Willie Nelson & Wynton Marasalis - Two Men with the Blues Review
Posted by Jesse Coy on 09.02.2008
Willie and Wynton, together again (for the first time)… find out what a country legend and a blues legend are packing into their blues.
Willie Nelson & Wynton Marasalis Two Men with the Blues
July 2008
Blue Note Records
I’m going to preface this one how I’ve prefaced one or two other reviews when it involves acts with a long history… both Willie Nelson and Wynton Maralis are a pair of musicians by whom I have no other releases. Some may not like this or find it to be a bad thing for a reviewer, while others feel the way I feel. It’s simple… sometimes a fresh listen to a musician or band without referencing past albums or material is very refreshing. So if you’re a Willie or Wynton fan, this may or may not be to your liking. If you’re not very familiar with either of them, you might want to listen in.
It’s not as though I don’t know Willie Nelson or haven’t heard his tunes. That’s kind of a little impossible. Not being very up on jazz, though… Wynton Marasalis was new to me. Of course, in reference to this release, you sort of don’t need to be up on your jazz. What’s the interesting hook or gimmick here, depending on how you view it? It’s a country legend and a jazz composer legend teaming up to do a bluesy album. It sounds like an interesting experiment, right? Does it work?
Willie’s voice is so distinctive that at first it sounded a bit odd at least to me, and I’d imagine it would be the same for anyone else who knows him more in his country mode, to hear him singing here. You even have your harmonica making itself heard. The harmonica is often heard in the blues, but here it sounds like… Willie Nelson country harmonica. Why? Mickey Raphael is the harmonica player, most known as Willie’s harmonica player. Furthermore, while the base of these tunes is obviously blues (a range of famous blues tunes are covered), there’re definite jazz flourishes and structuring that even someone not as well versed in jazz can pick up on… hence Wynton’s influence and touch. It’s almost as though some recipe is being made with two ingredients not commonly used in the mix. Like spaghetti and meatballs… only with rice and chicken.
To my ear, it sounded a bit odd during the first few listens. But then it began to settle and cement into place, although some tunes were more suited for Willie’s vocals than others, in much the same way that some tunes take the jazz flourishes better than others. The audience helps to coalesce the two styles. This is a live recording from a two-night stand on January 12th and 13th of 2007. What are some of the standout tunes?
“Night Life” is a moody blues track where both Willie’s vocals and Mickey’s harmonica playing fit quite well. It’s followed by a jumping blues track, Louis Jordan’s “Caledonia.” As for a perfect marriage of the jazz and the blues, “Rainy Day Blues” lets the musicians expand without losing the tune’s blues core. You also have Porter Grainger’s “Ain’t Nobody’s Business,” a slithering blues tune coming in at over 7 minutes, though it doesn’t seem that long because there’s a lot of fun in this one. Willie and Wynton share vocal duties and have a bit witty mid-song bantering. It stays pretty simple and stripped down for much of the song. “That’s All” is a great closing track… sounding like a stomping religious revival ditty (circa 1952, when it was composed).
I’m sure some fans of both of these musical icons will really like the blend, while a few might find it a little odd on the ears at first. While maybe it’s not the best place to start with either of these musicians… it’d be the only place to start with both of them at exactly the same time.
The 411: Some of it works better than other parts. But I’m always one for experimentation like this, and even when some of it comes off as a little odd, all of the musicians sound like they’re having a great time at it. It’s a nice collection of blues tunes slightly reinterpreted.
