Track Listing

1. Black Codes (From the Underground)
2. For Wee Folks
3. Delfeayo's Dilemma
4. Phryzzinian Man
5. Aural Oasis
6. Chambers of Tain
7. Blues

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #28621 in Music
• Released on: 1990-10-25
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com essential recording
Much has been made of Wynton Marsalis's early-career emulation of the prefusion Miles Davis quintet, an obvious homage that only the most blinkered apologists have refused to ackowledge. Marsalis has accomplished so much on his own that the out-and-out tribute to the classic Davis lineup that "Black Codes..." represents should be seen as a positive step in the remarkable development of an artist rather than an act of fraud. This is sublime music by the first Marsalis quintet, led by Wynton on trumpet and featuring brother Branford on soprano and tenor sax, Jeff "Tain" Watts on drums, Charnett Moffet on bass and Kenny Kirkland on piano. All of these musicians would go on to greater heights, but they're in the zone here. --John Swenson

Customer Reviews

Wynton's most important single album set
Wynton Marsalis is so heavily documented and so heavily opinionated these days that it's difficult to assess his work fairly. For everyone who thinks he single-handedly saved acoustic jazz in the 80s, another will say he is killing its creativity and radical spirit in the 2000s. Certainly I've wavered on this issue over time. Whatever your opinion on Wynton, Black Codes is the strongest of his early albums, before he took to preserving the jazz tradition. More than any of the other albums Black Codes strives to advance it.

The band on here is great. This was before Branford left to join Sting and the heads to the tunes are tight. Jeff Watts is a phenomenal drummer and Wynton shares the spotlight by using "Chambers of Tain" as a drum feature. Kenny Kirkland drives many of the vamps on this album and comps assertively and the bass player strongly anchors these tunes as well.

This album plays well start to finish and has some of Wynton's strongest writing. "Black Codes" with its low end piano as part of the head, "For Wee Folks" with its out of tempo opening and "Delfeayo's Dilemma", a tune that has been covered by artists like Kenny Garrett, are highlights in the set. Wynton nods to the tradiiton by concluding with a blues as well.

The innovations on this album are subtle. It's more a summary of two splendid jazz ensembles: the tight ensembles of the Jazz Messengers that Branford and Wynton played with early in their careers and the thorny modal improvisations of the Miles Davis Quintet. Some people focus only on Miles when assessing this album, but if you listen to Jazz Messengers albums like Mosaic and Free For All you hear how the discipline of this music and the vigor of Tain's playing are more assertive than the cool effortlessness of Miles' group.

I don't listen to all of Wynton's stuff so much now but I've enjoyed this album and I strongly recommend it as a high point of jazz in the decade of the '80s.

--5 stars

SD

Exciting and Original
I bought this album on vinyl when it first came out, then bought the CD and have been listening to it regularly for 15 years. It is the finest recording Wynton has ever done and this music will stand the test of time. I am a piano fan and Kenny Kirkland's playing on this session is phenomenal. Everyone is in fine form and the music is original, the playing is fresh and passionate. Every track is great listening. This is a CD to play over and over and enjoy over and over again. I agree with the rest of the reviewers about the critic's -- most of these "critics" don't know much about jazz and to compare this group with Miles Davis is a joke -- this is original music and it stands on it's own quite nicely!

As a newbie it is incredible
This is my first real jazz album. I'm listening to it right now and Tain is tearing it up and Marsalis is on fire. I don't think I know enough about the genre to be critical, but what I can tell you is this Album can bring you to tears. It gets you right in the gut and makes your heart beat and it tears into you. Almost a religious experience. I'm hooked. Favorite track: Chambers of Tain