Wynton Marsalis [Black Codes From The Underground]When i first developed a love for Jazz, i quickly got into Wynton Marsalis's albums, i bought roughly half of his, and even though i've sold some of them because they're too average, this is his very best album, i find he has just become too much in the last ten years, i don't follow him anymore.
This is probably Marsalis's best band, there's a nice intensity to these tracks, Marsalis and his men have matured over his first three albums, to the point that there's a nice understanding between them all, it's this 'telepathy' that makes a group great, and you can see/hear how they know what each other is going to do/play.
For me track 1 'Black Codes' really hits the mark, it opens with an unconventional mish mash of ideas, Kenny Kirkland's oblique piano stabbings should be duly noted, Wynton Marsalis comes in with his bright shining solo [1:26+], strong and sharp, Branford Marsalis uses the soprano sax on his solo [4:25+], an instrument that he's quite possibly better suited to than his tenor, and Kenny Kirkland gets his solo in [6:13+], the track nicely swings in places, and there's a nice intense fierceness there, a great opener.
It should be noted that there's a 'secret' seventh track called 'Blues', which features just Wynton Marsalis & Charnett Moffett, really good, it works so well.
