Wynton Marsalis


I enjoyed the profile of Wynton Marsalis on "60 Minutes" last night. Any suggestions on his best cd's-particularly with the Lincoln Center Jazz Band?
maxnewid
I am a Wynton fan and also like his classical works. Although I have not heard most of his recordings. wintonmarsalis.org/discography, a nice site should help you get a good start.
I really like his "Soul Gestures" series of three LP/CD's. These are an exploration of the blues with several members of what will become the LCJO. He doesn't record particularly well, however. Not bad but lacking bloom and dimensionality--like decent digital.
His "Live at the Village Vanguard" CD box set is one of my audiophile reference recordings. It's culled from performances from the early 90's in the famed NY basement venue. Each disc is compiled in such a way as it creates a complete set with opening greetings to an encore. More importantly, his horn playing and band, regardless of the year, is spectacular. The mix and sound puts you right in the front row and, I swear, I can hear which direction he's waving his horn when he's playing! As I said the sonics of this recording is amazing as it captures the small venue's "sound" and the band is presented in an excellent soundstage. The box set is very reasonably priced. Or, you can get the single disc of highlights. If you like his classic bebop and New Orleans style jazz, then this is something for you to consider for the music and sonics. See Amazon.com for new and used prices. His classical recordings are all excellent but I think the vinyl editions sound better than the CDs. Good luck.
The Wynton Marsalis Quartet, Live at Blues Alley is a really good double album, and pretty cheap to find on vinyl.
I was present for one of the Blues Alley shows and could swear I hear myself in the audience!