ALBUM REVIEW : Marsalis’ Winding Musical Tour

WYNTON MARSALIS

“Citi Movement

(Griot New York)”

Columbia

* * *

This two-hour, 21-movement work was written by Marsalis for a modern ballet choreographed by Garth Fagan. It would be wise to forget about the overblown liner notes, in which analogies are drawn between Marsalis and everyone from Ellington to Mingus to Herman Melville.

As for the premise of the work as program music offering a view of New York City, we all have our own perceptions of what this metropolis represents, and the titles offer no indication as to what place or event inspired them. In fact, this is less a guided tour of New York than an intriguing trip along numerous idiomatic highways, displaying the unique diversity Marsalis has been able to draw from a seven-piece group. The writing virtually spans an entire century of sounds, from the turn-of-the-century carousel music of “Cross Court Capers” to the swinging 4/4 and tongue-in-cheek riffing of “The End” and the boppish ensembles and solos of “Highrise Riff.”

Marsalis is at his creative peak in “The Legend of Buddy Bolden,” played mainly a cappella or with just drums. Although there are significant contributions by the three other horn soloists and by Eric Reed or Marcus Roberts on piano, it is the writing, and the composer’s ever-shifting voicings, that contribute most vitally to this urban panorama.

Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor) to four stars (excellent).