's unintentional irony splattered all over this album... I listened to it all, but it was "rough sledding" indeed. Some of it damned downright painful!

Yet another Wynton album I can safely pass on... and his career as a rapper isn't exactly about to launch! I think KRS-One (who Wynton apes on that last track) would have something to say on this... me, I just threw up in my mouth a little bit!

Cheers,

Shane

[Simon Weil]

Was in the store the other day and I heard some pretty nice convential modern jazz on their system and wondered who it was til he started lecturing/hectoring in his prissy schoolmarm psuedo profound way - why can't Wynton just shut up and play?

Still not quite as bad as the (Crouch authored?) sermon he put on one of his records...

True, but then the lyrics are really the dominant factor on this record. And they are painful.

Oh God. I think this record is credibility shaking.

Simon Weil

[AllenLowe]

well, I'm on the net now listening to Where You'll At?"

at least now I have the name of my next CD:

"Hey Stupid Here I Am"

[Larry Kart]

"Camus readers" -- I love it; should have rhymed with "'Moby-Dick' eaters," though.

Also, for some odd reason, the background chorus on "Where Y'all At?" sounds to me like a gathering of the younger members of the cast of "The Sopranos."

Edited March 10, 2007 by Larry Kart

[AllenLowe]

do you mean the Vienna Boys Choir?

or

the Lincoln Center Castrati ?

[Alexander]

I don't know. The new CD doesn't sound too bad to me. Yes, the lyrics are stridant. Yes, I could have done without Wynton's little rap at the end (although it wasn't nearly as bad as I feared it would be). I liked the playing, however, and I enjoyed the female vocalist, for the most part.

Again, the problems I've had with Wynton have been primarily philosophical. He thinks that anything that came after 1960 is the Devil's music, and he's spent an awful lot of time emulating Duke Ellington (and not succeeding, imho). His playing has always been fine, so I've never had a problem with that. He usually hires good musicians to play with.

His last few albums, it seems to me, have taken some chances (compared to his work on Columbia, especially right before he left). This one takes more chances than most. Does it succeed? No, I don't think it does. But I'm willing to give the guy props for taking those chances, and for making an album that speaks to his concerns and interests. Clearly he's taken the lessons of Norah Jones and Diana Krall to heart (you get more radio play with a pleasant female voice), as well as the lessons of the very Hip Hop music he despises (you got beef? Say it loud!). So I give it a thumbs up for being daring, for overall instrumental excellence, and for wearing his heart on his sleeve.

Edited March 10, 2007 by Alexander

[Dan Gould]

Again, the problems I've had with Wynton have been primarily philosophical. He thinks that anything that came after 1960 is the Devil's music

Considering how much his first quintet sounded like Miles' second quintet, I think you're off by at least five years.

[Larry Kart]

Again, the problems I've had with Wynton have been primarily philosophical. He thinks that anything that came after 1960 is the Devil's music

Considering how much his first quintet sounded like Miles' second quintet, I think you're off by at least five years.

Yes, but he eventually turned the clock back. Marsalis Saving Time.

[Alexander]

Again, the problems I've had with Wynton have been primarily philosophical. He thinks that anything that came after 1960 is the Devil's music

Considering how much his first quintet sounded like Miles' second quintet, I think you're off by at least five years.

Yes, but he eventually turned the clock back. Marsalis Saving Time.

That's what I meant. He *used* to emulate mid-60s Miles, but as the 80s passed into the 90s and the 90s approached the millennium, Wynton grew ever more conservative. For a while there he was trying to make EVERYTHING sound like a "Hot Fives" recording (even Monk). Lately, as I said, he's taken Ellington has his model. Not saying there's anything wrong with liking what you like, but Wynton's been pointing ever further backwards for a long time. That's what I like about his last several albums: He seems to have discovered that "now" is what counts, so he's been making music that sounds...I don't know. I don't want to use the word "timeless," because it isn't, but I guess I mean that it doesn't sound 50 years old. 50 years old ON PURPOSE, that is.

