The 2012
Columbia
box set
Swinging into the 21st
collects all of trumpeter/bandleader
Wynton Marsalis
' ten albums released in 1999. An ambitious project approved by
due to
Marsalis
' highly respected career and longstanding association with the label,
featured a mix of large- and small-group sessions in various cross-genre settings from classical and ballet to big band, all connected by the theme of jazz. In that sense, each album was a logical extension of
' career and musical inclinations up to that point and, as such, generally featured the more traditional New Orleans-based jazz approach he began to favor in the early '90s. This is true even when exploring such divergent musical entities as
Thelonious Monk
on
Standard Time, Vol. 4: Marsalis Plays Monk
and
Jelly Roll Morton
Standard Time, Vol. 6: Mr. Jelly Lord
. Also included here is
The Marciac Suite
,
At the Octoroon Balls: String Quartet No. 1
A Fiddler's Tale
Reeltime
Big Train
All Rise
, and a single disc of selections from the box set
Live at the Village Vanguard
. The best cuts from the
Swinging
series were the small-group sessions where
and his septet got to stretch out with longer solos and inspired group interplay, as on the rollicking New Orleans second-line number "Juba and a O'Brown Squaw" from
and "King Porter Stomp" from
Mr. Jelly Lord
. Also engaging are the slightly more modern tracks, including two roiling, cubist
numbers, "Hackensack" and "Green Chimneys," which
worked up for
Marsalis Plays Monk
. While his small-group recordings are certainly a highlight here,
' extended large-ensemble pieces such as the bluesy "Loose Duck" from
and the lyrical violin-led ballad "Morning Song" are superb orchestral jazz recordings that, as with all of
, showcase the urbane and always swinging mind of
. ~ Matt Collar