"Bright Lights Big City" kicks straight off, and the entire band starts up without a notice. While Willie Nelson begins to sing, you can really see how multi-dimensional his voice really is. The song has a very upbeat, happy feeling that fits this record almost perfectly.
"Night Life" starts with a simple upright bass, and Wynton Marsalis chimes in with his trumpet, giving a wonderful performance for any trumpeter in quite a while. When Willie Nelson's vocals kick in with the piano and jazz drumbeat. The song is very good on it's own, but superbly showcases Wynton Marsalis' trumpeting abilities.
"Caldonia" is a very swing, blues song. Full of lively trumpet, trombone, and saxophone. While the vocals hit over a nice portion of the song, the rest is filled with various live solo's from members of the bands, including a lengthy Harmonica solo.
"Star Dust" comes off as a very heartfelt piano ballad, that has a very contemporary pop sound to it. Near the three-minute mark, Wynton brings out the trumpet and woos the crowd with his admirable abilities.
"Basing Street Blues" is a very well delivered song from Willie Nelson's side, as it shows of his dynamic and chemistry with the band behind him. Hearing the song can instantly take someone to New Orleans in their mind, and see the French Quarter- and the various musicians playing there.
"Georgia On My Mind" is a classic. Everyone has heard it at some point or another in their lives. The song is beautifully composed, and the band playing it on this record delivers the performance just as amazingly as Ray Charles did. You can hear obviously parts of how Wynton added his own flavors to the classic song.
"Rainy Day Blues" is a very soulful blues song, that gets the crowd up and clapping. The song shows how the band functions well together, and often feed off of each other for the chance to shine. It seems that the stardom between Wynton (and his band) and Willie Nelson seem to make the song sound simple, and give the efforts of their life to make a song song so soulful.
"My Bucket's Got A Hole In It" is a very Memphis-blues influenced song. Marsalis' and Nelson both use the song to show off their instruments of choice; giving Nelson one (of the few) guitar solos that works well with the song, and only gives the rest of the band to play off, and when it seems like the song can't peak anymore- Marsalis sings a few lyrics and hops right back to his trumpet. Near the songs end, it becomes almost percussion oriented- and the drums hit, cowbells are banged, and crowds are delighted.
"Ain't No body's Business" is just that. It's the band carrying their tune, and their song without even paying attention to the band, bringing their egos down to the same floor, to share the same tune. The dark, bluesy song is carried very well with Willie Nelson's vocals, resting perfectly over the band as they play, to give a stellar sound.
"That's all" feels like a perfect, swinging end to the record. It keeps the upbeat nature going, with background vocals proved from previously unheard voices. While the song clocks in at over six minutes, it keeps the power moving all through.
It's odd to think that this combination would ever work. Willie Nelson, a well revered country musician... would make a live, jazz-standard record with a well accomplished composer, and trumpeter like Wynton Marsalis, but it does. The record fulfills, and never lets down at all.
The only negative thing foreseeable in this record- is the fact that it's ALL covers. There are no originals (though, one or two songs previously written by Nelson), and it'd be interesting to hear the entire band play original songs together, and see the obviously chemistry blend even further.
Final Score: 8.5 Giraffes Out Of 10.
No comments:
Post a Comment