The History of Jazz

by Ted Gioia

On the first, Marsalis Standard Time, the band is at its finest pitch, incorporating the experimental metrics of J Mood into the heady motion of jam-session jousting: on “A Foggy Day” Marsalis superimposes 6/8, 12/8, 5/4, and other meters onto the song’s basic foundation; during part of “Autumn Leaves” the band changes meter every bar; “Caravan” is masterfully reworked, once again with virtuosic cross-rhythms. Much credit was due to Marsalis’s rhythm section for this tour de force. Pianist Marcus Roberts stood out as an advanced structural thinker in the mold of Monk, Tristano, and Hancock and clearly delighted in pushing and prodding Marsalis, who in turn showed how far his phrasing had grown since his first recordings. Jeff “Tain” Watts and Robert Hurst, on drums and bass respectively, also proved to be facile at these games in running time, but equally skilled in maintaining the drive and swing of the music.