Often considered jazz’s first significant composer, Jelly Roll Morton crafted high-spirited, suggestive music that upheld the festive ensemble spirit of New Orleans jazz while pushing it toward the complexity and stylishness of swing. Trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, both lauded and sneered at for his jazz orthodoxies, certainly appreciated Morton’s modernist sensibilities; his goal on this 1999 recording was to highlight the “contemporary power” of early jazz, and he approaches Morton’s buoyant music from a variety of angles. “King Porter Stomp” is a showcase for Marsalis (showing his facility with a mute) and pianist Eric Lewis. “Sidewalk Blues” finds the band at its most frolicsome, while the growling horns get down and dirty for “Jungle Blues.” Sometimes the music flies across decades, as on “The Pearls,” which features a (mostly) ‘20s-style arrangement with some decidedly post-bop interjections. Special guests are showcased on a pair of solo-piano tracks: Danilo Perez subtly mixes in some modern strokes on the Spanish-tinged “Mamanita,” and Harry Connick Jr. shows off his urbane stride technique (and then some) on “Billy Goat Stomp.” For the closing “Tom Cat Blues,” recorded five years before the rest of the tracks, Marsalis and pianist Eric Reed ventured to Edison Laboratories in New Jersey to cut an appropriately raspy-sounding duet on wax cylinder.

Once in a while the stars align and something magical happens…as on the night Jazz at Lincoln Center presented a salute to the late, great bluesman, Ray Charles. Two musical iconoclasts, Willie Nelson and Wynton Marsalis, along with the stunning songstress Norah Jones, collectively brought their unique musical perspective to the legendary artist’s hits such as “Hallelujah I Love Her So”, “Hit the Road Jack,” and “Unchain My Heart.” Country music legend Willie Nelson and Pulitzer Prize-winning jazz artist and Jazz at Lincoln Center Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis share more in common than their multiple GRAMMY® awards. They also share great respect and admiration for the late musical pioneer Ray Charles. Nelson and Marsalis joined musical forces for a two-night Jazz at Lincoln Center concert event at New York City’s Frederick P. Rose Hall, home of Jazz at Lincoln Center. Their set list explored the legacy of Charles, cleverly sequencing the songs to tell the story of a love affair from beginning to end and beyond. This fine idea was made finer by the inclusion of fellow multiple GRAMMY® winner Norah Jones, whose style suggests a middle ground between Nelson and Marsalis.