| Last year, a select few jazz musicians and vocalists celebrated the centennial of the Edward Kennedy `Duke' Ellington's birth with their own interpretations of the composer and pianist's catalogue. This one, courtesy of the Marsalis family patriarch, is one of the best. Marsalis (who admits he once thought of Ellington as a senior citizen back when he himself was a Bebop absorbed teenager enamored of so-called `hip' jazz players like Charlie Parker and Thelonius Monk) goes it alone on the ivories for this collection of decidely alternative choices from Duke's repetoire. That the flavour of New Orleans courses through the song selection on Duke In Blue is hardly surprising considering Marsalis' roots in that city. But he avoids the trap of being staid and overly faithful of Duke's sheet music; sprinkling just the right amount of spice on the uptempo tracks, including a steaming broil of The Mooche, an exceptionally zesty slice of improvisation (Caravan) and a finger-sizzling rendition of Squatty Roo. The ballads (Prelude To A Kiss, Sophisticated Lady, Mood Indigo) are spared radical reinvention but they do provide Marsalis the chance to showcase the soft and delicately expressive side of his piano playing. While the up and down mood and sparse instrumentation of Duke In Blue might throw some people off, Marsalis' tribute is an unpretentious and distinctive as it gets. |
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