Wynton Marsalis' move from Columbia to Blue Note has not changed him or his approach to music; that will be solace to his fans and fodder for his detractors. While the negative vibrations any mention of him produces are basically products of an elitist, culturally-correct media posse, this latest CD does nothing to improve his position as a jazz paterfamilias either.
Essentially, Marsalis is in the process of managing his next generation of disciples, using groupings carved from the Lincoln Center Orchestra. On The Magic Hour, three younger veterans, whom the trumpet king has nurtured from their teens, join him on eight selections, two of which feature guest vocalists Dianne Reeves and Bobby McFerrin.
In tandem with the group's provenance, the CD's theme appears to be an amalgamated Sesame Street message of discovery, relationship, and playfulness. On the positive side, the recording reestablishes Marsalis as a gifted wonder who is capable of most anything out of his horn. On the negative side, some of the compositions appeal to a cutesy-pie sentimentality (which drives some of us crazy in this here 21st Century) that will help record sales to a bourgeois audience.
Nevertheless, cuts like "Free To Be," with its driving momentum; "Big Fat Hen," a Nawleans down-home cut-up; and "Sophie Rose-Rosalee," a pleasant waltz with some great brushing from drummer Ali Jackson and prescient piano coloring from Eric "the Professor" Lewis, showcase this master and his friends as among the finest in jazz, so long as they stay the course and not gravitate to goofy, overarranged patchwork quilt items like the title cut.
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