Black Codes (From the Underground)

This is my first Wynton Marsalis album and I didn't know that it was widely regarded as his best. It won a Grammy award in 1985 as well. I loved the album a lot myself and although it wasn't perfect in my eyes it's one of those albums that you can just pop in anytime of the day and get whisked away by his magical sound. The entire band is great on this as well and Kenny Kirkland's piano playing is... read more

Description: Much has been made of Wynton Marsalis's early-career emulation of the prefusion Miles Davis quintet, an obvious homage that only the most blinkered apologists have refused to ackowledge. Marsalis has accomplished so much on his own that the out-and-out tribute to the classic Davis lineup that "Black Codes..." represents should be seen as a positive step in the remarkable development of an artist rather than an act of fraud. This is sublime music by the first Marsalis quintet, led by Wynton on trumpet and featuring brother Branford on soprano and tenor sax, Jeff "Tain" Watts on drums, Charnett Moffet on bass Much has been made of Wynton Marsalis's early-career emulation of the prefusion Miles Davis quintet, an obvious homage that only the most blinkered apologists have refused to ackowledge. Marsalis has accomplished so much on his own that the out-and-out tribute to the classic Davis lineup that "Black Codes..." represents should be seen as a positive step in the remarkable development of an artist rather than an act of fraud. This is sublime music by the first Marsalis quintet, led by Wynton on trumpet and featuring brother Branford on soprano and tenor sax, Jeff "Tain" Watts on drums, Charnett Moffet on bass and Kenny Kirkland on piano. All of these musicians would go on to greater heights, but they're in the zone here. --John Swenson ... (more) (less)