Wynton Marsalis - From The Plantation To The Penitentiary

"We running all over the world with a blunderbuss/And the Constitution all but forgot in the fuss," Wynton Marsalis declaims on "Where Y'All At?"--the raucous theatrical finale to From the Plantation to the Penitentiary. As unusual as it may be for the celebrated trumpeter to present himself as a kind of soap box rapper, underwhelmingly taking aim at "supercapitalists," liberals, and rappers alike, the most notable departure here is his prominent feature of a vocalist, young Jennifer Sanon. A winner of the Essentially Ellington high school competition, she has real appeal and is smart, silky-toned, and calmly assured beyond her 21 years. The influence of the mighty Abbey Lincoln is felt in both the directness of her delivery and the soulful expansiveness of the music, performed by a quintet. Though Marsalis gets his time in the spotlight, playing with brittle strength as well as his customary warmth, he is generous in shining a spotlight on his bandmates, including a pair of talented up-and-comers in pianist Dan Nimmer and bassist Carlos Henriquez, drummer Ali Jackson, Jr. and saxophonist Walter Blanding, who, 15 years after being introduced on the "Tough Young Tenors" album and in spite of his stellar contributions to Marsalis' Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, doesn't get the attention he should. --Lloyd Sachs Amazon.com

 Not One Of His Best
Wynton Marsalis is a monster trumpeter, no doubt about that, but "From The Plantation To The Penitentiary" is probably one of the worst albums I've heard from him. His output these last couple of years has been far from good.

The music, herein, isn't up to par with his early material from the 80s or early 90s, it is simply Marsalis selling out and trying to please somebody. Wynton has been a very opinionated voice of modern jazz and has critqued others in the past about what constitues jazz music. "From The Plantation To The Penitentiary" is merely a contradiction to those very thoughts. This isn't "jazz" from the eyes of Marsalis, but jazz through the eyes of the public. It doesn't swing like it his other music, there's no melody worth holding on to, the vocals are truly terrible, and the improvisations are uninspired.

If you want to hear Wynton Marsalis in all his glory pickup the following: "Marsalis Standard Time, Vol. 1," "Standard Time, Vol. 2: Intimacy Calling," "Standard Time, Vol. 3: The Resolution of Romance," "Black Codes (From The Underground)," and "J Mood." All of these albums represent the swinging, the lyrical, and the furious bebop trumpet of Marsalis. January 31, 2008

 Through the Looking Glass
For the past decades Wynton Marsalis has truly been the keeper of the flame, almost single handedly keeping all classic Jazz forms alive. From his arranging work for the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra to his own solo records or lectures on the medium Marsalis betrays an encyclopedic knowledge of Jazz and Black history. This is as much his strength as his weakness. Marsalis is the type of artist that is mainly occupied with looking back, recapping. Although Marsalis managed to find his own unique voice on a lot his solo projects, his work is always bound by Jazz history. Marsalis is a self proclaimed purist. Jazz to him finds its ultimate expression in the acoustic setting, in the music pioneered by Ellington, Armstrong, Coltrane and Miles Davis before he went electric. In many ways Marsalis is a masterful stylist, shaping his records to be tributes and showcases of the Jazz' Golden Age.

That trade mark is also what defines From the Plantation to the Penitentiary. The record is a sociological and musical history lesson first and foremost. Applying his knowledge on both Marsalis provides a sketch of Black history and classic Jazz music. Plantation is a suite in seven movements. Opening with the title track which explains where African Americans in the US started from and how they ended up where they are now today. It's social history with biting political commentary. "In the heart of freedom.....Insane" Jennifer Sanson belts out singing slightly of key after singing the lines "from coon and shine, to the unemployment line". Marsalis draws a direct line from the abuse in the past to the predicament the Black man is in to day. That way setting the borders in which we should judge the tracks that follow. From the disconnected protagonists in Find Me to the venomous but wry criticism on capitalism should be held against that historic back drop.

Even though the record is well thought through, played with masterful skill and imagination it is in being a history lessons first and foremost where it fails to some degree. Creating music is communicating with the past as well as the present. Creating music is reaching out to the people around you, trying to get emotion across to them and in this case a sense of history and a means to position themselves in that historic backdrop. It is against this notion of making music that Marsalis' firm grasp of Jazz and Black history fails him. The record has too much the feel of an academic exercise, analytic, precise yet cold and distant. The connection to the here and now is missing, his perception on history to well polished and honed. The emotive core of the record gets beyond reach. On this record Marsalis is the lecturing professor, his means of communication a one way street from the past to the present. Marsalis is not in dialog with his surroundings, he's trying to teach his audience.

The problem of this album is ironically enough discussed by Marsalis himself on Love and Broken Hearts. This track can easily be seen as Marsalis' disdain for modern music, Hip Hop in particular. Or "you modern day minstrels and your songless tunes" as the lyric goes. Marsalis asks in this tune "How did we lose our song, when did we forget our dance, dances the ancient knew, songs the blues men blew". He forgets that Hip Hop is a continuation of that tradition rather than the abandonment of it. "Where y'all at" Marsalis asks us in the last track, but maybe it is Marsalis who fails to see we never left. September 28, 2007

 Plantation to the penitentiary
i love the harmonies, the way the music dances and the conversaitons of voice and instruments,good drum work.The music talks.
i love it.

milton clarke July 6, 2007

 Masterful
If you want masterful jazz that uses the spoken word to give voice to tough social commentary, then this album is for you. Marsalis is a border-crosser. He is comfortable on the frontiers of jazz, the many flavors of pop, classical, etc. etc. And now he is speaking from a conscience that can be as smooth or incisive, direct or elliptical, passionate or cool, funky or cerebral as his music. June 16, 2007

 Pretentious
Dear Mr. Marsalis,

You badly need a lesson in learning to make sincere and warm music. You are a product of the establishment. You are so obsessed with grandstanding projects that you continue to overlook the fundamentals. It has probably made you finaicially wealthy but musically depraved.

Please please please take lessons from Terence Blanchard, Roy Hargrove, Marcus Printup or even Christian Scott to name a few. Talk less and listen and practise more.

I have not forgotten your scurillous remarks in the 1980s of the late Miles Davis's foray into modern electronic pop jazz. It was naive and ignorant. If it was not for Mr. Miles, you would not have found your opportunity to blow your horn(for want of a better expression). Your recent recording shows that you have not changed. June 6, 2007

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