Blue Note Records
2009
He And She
About This Album
Wynton Marsalis, ever the protagonist and explorer, brings his love of the spoken word and the adolescent relations of the male and female persuasion during He and She, a collection of instrumental mainstream jazz pieces with poetry as preludes. Inspired by the tone of the Jon Hendricks epic Evolution of the Blues Song, Marsalis uses math equations, the sun and the moon, and the budding affection of youth to frame his music -- mostly jazz waltzes -- into thematic conclusions based on getting along, and why the genders think differently. New pianist Dan Nimmer is a welcome addition to the quintet, while drummer Ali Jackson really shines and reliable saxophonist Walter Blanding asserts his increasing powers. Where the concept of these recordings is somewhat static and the music predictable according to the previous precepts of the trumpeter/composer, there's a lot to listen to and enjoy, even a bit of stepping out from the hard bop to post-bop comfort zone Marsalis has been mired in for over two decades. "School Boy" reverts to the old-timey vintage stride-infused sound the trumpeter occasionally taps upon, "Fears" is actually a free-form-based piece driven by the bass of Carlos Henríquez, "Zero" floats on the wings of birds, and "A Train, a Banjo and a Chicken Wing" is a typical bluesy, plodding, New Orleans late-night stalk taken in carefully calculated, not giant steps.
Track List (try tracks 4,6,8,12 and 19)

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