As a staunch jazz classicist and a vociferous champion of its traditions, Wynton Marsalis should seem right at home playing an album of jazz standards. And, in fact, he does. Marsalis is well suited to classic, acoustic sets, in part because of his clear, lyrical tone on the trumpet, but mostly because of his love for the music (Marsalis's aversion to avant garde, fusion, and other experimental takes on the genre is well known).
The set list of STANDARDS has many of the usual suspects, including "April in Paris," "A Foggy Day," "Django," and "Caravan." It's clear Marsalis isn't out to radically re-invent these tunes, but rather to give them classic renderings, summoning the ghost of early, acoustic post-bop with an appealing sense of balance, beauty, and technical precision.
01 When It's Sleepytime Down South 02 Stardust 03 Embraceable You 04 Reflections 05 After You've Gone 06 The Seductress 07 My Ideal 08 Spring Yaounde 09 Melancholia 10 Where Or When 11 I Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out To Dry 12 April In Paris 13 I Can't Get Started 14 Flamingo