I've read his wikipedia page. Now, tell me what I really need to know about him. Point me toward the best he has to offer.

you'd be better off going back and reading Wynton Kelly's wiki page...just sayin'

HUGE fan of his work on Kind of Blue.

i think he is a black dude who likes to dance.

Tell me more, tell me more. Like, does he have a car?

I gotta be honest in saying I have not listened to a lot of wynton...obviously a talented trumpeter but for me I never gave him a chance for whatever reason..This is something you need to wait for Kevin Davis to respond

Looking forward to KD and Jorge's input (if any). But thanks for taking the time to respond, Doug.

no problem..btw, you know I hate the chiefs but I have J. Charles in fantasy so..thanks

he used to have....he´s a drunk bastard so he cant drive anymore. Like Lenny.

Do they hang out a lot? Wynton and Lenny?

I haven't listened to a ton of Wynton, either--he's always been so outspoken in his belief that jazz should remain tethered to its origins that I've always just kind of assumed his music would be repetition of stuff already on my shelf. I do have two of his albums, which are:


A lot of these are reimaginations of Vince Guaraldi's Charlie Brown stuff, split between Wynton's octet (I think) and his father's piano trio, with a few originals sprinkled in for flavor. I won't pretend it's highly inventive but it is a whole, whole lot of fun.


This is basically a semi-ballad record in the tradition of John Coltrane's "Ballads," a lot of old standards in quartet format, again with his pops on piano. I really like it (my wife and I used "In the Court of King Oliver" as the entrance music at our wedding reception), but with the caveat that most of the time it's more pretty and pleasant than it is exciting or moving.

So yeah, I like both of those, but they haven't tempted me to dive deeper into his discography either. I also have no idea where Marsalis fans would rank them in his overall body of work. But from the standpoint of a casual listener, both are worthwhile ear candy that could probably be accumulated very cheaply.

Excellent.

Thank you, kind sir, for your input.

While we're here, what are your all time top five favorite Jazz records?

now there's a tough challenge...what are yours?

You know, it seems like that should be really hard, but I think I can give you my list without even flinching:

Miles Davis, "In a Silent Way"
Miles Davis, "Kind of Blue"
Thelonious Monk, "Solo Monk"
Bill Evans, "You Must Believe in Spring"
Vince Guaraldi Trio, "A Charlie Brown Christmas"

A little heavy on piano-based stuff but if I had to name the five jazz records with the biggest impact on me thus far, those are the ones, hands down.

Man, now I want to listen to every single one of them.

In a Silent Way is on my list as well...the other 4 I really need to think about

Kind of Blue is my third favorite album of all time. It's #1 on the jazz album list, for sure. In A Silent Way and Milt Jackson's Sunflower would be #2 and #3 (though not sure which is which).