Search - Irvin Mayfield :: How Passion Falls

Ever since Wynton Marsalis burst on the scene from New Orleans in 1980, there's been a steady stream of Crescent City trumpet successes. Add Irvin Mayfield to the list that includes Marsalis, Terence Blanchard, and Nicholas Payton. Mayfield's a valued member of the vaunted jazz/Latin combo Los Hombres Calientes. This CD, his second as a leader, is a suite-formatted musical portrait of several love affairs throughout history, with the Marsalis family playing several important roles. The tunes are reminiscent of Wynton's Black Codes from the Underground, and producer/trombonist Delfeayo plays on "The Denial" and "The Reality." The patriarch Ellis Marsalis lends his piano tinges to the ballad "Romeo & Juliet." Fellow Crescent City star, alto saxophonist Donald Harrison, swings on the martial "David & Bathsheba," and Mayfield's Calientes partner Bill Summers adds his Afro-Cuban bata drums on the 5/4 time-signatured "Adam and Eve." Overall, the music makes references to the spirituals, Ornette Coleman, and John Coltrane, and Mayfield's tone is as bold and bright as his future. --Eugene Holley Jr.