[Trumpet Guy]

Lots of talk...what about the trumpet playing? It takes a back seat--not very noteworthy from what I've heard...Concepts aside...

[Dmitry]

Saw WM and the LCJO last Sunday here in Rhode Island. This was my first live exposure to him and the band. I must say it was a phenomenally-good evening of big band music. The first set was all-Ellington, consisting mainly of his lesser known compositions; the second had two Jelly Roll Morton tunes, a composition the title of which slips my mind now, something-something Nippon, and one other tune. WM played a nice solo encore.  He introduced every tune either before or after it was played, and had some general commentary on the blues ["not the kind the long-haired white people from England played"]. An excellent show, I left very impressed, and can see myself wanting to hear more.

Here's the band, exactly as it was -

http://www.jazz.org/JLCO/

 

 

[Scott Dolan]

Wow! A positive post about Wynton Marsalis! I'm impressed! 

[JSngry]

Hardly a Morton expert, but a tune of his with "Nippon" in the title doesn't ring a bell. Was it Ad-Lib On Nippon? This?

 

[Dmitry]

Yep, that's it. They also played Amad from the Far East Suite AND a cut from the Afro-Eurasian Eclipse. AND they also played  Big Fat Alice's Blues from the Concert in the Virgin Islands. All in all, a very eclectic Ellington program.

[mandrill]

 

On 10/12/2017 at 0:42 PM, Dmitry said:

 and had some general commentary on the blues ["not the kind the long-haired white people from England played"].

Muddy Waters would like to disagree. But maybe those boys from England weren't white enough to get it right.

 

Edited October 19, 2017 by mandrill

[gmonahan]

Heard Wynton on the radio burning it up on "Things to Come." When he stops talking and plays, he's still pretty damned good.

 

 

gregmo

[mandrill]

On 3/10/2007 at 7:11 PM, Alexander said:

 

 

 

That's what I meant. He *used* to emulate mid-60s Miles, but as the 80s passed into the 90s and the 90s approached the millennium, Wynton grew ever more conservative. For a while there he was trying to make EVERYTHING sound like a "Hot Fives" recording (even Monk). Lately, as I said, he's taken Ellington has his model. Not saying there's anything wrong with liking what you like, but Wynton's been pointing ever further backwards for a long time. That's what I like about his last several albums: He seems to have discovered that "now" is what counts, so he's been making music that sounds...I don't know. I don't want to use the word "timeless," because it isn't, but I guess I mean that it doesn't sound 50 years old. 50 years old ON PURPOSE, that is.

I think of it all as a shop, where Wynton and his disciples are specializing in painting very good copies of old masters paintings, for some weird reason thinking that's exactly what humanity needs. Anything beyond impressionists is anathema to them. They started emulating Renoir and Monet, but eventually that appeared too modern for them, so they went back in time and started making (almost) perfect copies of Dutch Masters and now trying at Caravaggio and Raphael. If market is right, they may even adjust their philosophy and start making copies of Picasso- (almost) perfect- but copies nevertheless.

That is not what jazz is about though. So, his (arguably) impressive technical chops aside, he's always been just an imitator and very likely will remain as such. A curator and exhibit maker of expensive Madame Tussaud Jazz Museum.

Edited October 20, 2017 by mandrill

[Scott Dolan]

So are all artists that play Bebop simply imitators or museum curators? 

How about those who still play 60's-style Free Jazz? 

Just wondering, because I never hear them disparaged similarly. 

[Gheorghe]

I haven´t heard him in the past years, but I remember his group with his brother Branford, with the young giants Kirkland, Watts etc. and the band was a gas, it was the hope of the early 80´s.

And very good with VSOP II, so I think he is a blessed trumpet player.

Maybe people expected from him more, that he will become the next logic step in trumpet styles after Roy, Diz, Brownie, Miles, Don Cherry etc.

I think it was his right to choose a pace that´s safer , to keep the tradition, to lecture people about what´s jazz and what´s not (in his opinion), and I don´t think that´s negative. He choose this, others who were pioneers on trumpet or on any other instrument died early or had to struggle for gigs......

Edited October 20, 2017 by Gheorghe