yep, i've always thought that Live at Blues Alley was a pretty good recording. in fact, i kind of liked a lot of the early Winton Marsalis...my favorite is probably Black Codes (From The Underground)....that one had a great lineup....with Tain Watts smackin' the crap out of the drums. i don't remember the exactly release cronology but personally i bought The Majesty Of The Blues after Black Codes....then i had a chance to see Wynton play. the bulk of the material was from The Majesty.... and i gotta tell ya it was one of the most boring jazz shows i'd ever seen. rememer being in a class in high school or college? ...and you're in the grip of sleep?....you want it...it wants you....but you don't really want to fall asleep so you fight it....violent head nodding ensues... ugh! this happend to me a couple of times during the "show", which went as follows: play the head....each player solos....revisit the head. repeat this until mark falls asleep and bonks his head on the seatback in front of him. mark

On the Zornlist this will probably taken as an outbreak of hostilities but I think the band Marsalis has on Live at Blue Alley is a really great group with exceptional playing. There is nothing challenging and everybody stays firmly within the tradition that Marsalis upholds but it is a fine swinging band.

-- Mark Saleski - marks@foliage.com | http://www.foliage.com/~marks "The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure, and the intelligent are full of doubt." - Bertrand Russell