Wynton Marsalis & Eric Clapton Play The Blues

Wynton Marsalis & Eric Clapton Play The Blues

• MARSALIS WYNTON AND ERIC CLAPTON LIVE FROM JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER

<p>New York City's premier jazz venue got the blues last April when <strong>Wynton Marsalis</strong> and <strong>Eric Clapton</strong> performed together in Rose Theater at Frederick P. Rose Hall, home of Jazz at Lincoln Center for two sold-out shows dedicated to vintage blues. The extraordinary collaboration, billed as <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Wynton Marsalis & Eric Clapton Play the Blues</span></strong>, paired these musical virtuosos with members of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra as they brought to life a repertoire of songs selected by Clapton and arranged by Marsalis.<br /><br />Reprise Records captures the magic of these unprecedented shows from earlier this year on CD and as a CD/DVD combo that both feature selections taken from the two public concerts (April 8-9), as well a special performance for Jazz at Lincoln Center's annual gala (April 7). <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Wynton Marsalis & Eric Clapton Play The Blues - Live From Jazz At Lincoln Center</strong></span> will be available September 13th. <br /><br />Marsalis, Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center and nine-time Grammy Award winner, writes about his collaboration with Clapton, a 19-time Grammy recipient, in the album's liner notes: <em>"...we wanted these concerts to sound like people playing music they know and love, not like a project."</em></p><p>The band nimbly navigated a diverse set list that touched on different styles, from the four-on-the-floor swing of Louis Armstrong's "Ice Cream" and the southern slow-drag of W.C. Handy's "Joe Turner's Blues" to the traveling blues of "Joliet Bound" and the boogie-woogie jump of "Kidman Blues." After opening the shows with his solo set, Mahal returned to join the band on "Corrine, Corrina" and the New Orleans funeral standard "Just A Closer Walk With Thee."</p><p>The one song not selected by Clapton for the show was his own "Layla," which was requested by bassist Henriquez and arranged as a Crescent City dirge to tremendous results. On his review of the performance, David Fricke of Rolling Stone wrote: "In the [song's] instrumental break, Clapton hit a series of stabbing licks lightly crusted with distortion, followed by Marsalis' slow parade of clean hurting peals - a moving dialogue in lovesickness and blues routes."</p>