Jazz
As the title to WYNTON MARSALIS's fifth Blue Note release indicates, He and She is about that eternally compelling and most elemental of subjects: the relationship between a man and a woman. The Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, trumpeter, and band leader, however, hasn't merely crafted a love story, but a life story -- a bittersweet rumination about the evanescence of life as well as the elusiveness of romance. Time is very much at the heart of He and She: the swift passage of time over the course of one's life, the mood-altering shifts of time within the duration of a song. It's an ambitious effort, combining spoken word and music, and Marsalis has given his quintet some formidable charts. The album is tempered with dashes of humor and plenty of swing. There's ease and elegance and more than a little wisdom in these grooves.
Backed by his regular band, Wynton Marsalis's HE AND SHE is a concept album with the underlying theme of relationships between men and women as major artistic inspiration. While there are moody and serious tracks ("Fears" and brief spoken word interludes), there is also the genial and graceful mid-tempo "The Razor Rim," wherein Wynton's horn sings like it's the first day of spring. Both the blues-drenched "School Boy" and "A Train, A Banjo, and a Chicken Wing" reflect a powerful 1920s Louis Armstrong influence (the latter featuring a soaring, searing sax solo from Walter Blanding). The surreal and short "First Crush" is a tip-of-the-hat to the freer (yet lyrical) side of early `60s John Coltrane. Copiously contemplative with several shades of nostalgia and melancholy, HE AND SHE is both serious art and serious fun.
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The expansive discography of Wynton Marsalis has covered a wealth of material including the fierce modern mainstream of Black Codes: From the Underground (Columbia, 1985), the three CD-set Blood On the Fields (Columbia, 1995) which won a Pulitzer award in 1997, and some bar-room fun in Two Men With the Blues (Blue Note, 2008) with singer Willie Nelson. Now the iconic jazz trumpeter/composer explores the subtle dynamics of relationship between a man and a woman in He and She, a recording that combines jazz and poetry in a familiar and entertaining package.
Familiar in the fact that Marsalis, an ardent purveyor of jazz's history, delivers once again, music that has been heard throughout his repertoire. The jubilant "School Boy" with its ragtime / New Orleans rhythms, the luxuriant waltz of "The Sun and the Moon," playful swing in "Sassy," and a blues in "A Train, A Banjo, and A Chicken Wing," have all been witnessed in memorable recordings such as The Marciac Suite (1999) and Big Train (1999), both on Columbia Records.
Regardless, this project is vintage Marsalis, and that equates to exquisitely crafted jazz, now delivered by a top-notch quintet of young musicians including Walter Blanding (saxophones), Dan Nimmer (piano), Carlos Hendriquez (bass), and Ali Jackson (drums), each showing their dazzling abilities throughout the recording.
The master trumpeter also shows some deft skills as a poet which was first witnessed on the controversial but outstanding From The Plantation to the Penitentiary (Blue Note, 2007). Here, he reads verses from his eponymous titled poem "He and She" which alternately sets up each instrumental track. These brief preludes are filled with humor, emotion and attitude, creating anecdotal stories of adolescence, maturity, romance, love, and loss.
One section of the poem speaks of a dangerous conquest in one of the recording's most complex tracks, "The Razor Rim," a bopping tale of desire, moving from "Swinging 3/4" to "Elvin Jones 5/4" to "Modern 4/4 Swing" (as noted in the track notes). Another section covers the simple mathematics of lost love as Marsalis reads "1 + 0 = 0, remembering me without you," a fitting introduction to the blue balladry in "Zero." Other ideas include a "suite of firsts" in "First Crush," "First Slow Dance," etc., which may conjure up long forgotten memories.
The recording culminates with the poem read in its entirety; a fitting ending to the program. While there's nothing ultimately new here, from start to finish He and She is performed to the hilt and swings gloriously with plenty of panache. Fans will not be disappointed and newcomers who are just getting introduced to Wynton Marsalis can let the courtship begin.
By Mark F. Turner. AAJ.
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Wynton Marsalis- Trumpet;
Walter Blanding- Saxophones;
Dan Nimmer- Piano;
Carlos Hendriquez- Bass;
Ali Jackson- Drums.
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01. Poem 1 00:13
02. School Boy 06:49
03. Poem 2 00:27
04. The Sun And The Moon 06:31
05. Poem 3 00:10
06. Sassy 05:17
07. Poem 4 00:17
08. Fears 03:32
09. Poem 5 00:16
10. The Razor Rim 12:05
11. Poem 6 01:02
12. Zero 02:18
13. Poem 7 00:36
14. First Crush 01:52
15. First Slow Dance 04:38
16. First Kiss 03:21
17. First Time 04:47
18. Poem 8 01:06
19. Girls! 05:47
20. Poem 9 00:59
21. A Train, A Banjo, And A Chicken Wing 08:13
22. He And She 05:01
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