There was a recent press release from Blue Note about upcoming albums (on March 5th, to be specific; you can read it here), so I figured I may as well give my thoughts on it. Wynton Marsalis has two new records coming out, each highlighting one of his two sides; one is a set of (surprise!) "blues and standards," I suppose to show that he still plays the same hard-bop/post-bop that he always has, while the other, highlighting his more pretentious blues-and-standards-player-as-auteur side, is a "romantic themed conceptual album of original music based on a poem by Wynton." I didn't even mention that the first record, tentatively called "Willie Nelson and Wynton Marsalis" features Willie Nelson on "Django Reinhardt-inspired guitar." The second record will hopefully be just as good as his last effort into all original material and poetry, "Wynton Raps-" er, "From the Plantation to the Penitentiary..."
The most interesting-looking record mentioned on this press release, however, seems like an afterthought in the midst of the two new Marsalis albums and the "70th Anniversary All-Stars" album, the first solo album from Aaron Parks, who you probably remember as the keyboard player on, well, practically everything from the Monk Institute crowd (Walter Smith III's "Casually Introducing" features him prominently, if you don't have it already, get it, it's great). Parks is killer, and while I don't believe anything on this album is out yet (you can hear a track on his myspace, but I'm pretty sure its not from the record) I'm excited to hear it whenever it comes out; according to the press release Parks will be mastering it next week, so hopefully that's soon.
Next time I'll post a review of Lionel Loueke's Karibu, a few tracks from which can be heard here.
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