Search - Wynton Marsalis, Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra :: Blood on the Fields (3-CD Digipak)

Just as Charles Mingus owed a great debt to Duke Ellington, Blood on the Fields makes clear how much Wynton Marsalis owes to Mingus. Marsalis won the Pulitzer Prize for Blood in 1997, decades after Ellington should've won for any of two or three suite-length works, and it's clear this piece was worth it. The blats and instrumental slurs that ricochet into melodies are certainly Ellingtonian, but only when you consider that Mingus revised them with vigorous energy. Further, the spoken-word passages, taken by the ensemble, hearken to Mingus's "Freedom," extending the vaunted trumpeter's list of influences. The story line to Blood is simple: two Africans are stolen and enslaved; the man falls in love with the woman; and when they reach freedom, their love has a chance to flourish. The tunes are richly orchestrated, with 15 players on the ensemble's roster. Marsalis does astonishingly good things with the charts, making his group sound like a firm creative vehicle. Saxophonists James Carter and Robert Stewart provide nuanced solos behind vocalists Cassandra Wilson and Miles Griffith, adding improvisational elements that help raise the ante on this program. As a soloist, Marsalis doesn't make huge contributions, but his ample, clarity-laden tone is as ringing here as anywhere in his catalog. --Andrew Bartlett